2025 has been a banner year for Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), as the sport rapidly grows and more opportunities are available for athletes in the professional grappling scene. We’re going over some of the best performances and top milestones of the year, as we unveil the winners of the 2025 BJJ Awards here at MMA Mania.
Following up on our Submission, Event, Breakthrough Grappler, and Promotion of the Year awards, our fifth category tackles the best female grapplers of 2025.
This award isn’t necessarily given to the highest ranked or most skilled grappler, but who we believe had the best year in 2025. There were several elite grapplers that put on great performances throughout the year, but here are the top grapplers that stood out the most.
Honorable mentions: Elisabeth Clay, Sarah Galvao
This list was honestly very hard to finalize, as these five female grapplers all had amazing runs in 2025 and their specific rankings are pretty much interchangeable.
These two grapplers each have a very good case to be ranked much higher, but honorable mentions on this list ultimately go to our previous award winners Elisabeth Clay and Sarah Galvao.
Clay, who won our Submission of the Year award, had an amazing 2025 that had her taking gold at the IBJJF Brasileiros, and winning her fifth and sixth IBJJF no gi world titles. Her run also included a submission win over a grappler higher on this list.
Galvao, who won our Breakthrough Grappler of the Year award, went from brown belt world champ to beating reigning black belt world champions and taking the IBJJF Crown in the past year. The 19-year-old daughter of Andre Galvao also started her pro grappling career in 2025, notching three wins in WNO and CJI. She also went 1-1 with two grapplers on this list.
3. Cassia Moura
Cassia Moura was one of the breakthrough grapplers of 2024, when she became the youngest BJJ world champion at the time. She followed that up with an even bigger 2025.
Instead of just trying to win in her division again, she literally chased bigger challenges as the featherweight moved up a whopping four whole divisions to win her second no gi world title at heavyweight. That title run included a win over heavyweight ADCC Trials Champ Nia Blackman.
The 19-year-old prodigy also went 3-0 in UFC BJJ, took gold at the IBJJF Brasileiros, and bronze at the IBJJF Crown, notching huge wins over world champs like Alex Enriquez and Bianca Basilio and going 1-1 with Sarah Galvao.
2. Gabi Pessanha
Gabi Pessanha takes the 2nd spot of this list after her continued dominance in the sport somehow kept creating new records in 2025. She won gold at every single major tournament in 2025 to win grand slams in both gi and no gi, and she also won another IBJJF Crown title.
IBJJF credits her as the only grappler to win a no gi double grand slam, and she has now won every single IBJJF Crown title since it was created. Pessanha now has 10 world titles in the gi — double gold every year from 2021 to 2025 — and two world titles in no gi, which she only started in 2024.
Pessanha has been so dominant that every loss seems so shocking, and it also elevates the careers of the rare few who have beaten her. Clay joined this list and won submission of the year largely off of that No Gi Worlds upset, while Tayane Porfirio also gained notoriety for ending that legendary 166-bout winning streak. It’s also easy to forget that Pessanha actually has a bunch of submissions wins over those two in 2025 alone.
With her size and dominance, it’s easy to take her wins for granted, but Pessanha constantly setting and breaking records nets her the second spot on this list.
1. Grappler of the Year: Helena Crevar
Helena Crevar takes the top spot as our Grappler of the Year, as 2025 saw her incredible rise from a teenage brown belt to a top pound-for-pound BJJ star.
Crevar won the brown belt world title and got promoted to black belt in June of 2025, and she also collected titles at just about every top professional organization. She submitted Elisabeth Clay to win the WNO title, became a two-division Polaris champion, and won the most lucrative women’s tournament ever at CJI by beating current ADCC double champ Adele Fornarino and avenging a loss to Sarah Galvao.
Crevar also ended the year by winning a no gi world title, going from brown belt to black belt champion in just a few months.
It’s worth noting that the Fornarino win was close and debatable, but what’s inarguable is her insane rise to the top of the sport. Crevar beat multiple reigning world champions and collected all those titles as an 18 year old, making her both the current top pound-for-pound female grappler and our 2025 Female Grappler of the Year.
MMA Mania’s 2025 BJJ Awards:
