Everton Souza Teixeira

Everton Celio de Souza Teixeira, often referenced as “Pitico”, is a professional jiu-jitsu athlete and a black belt in this sport under coach Carlos Holanda. Originally from the Brazilian city of Manaus – one of the most prolific regions in the sport of grappling – Everton Souza worked with an array of instructors from different areas as he progressed in the sport, including Douglas Rufino (Trator), Alexandro Almeida, Sandro Vieira, and Adailton Chu.

Everton de Souza Teixeira Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Everton Celio de Souza Teixeira

Nickname: Everton is often referenced as Bibito or Pitico, a nickname that started with his younger sister, a toddler at the time, who struggled with Souza’s first name, calling him “Ebito” or “Bibito”. The name caught up to the rest of his family and friends and soon became how Everton was named amongst his inner circle. As he joined jiu-jitsu, all his colleagues also called him by his nickname, but would often purposely mistake it for the phonetically similar word “Pitico”, which in local slang means “Small Person” as a joke about Souza’s size.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Reyson Gracie > Osvaldo Alves >  Faustino Neto (Pina) > Carlos Holanda > Everton Souza Teixeira

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2023)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals (2024)
• 1st Place IBJJF JJ CON (2023)
• 3rd Place IBJJF JJ CON (2024)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2023 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Championship (2023 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF South American Championship (2022 brown, 2021 purple, 2019 blue)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, RJN (2021 purple)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2023 brown)

Favorite Position/Technique: Open Guard & Back Attacks

Weight Division: Peso Galo (57.60kg / 127.00 lbs)

Team/Association: Atos

Everton Souza Biography

Everton Souza was born in January 2003, in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas.

In 2013, after an event at his school forced him to return home earlier than usual, Everton and his friends crossed paths with a jiu-jitsu academy that was having a class. Souza looked inside, through the window, and was curious. He had never seen BJJ before. The local coach saw Everton’s interest and invited him to a trial class, an offer accepted by the young Manauara, who did his first class later that day. Coach Alexandro Almeida was the owner of this gym and became Souza’s first instructor. Almeida also allowed Everton to train for free as the youngster’s parents could not pay for the academy’s monthly fee.

3 years after his start in the sport, then orange belt, Everton Souza opted to switch camps in search of a team that focussed more on the competitive aspect of Jiu-Jitsu, finding what he was looking for at Carlos Holanda’s gym, also located in Manaus. Heavily supported by his mother, Meiry Janne Matias, who worked relentlessly to pay for Everton’s tournament signing fees and travels, Souza established himself as one of the hottest prospects in the region

Holanda – one of the pioneers of elite grappling accomplishments in the region, would be behind Souza’s evolution as an athlete, leading him from orange to black belt, a rank he received in June 2023.

In 2018, Everton traveled to Rio de Janeiro for a competition. During his stay, Souza trained with Douglas Rufino’s (Trator) workgroup in the Cantagalo Slum. Souza was just a green belt at the time, but the experience was very remarkable, so much so that Everton returned after that and Rufino became a part of his development as well.