Tainan Dalpra

Tainan Dalpra is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Guilherme Mendes, and a representative of the Art Of Jiu-Jitsu Academy (AOJ), who also worked extensively with coach Rafael Mendes. Dalpra was one of the first athletes accepted by the Mendes Brothers Believe & Achieve program, a workgroup that produced several high-end grapplers such as Mateus Rodrigues, Jessa Khan, Johnatha Alves, to name a few. Tainan Dalpra first gained notoriety in the sport while competing in the lower belt divisions of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), where he conquered sequential medals in the major tournaments of the organization’s well-respected grappling circuit.

Tainan Dalpra Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Tainan Dalpra Costa

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Carlson Gracie > André Pederneiras > Ramon Lemos > Guilherme Mendes > Tainan Dalpra

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2021 / 2022)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2021 / 2022 / 2023)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2022 / 2023 / 2025)
• 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2023)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2023)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2018 blue)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2019 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2018** blue, 2019 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2019 purple, 2020 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Juvenile World Championship (2016 / 2017*)
• 1st Place IBJJF Juvenile World Championship NoGi (2016**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Juvenile Pan Championship (2016 / 2017**)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Juvenile World Championship (2017)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Well Rounded

Weight Division: Peso Médio (82,30 kg / 181.5 lbs)

Team/Association: AOJ

Tainan Dalpra Biography

Tainan Dalpra was born on November 6, 2000, in Florianópolis, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Growing up, Tainan practiced a number of sports, from soccer to boxing, although the mats were his first and only true passion. Much of this love for sports came by way of his father, Deivid Soares, an avid sportsman who found an interest in jiu-jitsu when Dalpra was a toddler. Soares – who later became a black belt himself – would often bring Tainan to the dojo, to wait around while the adults practiced, and gradually introduced young Dalpra to the mats from the age of 5.

From starting out at Everson Ávila’s academy, where he trained for 3 years with his father, Dalpra went on to represent the AS Academy under coach Carlos Dorado. As he started being successful in local tournaments, Dalpra’s competitive nature drove him to challenge those at the highest level of the sport, making his first big tournament-related trip to the United States in 2014 where he met Rafael and Guilherme Mendes of the AOJ academy. After training with the famous coaching duo and realizing the level of training available for him in California, the young Tainan Dalpra decided to move to Costa Mesa and train with the Mendes Brothers as a long-term arrangement. A decision that came to fruition in 2015.

Tainan’s arrival to Costa Mesa matched the start of the Mendes Brothers, now famous, Believe And Achieve jiu-jitsu scholarship program, which focused on developing “diamonds in the rough” – young, highly talented athletes in need of a more structured development system. Dalpra was one of the first names out of the B&A workgroup to gain notoriety in jiu-jitsu’s international circuit.

In October 2020, after an incredible colored belt career, Tainan Dalpra was promoted to black belt by his instructor, Guilherme Mendes, while standing on the podium of the IBJJF Pan American Championship.

Tainan Dalpra vs Taylor Pearman 2020