Giancarlo Bodoni

Giancarlo Bodoni was born on October 15, 1995, in Miami, Florida. His introduction to jiu-jitsu came unusually early and unusually direct: he trained for roughly eight years under Rilion Gracie, one of the most respected instructors within the Gracie family, working from white belt up through purple belt under Rilion's direct supervision. That long apprenticeship under a member of the sport's founding family gave Bodoni a fundamentals-first grounding that would carry through the rest of his career.

Seeking to sharpen his competitive edge, Bodoni later joined the Alliance team and began training extensively under Lucas Lepri, one of the most decorated lightweight competitors in IBJJF history. Lepri promoted him to brown belt in June 2018, and after a strong run that included a No-Gi World Championship title at brown belt in 2019 and a No-Gi Pan American title in 2020, Lepri awarded him his black belt on October 18, 2020, in a ceremony held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bodoni continued competing and coaching within the Alliance system, adding an IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championship title at black belt in 2021 while teaching at Bernardo Faria's academy in Massachusetts.

The turning point in Bodoni's career came in October 2021, when he left his teaching post in Massachusetts and relocated to Austin, Texas, to train under John Danaher alongside Gordon Ryan at what became New Wave Jiu-Jitsu. Danaher has since credited that move with transforming Bodoni's leg-lock game from a genuine weakness into one of his most dangerous weapons within about a year of intensive, systematized training. The results showed up almost immediately on the sport's biggest no-gi stage: in 2022, competing in a stacked 88-kilogram bracket, Bodoni won his first ADCC World Championship title, submitting veteran competitor Lucas "Hulk" Barbosa in the final.

Bodoni repeated the achievement in 2024, becoming the first competitor ever to win the ADCC World Championship's 88-kilogram division in back-to-back cycles — a distinction that places him among the most dominant lighter-heavyweight no-gi competitors of his era. That consistency, built on Danaher's methodical, detail-obsessed approach to leg attacks, back control, and positional chaining, has made Bodoni one of the most technically complete grapplers competing at his weight, equally comfortable initiating from top position as he is hunting for a leg entanglement in a scramble.

In 2025, Bodoni extended his career beyond pure grappling tournaments by signing with ONE Championship's submission grappling roster, making his promotional debut at ONE 173 in Denver against legendary veteran Rafael Lovato Jr. in a middleweight submission grappling contest. The move mirrors a broader trend of elite ADCC-level grapplers crossing into mixed combat-sports promotions, and it placed Bodoni — already a two-time world champion — in direct competition against one of the sport's most respected veterans on a global stage.

Bodoni's journey, from an eight-year Gracie-lineage apprenticeship through Alliance's competitive pipeline and finally into the Danaher system in Austin, reflects the way the highest levels of modern no-gi grappling increasingly reward athletes willing to seek out the most rigorous training environment available, regardless of team loyalty or geography — a willingness that turned him into a back-to-back ADCC champion.

Technical, fight-IQ-driven no-gi specialist with a heavily developed leg-lock and back-attack system