Kaynan Duarte "Thanos"

Kaynan Casemiro Duarte was born on January 24, 1998, in Pederneiras, São Paulo, a small city that has produced a disproportionate number of elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors. He came up through the sport with a wrestling-influenced, pressure-oriented style, joining Atos Jiu-Jitsu under André Galvão in 2016 and earning his black belt from Galvão in 2018 after sweeping the brown belt heavyweight and absolute divisions at the World IBJJF Championship that year.

At black belt, Duarte quickly became one of the most dominant heavyweights of his generation. He won gold at the 2018 World No-Gi Championship, captured his first ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship title in the heavyweight division in 2019, and added IBJJF World titles in 2021 and 2022. His competitive record includes a setback in 2020, when he accepted a one-year sanction from USADA after testing positive for ostarine following an in-competition sample at the 2019 IBJJF Worlds; he was stripped of that title as a result, with USADA crediting the reduced ban to evidence that the trace amount detected was consistent with cross-contamination rather than intentional use.

Duarte returned to form and, if anything, accelerated his rise. He won the ADCC light heavyweight division in 2022, took gold at the 2023 European Championship in both the super-heavyweight and absolute divisions, and delivered the standout performance of ADCC 2024, winning both the under-99kg weight class and the absolute division en route to being named the event's Best Athlete. Those results cemented him as one of the sport's most feared heavyweights across both gi and no-gi competition.

In February 2026, Duarte's long tenure at Atos came to a public end. The departure followed serious allegations of sexual misconduct against Atos founder André Galvão, first raised publicly by former student Alexa Herse, which prompted a wider exodus of athletes and affiliate schools from the Atos organization. In his own statement, Duarte thanked Galvão for the partnership that had begun in 2016 and for the coaching that helped build his career, while describing an 'exclusively athletic role' within the organization and framing his exit as the start of a new chapter rather than a rebuke. Multiple other prominent Atos-affiliated competitors and academies separated from the team around the same time, and Atos HQ subsequently announced that Galvão and his wife would step back from all organizational roles.

As of mid-2026, no new team affiliation for Duarte had been confirmed through verified reporting; he has continued to compete and train ahead of a confirmed ADCC 2026 superfight against Yuri Simoes for the vacant title. Regardless of where he lands, Duarte's combination of explosive top pressure, back-take proficiency, and championship pedigree across both the ADCC and IBJJF World Championship circuits keeps him among the most accomplished active heavyweights in the sport.

An explosive, pressure-heavy grappler who combines a wrestling base with relentless top control, using guard passing and back exposure to grind opponents down o