Talita Alencar "Problem Child"

Ana Talita de Oliveira Alencar was born on October 17, 1990, in Carutapera, Brazil. She began training Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 14 under Pirillo Roriz at a Gracie Barra academy, later training at Academia Blec before joining GF Team in Rio de Janeiro under Theodoro Canal. Competing for GF Team, she built a strong colored-belt résumé, culminating in a brown belt World Championship gold medal in 2016 that led to her black belt promotion under Julio Cesar Pereira the same year.

Shortly after earning her black belt, Alencar relocated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles and switching her competitive allegiance from GF Team to Alliance Jiu-Jitsu in 2016. Representing Alliance, she went on to become one of the most successful lightweight-and-below gi and no-gi competitors of her era, winning the IBJJF World Championship in 2017 and multiple IBJJF World No-Gi Championship titles in 2016, 2017, and 2021, along with a Pan American Championship, European No-Gi titles, and Abu Dhabi Grand Slam wins.

In the mid-2020s, Alencar made a notable crossover into professional mixed martial arts, signing with the UFC's women's strawweight division. She made her UFC debut in December 2023 with a split-decision win over Rayanne dos Santos, and has continued to compete and win in the Octagon since, training MMA out of American Combat Gym in Las Vegas. Her grappling pedigree has been a defining feature of her fighting style, with several of her wins coming by way of late submission.

Despite her full-time move into MMA, Alencar has not abandoned pure jiu-jitsu competition: she returned to the mats to win gold in the featherweight division at the 2024 IBJJF No-Gi Pan Championship, and later competed in the hybrid UFC BJJ event series, which pits UFC roster fighters against one another in jiu-jitsu-only matches.

Alencar's career is unusual in the sport for successfully bridging pure grappling and professional MMA at an elite level, and as of 2025-2026 she continues to be an active competitor in both the UFC's strawweight rankings and, intermittently, top-level IBJJF jiu-jitsu events.

An explosive, submission-hunting grappler whose relentless pace and finishing instincts translated directly into a professional MMA career, where she has become