Margot Ciccarelli

Margot Ciccarelli (Chinese: 鄧嘉寶; pinyin: Dèng Jiābǎo; born 17 November 1993) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor and coach.

Representing Italy, she is a multiple-time World, World Pro, World No-Gi and European Open Champion in the lower belt divisions. Ciccarelli is a three-time World Championship medalist, a three-time Pan American Championship medalist and a European Championship black belt medalist.

Ciccarelli was born on 17 November 1993 in London, the daughter of an Italian father and a Chinese mother. Raised in the UK, Ciccarelli learned Wushu from the age of 6 before progressing to Chinese kickboxing and Wing Chun Kung Fu. She took her first jiu-jitsu class just before her 19th birthday.

Ciccarelli trained in various academies around the world during her coloured belt years. She was promoted to blue belt in Hong Kong (under Atos) and purple belt in London (under Inglorious Grapplers). In May 2017, she joined New York based team Unity Jiu Jitsu and started training under Murilo Santana.

As a purple belt, she won the IBJJF World Championship twice, the European Championship twice, the Asian Open Championship three times and the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship twice. After receiving her brown belt from Santana in 2019, she won the World No-Gi Championship, the European Championship, the Pan No-Gi Championship and the 2020 American National Championship in both Gi and No-Gi in a year where the World Championship was not held.

2021-2022

Ciccarelli was promoted to black belt in May 2021 by Murilo Santana. In her first six months at black belt, she won silver at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship, silver at the Pan American Championship and bronze at the World Championship losing to Beatriz Mesquita in the semi-final by referee's decision (0x0 pts). Ciccarelli won bronze at the 2022 European Championship taking place in Rome, then bronze at the 2022 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. In October 2022, she moved to California to train under Guilherme Mendes at the Art of Jiu Jitsu.

2023

In March 2023, Ciccarelli won a silver medal in the featherweight division of the IBJJF Pan Championship. Ciccarelli then competed in the IBJJF World Championship 2023 on June 3 and 4, 2023 and won a bronze medal in the featherweight division after losing a close-fought match to Anna Rodrigues. She competed at the IBJJF Asian Championship 2023 on July 7 and won a gold medal in the lightweight division.

Ciccarelli won the lightweight division of the IBJJF Orange County Open on October 22, 2023.

While training jiu-jitsu, Ciccarelli also practised a variety of movement-based activities such as contemporary dance, hip hop dance and circus skills including flying trapeze and aerial straps. According to Ciccarelli, her aim is "to win with beautiful, superior movement quality and not just win for winning's sake."

Ciccarelli identifies as pansexual. In December 2022, she married her partner, Meg He, an e-commerce entrepreneur and co-founder of Aday, a sustainable clothing brand.

Main Achievements (at black belt level):

• 2nd place at Pan American Championship (2021 / 2023)
• 2nd place at Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship (2021)
• 3rd place at World Championship (2021 / 2022 / 2023)
• 3rd place at Pan American Championship (2022)

Main Achievements (at coloured belt level):

• 2x World Champion (2018, 2019 purple belt)
• World No-Gi Champion (2019 brown belt)
• 2x Abu Dhabi World Professional Champion (2018, 2019 purple belt)
• 3x European Champion (2017, 2018 purple belt, 2020 brown belt)
• Pan No-Gi Champion (2021 brown belt)
• American National Champion (2020 brown belt)
• American National No-Gi Champion (2020 brown belt)
• 3x Asian Champion (2016, 2017, 2018 purple belt)
• Pan Pacific Champion (2016 purple belt)

Rickson Gracie → Marcelo Behring → Mario Yamasaki → Murilo Santana → Margot Ciccarelli