Johnatha Alves began training at the age of 9 years old and moved from São Paulo, Brazil to Costa Mesa, California in 2014 as the first member of the Believe & Achieve program. In his first year of the program, Alves won juvenile double gold at the IBJJF Europeans, Pan Ams and World championships. He continued to build his name in the colored belts, winning multiple world titles and also beating notable black belt world champions. Alves was awarded his black belt on the mat from Professor Gui Mendes after winning the 2019 IBJJF World Championships. Since receiving his black belt, Alves has won 4x Pan Ams titles and in 2023, finally achieved his goal of becoming a black belt world champion.
