Alef Brito Morais is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Wellyton Menezes, Rildo Paiva, and Marcos Santana, who also worked extensively with Osvaldo Moizinho, being a representative of the Ares JJ team in the sport’s international circuit. After a stellar career in the colored belt divisions where Brito conquered numerous International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) tournaments, Alef’s first head-turning moment as a fresh black belt took place at the Copa Podio Lightweight Grand Prix (2019), where he submitted World Championship silver medal Tommy Langaker.Alef Brito was born on January 19, 1995, in Caxias, a municipality located on the state of Maranhão in the Northeast region of Brazil, moving to the neighboring Buriticupu as an infant, where he spent his formative years.During his childhood Alef’s sporting interest was strongly grounded on football (soccer), which he played competitively for a number of years, while also dabbing into the world of martial arts through capoeira and taekwondo. It was only when Brito reached his pre-teens (11-12YO) that he was introduced to jiu-jitsu by a few of his friends who already practiced the ‘gentle art’ with the teachings being led by coaches Wellyton Menezes and Rildo Paiva.Brito’s early BJJ career was spent with a light training schedule, and it was only at the age of 15 that Alef truly set more ambitious goals for his career. Although he believed in his talent and worked hard to reach the top of the sport, Alef did not relinquish his academic studies, moving to São Luis (Maranhão) to join college, where he finished his accounting degree.Reaching São Luis as a purple belt, Alef maintained his training schedule with his longtime coach Wellyton, who had also moved to the city at around the same time. Soon coach Rildo joined the new club also, and Brito continued his progression with both his original coaches, earning his black belt from Wellyton, Rildo, and Marcos Santana (overseer) on July 14, 2018.After finishing his degree, Alef decided to finally compete abroad, a dream of his momentarily left on the back-burner to focus on his studies. Coming from a small team in one of the most remote states in Brazil, Brito lacked the ‘link-building’ expertise and had very few references in the United States. Under these less favorable conditions, Alef did not perform to the best of his abilities at the brown belt division of the IBJJF Pan Championship that year (2018).Although his first try at a high-level tournament in a foreign land did not go as planned, Alef did manage to reach out to Osvaldo Moizinho, who opened the doors of his academy to Alef and offered that he joined his academy (Ares BJJ) in Modesto, California. An offer accepted by the young athlete that year.