Dominyka Obelenyte is a lithuanian born, Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Marcelo Garcia who belongs to the first generation of high end athletes developed by the legendary 4x ADCC champion, being also his first female black belt. Regarded as a true grappling phenomenon since her early teens Dominyka Obelenyte proved her star quality by consistently winning at the highest level of the sport, being one of the youngest ever world champions in an adult division (14 years of age), a deed only surpassed by Luzia Fernandes.Dominyka Obelenyte was born on the 30th of July, 1995 in the historical city of Kaunas, Lithuania. She left the country at the age of 6, with her family, moving to the United States.Feeling that Dominyka would be best equipped to ward off bullies and trouble makers if she had a good understanding of self defence, Obelenyte’s father enlisted her in ju-jutsu classes, the traditional (japanese) style of jiu jitsu, when she was 7 years old.Aged 9, Dominyka moved once again, this time to New Jersey. Although her father tried to find another traditional ju-jutsu club, none was around and she ended up joining a tae kwon do (TKD) dojo. Obelenyte did not settle at the TKD gym, deeming the system weak and unrealistic. The family continued in search for a viable alternative combat syle until they found a Brazilian jiu jitsu advert. The advert was for an academy in Fair Lawn, led by coach Louis Vintaloro.At Louis Vintaloro’s gym (a Gracie Humaitá affiliate), Dominyka Obelenyte found the martial art she was hoping for. She became increasingly interested and more focussed in the techniques and the training, being promoted by Louis up until her orange belt.After receiving the orange belt, Dominyka opted to leave Vintaloro’s academy, following her senior teammates’ footsteps (JT Torres and Jay Hayes) who had joined TLI’s gym in Maryland. During this period, as Maryland was a long drive from New Jersey, Dominyka would have private classes with JT (who awarded her green belt) and with Emily Kowk. Emily and young Dominyka bonded well and it was the legendary female black belt who later convinced Obelenyte to visit Marcelo Garcia‘s academy in New York.Dominika’s astonishing talent pushed her up the ranks quickly in the MG academy, earning her brown belt from Marcelo at the age of 17. This meteoric rise was justified with sequential wins at the world championship, and earned her, her black belt on the 15th of January, 2015.In her first year at black belt, Dominyka Obelenyte achieved double gold at the 20th World Jiu Jitsu Championship, in Long Beach, California.On September 2016 Dominyka announced through her social media accounts that she was no longer training under Garcia, having moved to Fábio Clemente’s gym and claiming personal reasons for her team-swap.During the month of June 2015, Obelenyte launched a campaign for equal pay between men and women in the sport, as a reaction to the sport’s main federation’s (IBJJF) unbalanced payment scheme announcement, ahead of their Pro League event. The petition named “Give female competitors equal financial opportunities and rewards” created a big buzz around the subject and led the IBJJF to reevaluate their prize money.Banner picture courtesy of Jiu Jitsu Style.