Francisco Jonas Borges Andrade, commonly known as Jonas Andrade, is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cicero Costha and Murilo Santana, as well as a representative of the Cicero Costha (PSLPB) / Unity Academy coalition in the sport’s international circuit. Jonas Andrade became widely recognized as one of his generation’s best competitors after his numerous accolades in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) and UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation (UAEJJF) tournament scene.Jonas Andrade was born on June 16, 1996, in Bairro Planalto do Pici, a neighborhood located on the city of Fortaleza, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará.Growing up Andrade practiced futsal (indoor soccer) for a few years before mixed martial arts (MMA) captured his interest. Influenced by the top MMA fighters, Jonas decided to join a muay Thai gym at the age of 13 with coaches Eduardo “Cahorrão” and Thiago Cão.While enjoying gym life, Jonas made a few friends who trained both MT with him and jiu-jitsu. Andrade used to make fun of these friend’s BJJ practice, deeming it “unmanly” to be rolling around on the floor with another man. Eventually, his friends Thiago Cabeça and Luciano Kleiton convinced Jonas to roll with them, and the result was described as a “demolition” by Thiago and Luciano on the floor. This event led Andrade to sign on to grappling classes on February 12, 2012.Jonas’ first jiu-jitsu coach was Leandro Siva, under whose guidance Andrade fell in love with the sport. By the time he was a white belt, the young Ceará native was already living the lifestyle of a full-time grappler, with all his resources channeling towards competition and training.In 2014 Andrade traveled south, to São Paulo, to compete at the CBJJE World Championship. The intent was to do both the CBJJE event and the IBJJF Rio Open a few weeks later, but the commute up and down the country made his return unfeasible. Instead, Jonas requested to stay at the Cicero Costha academy during the interval between the two competitions, an offer accepted by the legendary Master.Upon his return from the São Paulo experience, and galvanized by the outstanding level of training at Costha’s gym, Jonas was fully convinced he wanted to move to São Paulo to pursue a career in jiu-jitsu. His mother prevented him from going immediately, forcing her son to remain until he finished high school.As a 17-year-old, Jonas finally made the permanent trip to São Paulo, where he settled in Cicero’s famous Fighter House. A free hostel for the team’s sponsored athletes. With the help of Costha and sponsors such as André Papini, Andrade started traveling the world and reaping the rewards of his hard work, quickly becoming one of the major players in the colored belt division.During his many travels to compete abroad, Jonas established a strong connection with the Unity Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York, USA, a gym with very open-minded views on team-training. The gym’s head coach, Murilo Santana, also had strong ties with the Cicero Costha team, with Unity being a point of reference for many PSLPB students.After a fantastic year as a brown belt (2018-2019), with a series of positive competitive results, Jonas Andrade was finally promoted to black belt, in June 2019. The award ceremony was led by both Cicero Costha and Murilo Santana.