2016 saw the arrival of a new star in women's jiu-jitsu. Alliance's Tayane Porfirio was promoted to black belt on the podium after winning her weight category at Worlds.

With only on year as a brown belt, she conquered the Abu Dhabi World Pro (winning gold in both weight and absolute in the combined brown-black division), double gold at the IBJJF European championships, and god at the UAEJJF's London and Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam events.

Porfirio is an ultra heavyweight competitor. With the UAEJJF changing the upper weight limits for both male and female competitors and abolishing the absolute division, Porfirio is one of the most high-profile athletes to be affected by the new rules.

With the new upper limit for women placed at 90kg, Porfirio's challenge is to diet down to 88kg so she can make weight for UAEJJF tournaments.

I started dieting about a month ago, they want the women's division to be 90kg, and I decided to lose weight to feel more agile. 

"I'm working with a sports nutritionist that is helping me a lot and monitoring me," says Porfirio.

With a starting weight of 130kg (285lb), the road ahead of Porfirio won't be easy. That means to reach her goal she will have lost a total of 42kg (93lb) to be able to compete in UAEJJF events.

With her weight already dropping, she even thinks it's possible that she may reach her target weight in time to compete at next year's World Pro.



The process isn't easy, but for now Porfirio is enjoying the challenge and is already seeing the results.

I'm enjoying this phase of the diet, it's cool to see the results. It's only difficult because of the fact I'm completely addicted to sweets! That's the hardest part for me. 

Even she has competed her entire career at ultra heavyweight, Tayane is known for her explosive and agile game. She pulls guard and likes to use the uses lasso to sweep her opponents, and has fast and explosive guard passing.

Should Porfirio hit her goal of 88kg, opponents and analysts may wonder how it will affect her jiu-jitsu.

"If I hit 88kg I think I'll stop being a guard passer and I'll opt to play guard!" she laughs. "At this weight I'll be really ripped, and it will really change my game."

Related Posts:

• Tayane Porfirio: 'The Next Gabi Garcia'
• Tayane Porfirio Promoted To Black Belt At IBJJF 2016 Worlds
• Tayane Porfirio vs Mackenzie Dern 2016 World Pro
• Tayane Porfirio vs Beatriz Mesquita 2016 World Pro

Click here to watch 18 of Tayane's matches in the FloGrappling match archives!