Brazilian jiu-jitsu is having an American moment, and the numbers are not subtle. Participation in the United States has roughly doubled over the past decade, with estimates now placing the number of active practitioners somewhere between 750,000 and 1.5 million. Academies have multiplied into the thousands, anchored by hubs in Texas, California and Nevada, and the sport has quietly become a fixture for executives, founders and fitness seekers drawn to its mix of conditioning, problem-solving and community.
The competitive calendar tells the same story. Registrations for the IBJJF Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship climbed from 3,447 athletes in 2015 to more than 5,200 in recent years, per coverage in outlets such as GracieMag and FloGrappling. Regional stops like the IBJJF Denver Open draw thousands of competitors from grassroots schools and national chains alike, while Las Vegas has become the sport’s American capital, hosting the World Master IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship and Jiu-Jitsu Con. The federation behind those events is the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation.
Inside that growth story, careers like Washington Luiz Ferreira Campos’s explain what keeps people on the mat for decades. The Brazilian black belt’s competitive life began at home, with silver medals at the 2000 Brazilian Championship, the 2001 Copa Company and the 2002 Copa Alfarraba. More than twenty years later, he is still collecting hardware, now on the United States circuit, in both gi and no-gi divisions.
The results also span both of the sport’s formats. Campos has podiumed in the gi, the traditional uniform that allows grips on the fabric, and in no-gi, the faster, wrestling-influenced variant, a versatility that requires two distinct technical games. Coaches prize that adaptability in veteran black belts, because the same athlete who medals on Saturday can teach both styles on Monday, and Campos’s career has increasingly paired competition with exactly that kind of instructional role.
His recent record reads like a tour of the national calendar. Campos took bronze at the 2024 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship, gold at the 2026 IBJJF No-Gi Denver International Open and the 2026 Albuquerque International Open No-Gi Championship, and silver at the 2026 Albuquerque Open in the gi, the 2025 Denver Open and the 2024 Ft. Lauderdale Open. Bronze medals followed at the 2026 Denver Open, the 2025 Orange County Winter Open, the 2024 Denver Open and the 2021 CBJJD Pan American Championship.
Longevity of that kind is rare in a sport that punishes the body, and it has made Campos a valued representative of the Carlson Gracie Team. Seventh-degree coral belt Carlson Gracie Jr. has pointed to the visibility and team ranking points Campos brings the academy through high-level tournament appearances. His instructional ability carries equal weight: Ghost Squad Castle Rock Academy extended him a selective employment offer, with sixth-degree black belt Michel “Buiu” Pereira citing the uncommon pairing of competitive endurance and teaching skill.
For Campos, continuing to compete is both personal discipline and contribution. “I take pride in my training methodology, which emphasizes adaptability and continuous improvement,” Campos said. “By competing at an elite level, I contribute to the growing popularity of Jiu-Jitsu in the United States, aiming to inspire future generations of athletes and support the development of the sports community.”
His season is not slowing down. Upcoming dates include Denver’s NAGA Grappling Championship, the UFC BJJ Open and the World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship in Las Vegas. A quarter century after his first podium in Brazil, Campos remains what the sport’s boom is built on: a veteran still testing himself, and still showing newer athletes how long a career on the mat can last.
