The bond between Larissa and Enderson Dias, twins who won this season’s Pans together, goes far beyond the celebration seen at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, in the United States. Larissa already has a strong elite résumé. She is a two-time IBJJF world champion and now a three-time Pans champion. In the women’s heavyweight final, she beat Maria Malyjasiak with strategic control and locked up the top spot on the podium. Speaking with The Mat Nation after her latest title, she said Enderson played a huge role in her collection of wins. “He believed more than I did,” she said. In fact, it was her brother who always pushed her to commit fully to Jiu-Jitsu, sure that this was the path to follow.
Winning an IBJJF Grand Slam is always a big deal, but for Enderson Dias, it meant even more. That gold medal, earned after a war in the medium heavyweight final against Alex Munis, made him understand, with total clarity, that the hardships of the past had an expiration date. Those struggles expired on March 30, the last day of the Pans, a Sunday dedicated to the adult black belt finals. In an exclusive interview with The Mat Nation, Enderson said making a living from Jiu-Jitsu was always a mission he could never ignore. “Plan B was always to make plan A work, to make Jiu-Jitsu work,” he stressed.
Read the full interview with the Dias siblings:
THE MAT NATION – You grew up in Engenho Novo, in Rio de Janeiro. What was each of your first contact with Jiu-Jitsu like, and when did it stop being just an activity and become a life project?
LARISSA DIAS – Between 16 and 17, I was looking for a physical activity to help me lose weight. I wanted to start swimming, and I only went to the Jiu-Jitsu academy to watch my brother train. The Jiu-Jitsu community is very welcoming, and they always talked to me and invited me to train. I’d tell them I didn’t like it and that I preferred swimming. Finally, after so much insistence, they found me a gi and I decided to take a trial class. It was love at first sight. It felt a little strange at first, but very interesting. I moved from GFTeam Engenho Novo, with coach Maurício Abreu, where I trained for about 3 months, to GFTeam Headquarters because it was closer to my house. HQ was an academy of professional athletes. So as soon as I joined, people talked a lot about competing. I started in February 2015, and in March the GFTeam in-house tournament took place. I decided to compete and I won. I celebrated so much, maybe even more than my first world title at black belt (laughs). In 2016, I competed at the Brazilian Nationals and won at adult white belt. After that, I decided I wanted to go pro. Everyone at the academy told me the Brazilian Nationals were the hardest tournament to win, and I did it. That lit the flame to believe in this dream.
ENDERSON DIAS – I started training at 16, through a friend named Caio. We met in high school, and since he lived in Engenho Novo, we were always doing a lot of things together. He was a Jiu-Jitsu blue belt and invited me to train. That’s how I had my first class, at the Campanella academy, a very traditional gym in the neighborhood, with coach Maurício Abreu. From the very first session, I fell in love with the art.
THE MAT NATION – At any point, did one of you directly influence the other to stay in the sport? How has your relationship as siblings affected, positively or negatively, your journey in Jiu-Jitsu?
LARISSA DIAS – Well, I was always a very good student in school, and I had a lot of plans to pursue an academic path before I fell in love with Jiu-Jitsu. When I decided to go pro, I always had a plan B, which was college. Before Jiu-Jitsu, I was leaning toward studying Law and Environmental Engineering. Being a professional Jiu-Jitsu athlete while juggling two degrees wouldn’t work. So I chose Nutrition, a program that would help my athletic career. My brother never wanted to go to college because he believed 100% in the dream of being an athlete. He was sure he’d be a champion and find success through Jiu-Jitsu. But he always motivated me and helped me a lot in training. I think he believed I’d be a champion more than I did. I always give my best in everything I do. I trained all day, asked questions to the higher belts, and trained with people who were better than me. I got beaten up a lot, but I always used that as a positive experience to improve.
ENDERSON DIAS – Yes, martial arts came into our lives through our father, Anderson, who was a Muay Thai fighter. So fighting was always part of our daily lives since childhood. After we finished high school, we decided to go to college and chose Nutrition, because it was connected to Jiu-Jitsu, healthy eating and well-being. But for me, there was never a plan B. Plan B was always to make plan A work, to make Jiu-Jitsu work. So I went to college mostly to make my parents proud, but Jiu-Jitsu was always my true passion. That’s how I saw myself in the future: making a living from the sport I love. In 2020, during the pandemic, we were living in São Paulo and studying Nutrition. But because of the pandemic, our lives basically stopped, both in training and professionally. That’s when I decided to put college on hold and become a full-time athlete, 100% focused on Jiu-Jitsu. For my sister, it was a very tough phase because she didn’t want to stop college. That’s when I told her: “For us to reach the level we want, we need to be 100% focused on our careers right now. I know you’re going to become a world champion. Let’s make a living from Jiu-Jitsu and give our parents a better life.” It was a hard moment for her. For me, it was natural. I always knew, since I was a kid, that I would make a living from fighting. It’s in my blood. And that was the moment we took the biggest step of our careers.
THE MAT NATION – Today you both make a living from Jiu-Jitsu in the United States, something many athletes dream of. What was the turning point in your journey that made this go from a distant idea to reality?
LARISSA DIAS – My brother and I were always good athletes. We were always winning or reaching the podium among the best. I think we were already known in the Jiu-Jitsu community since blue belt, because we always trained hard and worked a lot to perform well at tournaments. In my opinion, my brother is even more dedicated than me in some areas. But we always knew that to make a comfortable living from the sport, it was important to make the move to the United States. It’s a country that values athletes and makes it possible to cover the costs of an athlete’s life, and it offers more sponsorship opportunities. This is the place where we can work with what we love and have a comfortable life. We moved to the United States in 2021. I had just received my black belt, and my brother was promoted in January 2022. We came abroad through an opportunity we had to represent an academy, training and competing at tournaments. That’s how we decided to come.
ENDERSON DIAS – In 2021, we decided to move to the United States. As we know, living in Brazil as an athlete isn’t easy. Every athlete faces a lot of obstacles: lack of recognition, few financial resources and no support for international travel, especially for the most important events on the circuit. My sister and I come from a very humble background. We never had the money to pay for travel or invest in our careers to compete at major tournaments. We worked and did everything we could, but it still wasn’t enough. We knew that moving to a country like the United States would take us to another level. We would have more opportunities, more chances to land sponsors and, above all, more financial support to invest in competitions. We always had great results in the colored belts. We won the most important tournaments in Jiu-Jitsu. But we also knew that if we tried to live off the sport in Brazil, we could unfortunately end up giving up our dream to work in another field. Even with little, we always believed and did our best. We won IBJJF, CBJJ and AJP tournaments, which made us known in Brazil and opened the doors for us to be able to live here today.
THE MAT NATION – The IBJJF Pans already carries enormous weight, but this time you, as twins, were champions at the same edition. What does this moment mean to each of you individually, and what makes it different to have lived it side by side?
LARISSA DIAS – For me, watching my brother win is a huge privilege. I know how hard he works to win the titles he wants so much. At these Pans I became a three-time champion, but it always made me sad to see my brother lose; I know how much he deserves it. This edition will stand out in our story. It was the first time we both made the final of an IBJJF Grand Slam, and even better, we both came out champions. So for me, watching my brother reach his goals is an indescribable feeling. I have no words. I’m just very grateful to God for letting me live this moment.
ENDERSON DIAS – It was very special. I’ve been trying to win this tournament for 5 years. My sister has already won the Pans three times. She always encouraged me and said my time would come. I just needed to keep working hard and put everything in God’s hands. Everything happened in a way that was much bigger and better than I could have imagined. An incredible feeling. I’m grateful to God for living this with her!
THE MAT NATION – Today you’re on the same team, Elementum Jiu-Jitsu, in Florida. How does this current phase reflect everything you’ve been through so far, and where does each of you still want to go from here?
LARISSA DIAS – For me, talking about Elementum is talking about home, about family, about a warm and welcoming place. Our academy is small and we know everyone. We root for each other and we’re very close. We’re not a competition team, but everything we do at Elementum we do with excellence, because our head coach, Tarsis da Gama, and his wife, Martina, teach us that every day. My goal after the Pans is to keep training for the Worlds and, God willing, become a three-time world champion. Seeing my brother win his first world title is also among my priorities.
ENDERSON DIAS – It’s a huge pleasure to be part of Elementum. It’s our home, where we have our master, Tarsis da Gama, who is my mentor, father figure and friend. We’re very happy to be living all of this with our team. The goal is to show how the power of teamwork and unity can produce incredible results. Our academy isn’t a big team, but we share a single purpose, and that’s what makes this place magical. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us. I’m very committed and motivated to chase my first world title this year.
This article was originally published in Portuguese: read the original version.
