Giovanna Jara
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Costa Rica, Brazil
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About Us
Giovanna Jara was born on January 23, 2003, in Costa Rica a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, growing in in Campo Grande, also in MGS.
Drawn to sports from an early age, Giovanna started playing handball in the scholastic circuit as a child, an activity she would play for a number of years.
At the age of 10, when watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) with her father was somewhat of a family ritual, Jara became growingly interested in fighting, particularly fascinated by grappling. The interest propelled Giovanna’s dad to sign her on to a local jiu-jitsu gym – GFTeam Campo Grande.
After a handful of classes, Giovanna was already hooked on the sport, and shortly after she started competing and doing well in the local tournament scene. The victories would lead Jara to compete at a national level in her early teens, winning her first Brazilian title at the age of 13.
Sometime after being promoted to blue belt, Giovanna changed training camps and switched to Alliance – Campo Grande – where the roll of positive results kept coming and where she earned her purple belt.
Despite her good results on the mats, Jara was struggling financially and saw no professional future in the sport. Resigned to what the future had in store for her, Giovanna decided to put her sporting aspirations aside and become a BJJ hobbyist, settling for a life outside of the sport and accepting a marriage offer from her, then-boyfriend.
Soon after Giovanna decided to quit seeking a professional route for her sporting endeavor she received information that the Dream Art project – one of the sports foremost pro teams – was looking for a female athlete of her weight for their squad. After following the application process, Jara was accepted.
At the time, Dream Art only had lodging for the male squad, nevertheless, Jara immediately jumped on the opportunity to join the workgroup, leaving her hometown and her settled life to pay for her own room as she tried to finally go pro. Giovanna arrived on January 2021 and was finally moved on to the Fighter’s House in April of that year.
Under the guidance of Dream Art’s coaches, Giovanna’s career went above and beyond anything she had done previously, earning her brown belt from coach Isaque Bahiense in June 2022 after a double gold medal at the IBJJF World Championship. Jara would change teams and join Fratres in 2023, earning her black belt on May 23 of that year, from her mother, Lucinha Jara.
