Gezary Matuda Bandeira was born on the
12th of July, 1983 in Curitiba, state of Paraná – Brazil. Her martial arts life
started at the age of 15 through Capoeira. Two years later she added Muay Thai
to her training, influenced by her brother who was a thai-boxer at the time.
Gezary spent many years training, and it was through her Muay Thai coach that
she found Jiu Jitsu in 2004. Her striking coach believed she should add some
ground work to her training regime, as a result Matuda became a student of BJJ
coach, Carlos ‘Penão’ Alexandre Conceição (a black belt under Carlson Gracie).
Although Gezary had always requested her
Thai Boxing coach to fight, she never managed to get her time on the ring
competitively. In Jiu Jitsu, on the other hand, she started competing with less
then a month of training. This competitive facet of BJJ really captivated
Gezary who became more and more a Jiu Jitsu fan, relegating the striking game.
‘Penão’ awarded Gezary all her belts from
white to purple, after which Matuda moved to the United States with her
husband. There she sought out coach Ricardo Liborio and his American Top Team.
It was there that Gezary earned her brown and later her black belt (on July
2012) after winning the world championship
