Helena Crevar Goes 2-0 In ONE — And BJJ's Future Looks Like Her
If you want a picture of where women's BJJ is heading, watch Helena Crevar. At ONE: The Inner Circle 22, the 19-year-old took a unanimous decision over Paige Ivette, moving to a perfect 2-0 in ONE…
If you want a picture of where women's BJJ is heading, watch Helena Crevar. At ONE: The Inner Circle 22, the 19-year-old took a unanimous decision over Paige Ivette, moving to a perfect 2-0 in ONE Championship and doing it in a way that should have every Jiu Jitsu practitioner — hobbyist or competitor — paying attention.
The scorecard says decision, but the ten minutes told a clearer story. Crevar controlled most of the match, working her way to mount, taking the back, and hunting the rear naked choke for long stretches. Ivette, to her enormous credit, defended everything — every choke attempt, every squeeze — and made Crevar settle for the win without the finish. You can see the moment on Instagram courtesy of ONE Championship.
One detail worth noting: after weight-cutting trouble ahead of her ONE debut — a submission win over Teshya Alo at ONE Fight Night 39 — this match was contested at openweight instead. Crevar took the bout anyway and controlled it anyway. That's its own statement.
Why a decision win is still a Jiu Jitsu masterclass
There's a temptation, especially among fans raised on highlight reels, to shrug at a grappling match that ends on the judges' scorecards. Resist it. What Crevar showed against Ivette is the part of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that actually wins matches at the highest level: positional dominance, patience, and the discipline not to give up mount or back control chasing a submission that isn't there.
That's a lesson worth stealing for your own training. Most of us, somewhere around blue belt, go through a phase of leaping at every submission and losing position for our trouble. The athletes at the top of the sport play it the other way around — position first, finish when it's offered. Crevar spent ten minutes on the back of a very tough opponent and never once bailed on control to force the choke. If a teenager contending for world titles can hold that discipline under lights, the rest of us can hold it on a Tuesday night roll.
And spare a thought for the other half of the equation. Ivette's defense — surviving extended back control against one of the best finishers in the sport — is a reminder that defensive Jiu Jitsu is a skill you build deliberately, not a thing that happens to you while you wait to lose.
The résumé is getting hard to ignore
Zoom out and the picture gets more impressive. This win comes only a month after Crevar retained her Polaris lightweight title with a submission over Amanda Pamela Nicole. Two ONE appearances, two wins, one finish, and a title defense on the side — after just two matches in the promotion, she's already firmly in title contention, whether that ends up being ONE's inaugural openweight strap or a challenge at lightweight or featherweight.
But the date every BJJ fan should circle is ADCC 2026. Crevar took silver in the under-65kg division at ADCC 2024, and this time she's moving up to over 65kg. At 19 years old, she has a genuine chance to become the youngest female ADCC world champion in history. Read that again: the biggest stage in submission grappling, a heavier division, and a teenager walking in as a legitimate favorite to make history.
What it means for the rest of us on the mats
Every generation of Jiu Jitsu produces a few athletes who reset expectations of what's possible at a given age — and each time, the whole sport levels up behind them. When a 19-year-old is controlling elite opposition at openweight, it tells you the pipeline of coaching, competition opportunity, and sheer mat time available to young grapplers today is producing something the sport hasn't seen before. That rising tide reaches your academy too, in the form of sharper young training partners and better instruction filtering down.
It also matters that Crevar is doing this in women's divisions that, not so long ago, struggled for main-card slots and meaningful paydays. Every dominant run like hers makes the next promoter's decision to invest in women's grappling easier, and gives the next generation of girls walking into a BJJ academy a clear picture of what the ceiling looks like. Spoiler: there isn't one.
Keep an eye on ADCC 2026. If Crevar does there what she's been doing everywhere else, we'll be talking about this stretch of her career for a long time.
Until then — position before submission. See you on the mats.
Original report via BJJEE.