Quick answer: Helena Crevar is an American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and submission grappler known for becoming one of the fastest-rising women’s no-gi competitors in the sport. She has been linked with John Danaher’s New Wave/Kingsway team, won major professional titles, medaled at ADCC, and won the women’s tournament at CJI 2.
Crevar’s rise is notable because it happened quickly against adult elite competition. She moved from highly successful juvenile and colored-belt results into major professional no-gi events, where she started beating established names while still very young.
Helena Crevar quick facts
| Detail | Summary |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Primary sport | No-gi submission grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu |
| Rank | BJJ black belt |
| Known for | Rapid rise, no-gi success, leg attacks, and major wins as a young adult competitor |
| Team/coaching context | Associated with John Danaher’s New Wave/Kingsway team in public profile sources |
| Major results | ADCC silver medalist, WNO champion, Polaris champion, CJI 2 women’s tournament winner |
| Promotion note | Signed with ONE Championship in 2025 and made a successful ONE debut in 2026 |
Who is Helena Crevar?
Helena Crevar is one of the clearest examples of the new professional grappling path. Instead of slowly becoming known only through traditional gi tournaments, she gained attention through no-gi superfights, ADCC, WNO, Polaris, CJI, and ONE Championship. That gives her profile a different shape from many older BJJ athletes.
Public profiles describe Crevar as a Las Vegas-born American grappler who moved to Austin as a teenager to train under John Danaher. She was promoted to black belt in 2025 after winning the IBJJF brown belt world title, and by then she was already competing against top adult black belts in professional no-gi events.
Career snapshot
Crevar’s 2024 and 2025 results moved her from prospect to contender. She won the 2024 ADCC West Coast Trials, took silver at the 2024 ADCC World Championship, and became one of the youngest ADCC podium athletes in the event’s history. In 2025, she added major professional wins, including a WNO title, a CJI 2 women’s tournament win, and a ONE Championship signing.
At CJI 2, Crevar won the women’s tournament and the $100,000 prize. MMA Fighting and MMA Mania both reported that she submitted Sarah Galvao in the final, while MMA Mania’s coverage emphasized that the field included elite names such as Adele Fornarino and Ana Carolina Vieira. That result made Crevar hard to treat as only a future prospect. She had already become part of the current elite conversation.
| Career area | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| ADCC | Her 2024 silver medal made her a major no-gi name while still very young. |
| WNO and Polaris | Showed she could win in professional superfight formats. |
| CJI 2 | Gave her one of the biggest women’s professional grappling tournament wins to date. |
| ONE Championship | Expanded her platform into a global promotion with submission grappling matches. |
Helena Crevar’s grappling style
Crevar’s game is aggressive, submission-oriented, and very comfortable in modern no-gi exchanges. She is often described through leg attacks and finishing ability, but the bigger pattern is that she does not wait passively for opponents to make mistakes. She pressures reactions and looks for direct routes to the finish.
- Leg attacks: Her CJI 2 final and ONE debut both reinforced her lower-body submission threat.
- No-gi pacing: She competes well in faster professional formats where action and initiative matter.
- Danaher-system influence: Public profile sources connect her to John Danaher’s New Wave/Kingsway environment, which helps explain the systematic finishing style.
- Composure against older opponents: A key part of her rise is that she has looked comfortable against experienced adult competitors.
ONE Championship and current context
ONE Championship announced Crevar’s signing in 2025, and MMA Fighting reported that she won her ONE debut in early 2026 against Teshya Noelani Alo by Estima lock. That debut matters because ONE gives Crevar a broader international stage while still allowing her profile to stay centered on submission grappling rather than MMA.
The main thing to watch is weight class and opponent level. Crevar has already competed in several formats and brackets, and professional grappling promotions do not always use the same divisions as IBJJF or ADCC. Her results are best understood using the exact weight and ruleset for each promotion rather than assuming one universal category.
Related grapplers and pages
Crevar’s competitive context includes coaches, teammates, rivals, and other young champions such as Gordon Ryan, John Danaher, Sarah Galvao, Adele Fornarino, Ana Carolina Vieira, and Elisabeth Clay. Those connections help place her leg-lock and no-gi results within the current professional field.
For rules context, see GrapplerHQ’s IBJJF no-gi rules guide and BJJ weight classes guide. Those pages help explain why tournament results can look different across IBJJF, ADCC, CJI, WNO, UFC BJJ, and ONE.
Why Helena Crevar is worth studying
Helena Crevar is worth studying because the profile connects results, style, and ruleset context instead of stopping at a short biography. A useful grappler profile should help readers understand what the athlete is known for, what their game looks like, and why those details matter when watching matches or comparing eras.
For Helena Crevar, the important reading is not only the list of achievements. It is how the athlete’s strengths show up under pressure: how they win grips, manage distance, force reactions, and turn positional advantages into points, control, or submissions.
What to study in Helena Crevar’s game
- Leg attacks: Her CJI 2 final and ONE debut both reinforced her lower-body submission threat. Leg attacks are most useful to study as entries, reactions, and finishing positions rather than isolated submissions.
- No-gi pacing: She competes well in faster professional formats where action and initiative matter. For study purposes, focus on how this habit connects positions instead of treating it as a single move.
- Danaher-system influence: Public profile sources connect her to John Danaher’s New Wave/Kingsway environment, which helps explain the systematic finishing style. For study purposes, focus on how this habit connects positions instead of treating it as a single move.
- Composure against older opponents: A key part of her rise is that she has looked comfortable against experienced adult competitors. For study purposes, focus on how this habit connects positions instead of treating it as a single move.
Training takeaways
The practical takeaway is to study sequences, not isolated moves. Look for the entry, the reaction it creates, the follow-up, and the way Helena Crevar keeps the match inside a preferred tempo. That is where a profile becomes useful for someone who trains.
It also helps to read the results through the ruleset. Gi, no-gi, ADCC-style scoring, professional submission grappling, and MMA-adjacent formats all reward different choices. The same athlete can look different depending on whether the match rewards guard passing, back control, submission hunting, overtime control, or positional risk management.
For more context, compare this profile with related GrapplerHQ pages such as /grappling/will-danaher-have-his-first-female-champion/, /profiles/gordon-ryan-grappler-profile/, /brazilian-jiu-jitsu/bjj-weight-classes/, /profiles/.
Sources and further reading
For readers who want more context on Crevar’s competition rise, CJI 2 win, ONE debut, and team context, these references are useful starting points.
- MMA Fighting’s ONE debut coverage for her 2026 match against Teshya Noelani Alo.
- MMA Fighting’s CJI 2 coverage for the women’s tournament result.
- MMA Mania’s CJI 2 women’s tournament report for final and field context.
- Helena Crevar profile reference for career-summary discovery and source trail.
FAQ
What is Helena Crevar known for?
Helena Crevar is known for her rapid rise in women’s no-gi grappling, ADCC silver medal, WNO and Polaris titles, CJI 2 women’s tournament win, and submission-focused style.
Is Helena Crevar a BJJ black belt?
Yes. Public profile sources report that Helena Crevar was promoted to BJJ black belt in 2025 after winning the IBJJF brown belt world title.
Did Helena Crevar win CJI?
Yes. Crevar won the women’s tournament at CJI 2 in 2025, submitting Sarah Galvao in the final according to event coverage.
Does Helena Crevar compete for ONE Championship?
Yes. ONE Championship announced Crevar’s signing in 2025, and she won her ONE debut in early 2026 by Estima lock, according to MMA Fighting’s event coverage.
