Maybelline Masuda is from the province of Laguna but was raised in Metro Manila, Philippines. Earning her black belt at age 29 in 2018, she trains under Deftac, which belongs to the Ribeiro Jiu-jitsu Association. She began grappling when she was 14 years old for one year, but began formal training in the Gi when she was 18.
As she puts it, “I had just transferred from an exclusive all-girl catholic school to a co-ed where I met an awesome group of friends, they all happened to be guys and at the time they had been spending their weekends training at a Filipino martial art called Hybrid Yaw Yan, some Vale Tudo and grappling as well. They invited me to tag along, as I was intrigued with their stories and since I was always open to trying new things, I went with them. Our coach at the time wanted me to learn self-defense first so it all came down to learning Jiu-jitsu and as we progressed, I felt like I was pretty good at it; and that was the beginning of my grappling journey”.
These days, she trains under Sensei Alvin Aguilar who also happens to be her partner in life, adding “I’ve been learning from him ever since I started training in the gi, for 12 years.”. She also says Aguilar is one of her biggest influences in BJJ and claims “I would say in the beginning it was always Kyra Gracie. Later on, when I got injured and was forced to understand and develop a guard game it was Michelle Nicolini. System wise the most influential are Sensei Alvin Aguilar and Sensei Saulo Ribeiro.”
Masuda’s favourite guard is shin on shin and spider guard whilst in the Gi and adds “My go-to sweep has always been this really special setup from the Curucuru guard designed by Sensei Rodrigo Pagani.”. When passing, she adds “I always like to force half guard first and then work my way up for the pass but if I run into some trouble the floating hip and shin to shin passes work well for me too”. When submitting, she favours armbars but has also started attacking lower-body submissions more, going after kneebars and toeholds.
Madusa is also a keen competitor and states “I compete in the galo division under 48kg. I must note however that “back in the day” well before 2014 there was no galo division, so earlier on from 2008 I competed quite a lot at Pluma and I always signed up for the absolute. But after this quarantine, maybe I will be fighting Pena for the first time…just kidding.”
In terms of her biggest achievements Masuda has won a number of high profile medals and claims her biggest achievements “Used to be those shiny medals from the Mundials and Asian Beach Games, but now it really is just being able to train and compete even after giving birth and while raising our kids full-time!”. With this said, her priorities have shifted since becoming a mother and now finds joy in other parts of her life.
Masuda expands on motherhood, which is a topic which often doesn’t get much attention in the BJJ world – as she puts it “When your husband is a black belt and you have an academy, not even becoming a mom will get in the way of finding your way back on the mat. I’ve definitely been fortunate in this regard, although I did take halfway through my pregnancy away from the mats, I was back on them as soon as I gave birth. We’ve also been fortunate to have a child who easily adapted to the lifestyle that enabled us to take her everywhere we went and that included the gym. But hypothetically if I wasn’t as fortunate as I have been, maybe I would have less time but I wouldn’t say no time – ’cause I would make time. An athlete and mother I truly look up to is Karen Antunes, I had wondered for a long time if I still had it in me to compete after giving birth and focusing all my attention on the kids and so I asked her how she does it… she gave me a simple answer she said, “I love Jiu-jitsu too much, I can’t be away from the mat. It wasn’t easy but we find a way.” That is amazing.”
She is also philosophical about her struggles on the mat and states “Every opponent I’ve had the honour to face was tough, but honestly each time I had to fight it was always myself who was the hardest.”. BJJ is often not only mentally tough but also physically trying as she adds “I’ve torn some ligaments, one is actually completely torn but it’s fine now, and what’s wonderful about jiu-jitsu is how we are able to adapt and work around these.”
However, Masuda is not quite done with competing yet and says “Hopefully when things normalize and there is a vaccine available for Covid19, maybe 2 more years competing in the adult. I’ve never fought in the mundials at black belt so that’s sort of a goal on my bucket list I want to tick off someday. I think it’s worth a shot”
Interestingly, Masuda is the first female black belt in the Philippines. Here she reflects fondly about the growth of female BJJ in the Philippines which is beginning to blossom, “It’s amazing how far we have come from those days that you could hardly find a woman training Jiu-jitsu at a gym and barely having enough female athletes fo fill-up the brackets at tournaments; this was my personal experience, as I had been the only girl training at my academy for years! I would say, definitely that a lot has changed; our chapters around the country have groups of amazing women training and looking out for each other. The scene has changed a lot too, in fact, it’s the women in the sport, particularly here in the Philippines, that are helping raise awareness and bringing more attention to Jiu-jitsu not just among women but the whole country, as it’s the girls in our sport who have been bringing home great honour winning notable medals abroad. It has also helped that a clearer picture of Jiu-jitsu being the most effective form of self-defense and exercise is being painted, and this is what is attracting more girls to go on this journey.”
Not only this, but BJJ in general is on the rise in the country as she also mentions “It’s definitely a popular sport that people understand now more than ever as Filipinos really, truly enjoy MMA which has grappling attributes. It’s wonderful that purists and practitioners from other martial arts are seeking to become well-rounded and so are training Jiu-jitsu as well. What’s most remarkable is that majority of the people that you will find getting into Jiu-jitsu are doing it to have a good time, to be surrounded with friends they can call family, all while exercising. Not everybody wants to compete but the lifestyle and culture is definitely something a lot of new practitioners are attracted to.”
Having said this, Masuda also adds that weapon-based martial arts are still popular in her country and claims “It really depends where you are, I would personally consider Jiu-jitsu mainstream here in the city and in the urban areas as everybody pretty much knows what Jiu-jitsu is, or have some idea what it is. But if we were to look at the general population, stick-fighting, arnis and FMA are definitely more commonly known.”
A friendly character, Masuda ends by saying “Our doors are always open to jiu-jitsu practitioners from around the world, hope to meet and train with more people to make up for all this lost time in quarantine soon! You can find me at Deftac” for more information you can find her here www.deftacphilippines.com
