Kulumbetova Zhibek

Zhibek Kulumbetova is one of the most decorated young grapplers Kazakhstan has produced — an eleven-time World Champion across jiu-jitsu and grappling, and at the age of 18, the reigning Jiu-Jitsu World Champion at -48 kg following her debut senior gold in Bangkok. She competes at purple belt, represents Kazakhstan internationally, and trains out of the Samat Ramazanov Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Academy.

Kulumbetova's path onto the mats began in Astana at the age of nine, after a school physical education teacher noticed her aptitude in running and long jump and pointed her family toward the sport. She began her training in the Sagadat Batyr Hall named after Sagadat Nurmagambetov, where — as the only girl on the mats in her early years — she developed against the boys in her cohort, an environment she has credited for both her technical grounding and her competitive temperament.

The results came early and have not stopped. At twelve, she was already a two-time World Champion in jiu-jitsu. By seventeen, she had claimed her tenth world title with a double-gold performance at the 2024 Grappling World Championships in Astana, defeating opponents from Ukraine, Spain, Russia, and Kazakhstan across both Gi and No-Gi brackets. On the Asian circuit, she has assembled six Asian Jiu-Jitsu Championship golds across 2022, 2023, and 2024, and added a Gold at the 2024 World Jiu-Jitsu Cup in Croatia. Her senior breakthrough arrived in 2025, when she captured the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in Bangkok, defeating opponents from eight countries en route to her first senior world title.

Her record extends beyond jiu-jitsu and grappling. She is a World Sambo Cup bronze medallist and an AIGA Asian Championship winner, reflecting a competitor whose technical base has translated cleanly across adjacent disciplines. In Kazakhstan, she has become one of the most recognised faces of the country's emerging grappling generation.

Asked about her ambitions, she has spoken plainly: "My dream is to raise the blue flag and become a multiple champion. I want to prove to the world that Kazakh girls are strong." She has now built a career consistent with that statement — and at eighteen, with her senior debut already on the top step, she is squarely positioned among the most promising women's competitors in her weight class globally.