Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Cole “Ice Cole” Abate is one of the most exciting new faces in the black belt division today, and a prominent face of the latest generation of American jiu-jitsu practitioners.

Long before that, he had already become a household name with his meteoric rise through the junior and juvenile divisions and his astounding performances against seasoned veterans of the sport. Cole’s journey in the gentle sport started early, when at the age of five he and his father were invited to check out a local jiu-jitsu academy. The first class made an impression on young Cole, and after a month of asking his parents to take him back, they did, signing him up that same day.

Like many athletic, competitive-minded kids, Cole was involved in several team sports as well. But the team aspect didn’t appeal to him: “I felt like not everyone was putting in the same effort, and that frustrated me. I wanted something where I didn’t have to feel held back and would allow me to have complete ownership over my results.” It wasn’t long until he decided to focus entirely on jiu-jitsu. From an early age, he demonstrated a preternatural talent and focus beyond his years. So it came as no surprise that, in his early teens, his family made the move to Costa Mesa, in part to allow Cole to train at the renowned AOJ Academy, where Gui and Rafael Mendes had developed one of the strongest competitive juvenile programs in the world. 

Cole’s jiu-jitsu career hit another gear. As just a 16-year old blue belt, he won the ADCC East Coast Trials, the youngest male athlete to do so, and earned his spot at the coveted ADCC World Championships. He followed that with back-to-back World Championship wins at purple and brown belt, before he was promoted to black belt by Gui Mendes after winning the Asian Open, which he counts as the highlight of his career. “I had envisioned so many times the way I would be promoted to black belt but could’ve never imagined it to be anything like that. The sport itself and my professors have so much history in Japan and that made everything really come full circle to me.” 

Without skipping a beat, Cole has already begun amassing a number of accomplishments in the black belt division, including the CBJJ Brasileiros championship win – becoming only the 4th American to do so. His creative and dynamic game draws crowds to his matches, where he employs the duck under in the gi and leg attacks in no-gi with almost surgical precision. The secret to his success: “What you give is what get. I’ve always believed in hard work, more quality time on the mat, and the extra work off the mats that no one was asking me to do is what would separate me from my competitors. Everyday demanding more of myself because I knew that the work was the only thing that stood in front of me before I could achieve my dreams.”