Ashley Louise Bendle was born on 29 March 1997. She started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) at the age of five.[2] After completing all the youth belts, she received her blue belt at age 16 and started competing in the adult division.[3] Bendle trained in Swansea under Chris Rees, the first Welsh BJJ black belt.[b] At 17 she won silver at the 2015 IBJJF European Open Championship, competing in the light feather (-53.5 kg) division.[4]
After receiving her purple belt from Rees in 2015, Bendle became British featherweight champion and then won bronze at the European championship.[3][5] In 2016 she won gold at the European No-Gi Championship. In 2018 she was one of six athletes to be sponsored by the UKBJJA to compete at the IBJJF European Championship in Lisbon where she won bronze.[6] Bendle was promoted to black belt by Rees in 2019.[7]
Black belt career
2021–2022
In September 2021, Bendle fought in the first edition of the ADCC Submission Fighting Championship European Trials taking place in Poland where she arrived second in the -60 kg category.[8]
Competing at Polaris 18 on 27 November 2021, she defeated Kate Bacik via 1 Round Decision.[9] At Polaris 21 on 24 September 2022, Bendle was asked, on just a week's notice, to replace Ffion Davies in a fight for the inaugural under 60 kg title, against multiple-time World and ADCC champion Michelle Nicolini.[10] Bendle lost the fight by split decision but her performance in the match won praises.[11]
At the 2022 IBJJF London International Open, she won two Openweight gold medals, defeating Raquel Ferreira da Silvain in the Gi final and Joanna Dineva in the No-Gi final.[12] In 2022 she won silver at the European No-Gi Championship and bronze at the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship.
2023 onwards
In January she won Silver at the 2023 European Championship, after defeating Rafaela Rosa of Checkmat, competing in the featherweight division.[13] Bendle trains alongside Polaris triple champion Ashley Williams.[14]
On 25 February 2023 Bendle fought for the inaugural Enyo Grappling under 55kgs title against Sophia Cassella.[15] She won the match by decision and became the promotion's first champion.[16]
Bendle was invited to compete at the first Kairos Pro Jiu-Jitsu event on 7 May 2023.[17] She won 2 matches out of her 4 matches and was unable to make it out of her round-robin group to compete in the final.[18] She then won a silver medal in the featherweight no gi division of the IBJJF London Fall Open 2023 on 15 October 2023.[19]
Bendle won a silver medal in the featherweight division at the IBJJF No Gi European Championship 2023 on 28 October 2023.[20]
Bendle competed against Mara Kelly for the vacant under 55kg title at Grapplefest 17 on 18 November 2023.[21] Se won the match by decision.[22]
Bendle competed in the under 55kg division of the ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African Trials 2024.[23] She finished with a silver medal after losing the final to Margot Ciccarelli.[24] She then won a bronze medal in the featherweight division of the IBJJF No Gi European Championship on 20 October 2024.[25]
