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Mo Jassim and the Trials That Changed Pro Jiu-Jitsu Forever Read More »

Written in 2022 The art of BJJ has as many championships as it does competitors. But the only title that truly matters is making it to the ADCC. You can win a world championship in the IBJJF, EBI, or any other belt from the alphabet soup—but any grappler who’s ever stepped on a mat will

Opening Closed Guard: The True Origin Story of BJJ

Opening Closed Guard: The True Origin Story of BJJ Read More »

Opening Closed Guard: The True Origin Story of BJJ Winston Churchill famously said, “History is written by the victors.” The story of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is no different. Without the tireless self-promotion of a few charismatic founding members—rebelling against dogma and resisting pressure to conform—BJJ might not exist in the form we know today. But a

Go to Win or Don’t Go at All: Lessons from My Match with Boogeyman Martinez

Go to Win or Don’t Go at All: Lessons from My Match with Boogeyman Martinez Read More »

Throughout anyone’s grappling career, there are moments where you level up. These upgrades don’t always happen under the lights of a competition mat. Sometimes, they happen in your own academy—when you finally have a breakthrough roll with that purple belt who’s always one step ahead of you. When these moments arrive, your toughest opponent is

Coaching Jim: The Real Reason I Love Jiu-Jitsu

Coaching Jim: The Real Reason I Love Jiu-Jitsu Read More »

Everyone knows I love competitive jiu-jitsu. Spend five minutes with me and you’ll hear about my matches, my medals, and my obsession with the game. But now that I own an academy, my focus has shifted. My passion isn’t fueled by my own competition schedule anymore—it’s by my students. Watching them succeed fires me up

Black Belt Is Poetry: What It Really Means to Master Jiu-Jitsu

Black Belt Is Poetry: What It Really Means to Master Jiu-Jitsu Read More »

I’ve always been a writer. As far back as I can remember, I wrote short stories and poems. So when I came across a literary analogy for the BJJ belt system, it stuck with me. It described the ranks as levels of reading and writing comprehension: By this comparison, black belt is the poetry stage—the

What I Learned From Training Three Days With a Navy SEAL

What I Learned From Training Three Days With a Navy SEAL Read More »

The first time I met Mike O’Dowd felt like the first time I’ve met many other military “operators”—a slang term used to describe members of elite special forces units. They always seem to be unassuming. The reality of these soldiers often differs drastically from the glorified heroes we see in movies or TV. Instead of

Tapping Into Healing: Dr. Gino Collura on Jiu-Jitsu and PTSD

Tapping Into Healing: Dr. Gino Collura on Jiu-Jitsu and PTSD Read More »

Sometimes the toughest injuries to cope with leave no visible wounds. I suffer from long-term concussion issues that can sideline my training for weeks at a time and leave me crippled with anxiety and depression. The most challenging part is that I appear to be fine. I don’t have a cast or brace on my