Jay Rodriguez

Jacob Rodriguez, commonly known as Jay-Rod, is a professional grappler and former folkstyle/scholastic wrestler who first gained notoriety in the sport of Submission-Grappling/No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu after his performance at the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) United States Qualifier in 2022, a tournament he won while holding the rank of blue belt in BJJ, a rare achievement also accomplished by his older brother, Nick Rodriguez (2019).

Jay Rodriguez Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Jacob Rodriguez

Nickname: Jay Rod.

Main Achievements (BJJ/Submission Grappling):

• 1st Place ADCC West Coast Trials (2022)
• 2nd Place ADCC West Coast Trials (2024)

Main Achievements (Wrestling):

• 1st Place NJSIAA Region Championship (2019 / 2020)
• 1st Place NJSIAA District Championship (2018 / 2020)
• 1st Place George Maier Varsity Tournament (2018)
• 2nd Place NJSIAA Region Championship (2018)
• 2nd Place NJSIAA District Championship (2019)
• Qualified For NJ State Championship (2018 / 2019 / 2020)

Favorite Position/Technique: Buggy Choke, Body Lock Pass

Weight Division: 87.9 kg / 193.7 lb (ADCC weight)

Team/Association: B-Team

Jacob Rodriguez Biography

Jacob Rodriguez was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States in February 2002, and grew up in Clayton, New Jersey.

Sports were instilled in Jay Rodriguez’s lifestyle from an early age with football being the first he tried before wrestling. The love for the mats started around the age of 6-7 and although both he and his older brother, Nick Rodriguez, played different sports during their formative years, wrestling was the activity they invested in the most as they progressed into their teens.

During middle school, Jay-Rod started club wrestling outside of his school’s program to gain more experience. His dedication helped him conquer second place in the regional championship and first district in his junior year on the Clayton High School Wrestling Team, a momentum that propelled him into many important moments and an overall record of 136-19 by the time he finished HS.

As Jay was approaching the end of his scholastic wrestling career, his brother Nick was already breaking through in the sport of jiu-jitsu. The success of Nicky-Rod instilled in Jay an interest in this discipline, which he started focussing on around September 2020, as soon as he finished high school, first under the instruction of coach Jay Regalbuto at Studio 84 in NJ. Rodriguez would dip his toes in the competition scene early on with his first no-gi rules test taking place in November that year at a local tournament.

Rodriguez dove right into the sport, training 2x per day, which earned him his blue belt in 7 months, and by mid-2021, he moved to Austin, Texas, to train full-time with his brother at the newly formed B-Team.

NOTE REGARDING JAY ROD’S RECORD

Traditionally, BJJ Heroes has only accounted for adult black belt records as they signify an athlete’s entry into our sport’s elite ranks of jiu-jitsu. Rodriguez, however, is a special case as he’s been competing in the pro-grappling circuit since he was a blue belt and arrived in the sport already with a wealth of experience in another grappling discipline (wrestling).

Considering the level of opposition and the extensive list of professional athletes Jacob Rodriguez overcame from early on in his career, we believed it would be beneficial to have his matches in the pro-circuit included on his profile, before his black belt promotion.