Jeremy Skinner

Jeremy Skinner is a professional grappler from Australia and a jiu-jitsu black belt under Lachlan Giles who represents the Absolute MMA Academy in the sport’s international circuit. Skinner first gained global notoriety in submission grappling during the colored belt stages of his career, after solid performances at pro-events such as the Polaris Invitational, and GrappleFest.

Jeremy Skinner Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Jeremy Paul Skinner

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Jean Jacques Machado / Rigan Machado > John Will > John Simon > Lachlan Giles > Jeremy Skinner

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place ADCC Oceania & Asia Trials (2022)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Pacific Championship (2018 purple)
• 1st Place AJJC Australian Championship (2019 brown)
• 1st Place AGC 77KG Championship (2019)
• 3rd Place ADCC Japan Trials (2019)
• 4x Grappling Industries Champion (2018-2019)

Favorite Position/Technique: K-Guard & Footlocks

Weight Division: Peso Leve (76,00 kg / 168.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Absolute MMA

Jeremy Skinner Biography

Jeremy Paul Skinner was born on September 1, 1995, in Auchenuflower, a city located in the Australian state of Queensland. Although born in Queensland, Skinner spent the majority of his formative years in Australia’s East Coast, in Newcastle – New South Wales.

Growing up Jeremy was an avid football (soccer) player, a sport he started at the age of 6. Skinner played competitively for 7 years under the tuition of John Manners at the Kincumber Roos Football Club.

As a 15-year-old, Skinner discovered his love for martial arts. Starting his life in combat sports through chitokai karate (chito-ryu) for a short period before shifting his focus towards jiu-jitsu in 2011, age-16. A move strongly based on the success certain grapplers were having at the time in mixed martial arts, more precisely in UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) events, which Jeremy followed closely during his teens.

Skinner’s first instructor was Sean Kirkwood, a black belt under John Will, who awarded Jeremy his blue belt. From there the young Aussie athlete went on to work with Luke Beston, the head coach of a Royce Gracie affiliate at the time.

During his early years of grappling tuition, Jeremy was almost exclusively focussed on gi work, it was only after watching American jiu-jitsu star Eddie Cummings compete at the EBI 4 tournament that Skinner started gaining interest for no-gi and lower limb submissions in particular. This new curiosity for this style of grappling was greatly reinforced by Jeremy’s, Mr. Beston, who incentivized the young athlete to pursue this route.

As a purple belt, Skinner went up against Absolute MMA athlete, Mikael Yahaya. After the match, Yahaya convinced Jeremy to visit Melbourne to train at AMMA with Mikael’s head coach, Lachlan Giles. Once in the State of Victoria, Jeremy was greatly impressed with the level of training there and with the fact that a few of the local athletes were earning a living through jiu-jitsu. Understanding the level of commitment required to make it at the highest level in the sport, Jeremy opted to move to the state and train full-time at Absolute MMA.

Skinner earned both his brown and black belts from Giles, the latter in April 2020.