BJJ Heroes’ jiu jitsu rankings follow a strict line of competition driven point system. These points gathered from the sport’s most important tournaments result in an unbiased list of top Brazilian jiu jitsu competitors by weight division.
One of the top competitors in Brazilian jiu jitsu’s female division, Monique Elias stormed through her competition at the lower belt levels obtaining a stacked list of sporting accomplishments. Find the story of this former model turned into fierce competitor in one of the toughest sports in the world.
One of Europe’s most prestigeous tournaments, the IBJJF London Winter Open 2015 was (yet again) an alround success. Located in the excellent Copper Box …
Guard passing and top position are subjects sometimes overlooked by jiu jitsu’s focus on the guard, but many of the most accomplished athletes in the sport have succeeded through their abilities to pass guards. In this article BJJ Heroes goes by a top 20 list of the best guard passers in the history of Brazilian jiu jitsu.
The toreada guard pass is the name given to a position utilized in Brazilian jiu jitsu and other grappling martial arts/combat sports, from which the top player can establish side control, escaping the guard. On this article you will find the history of this position, its origins, the top toureando guard passers in the history of the sport and see instructional videos of how to use the position.
Roy Harris is an accomplished American martial artist, known in the Brazilian jiu jitsu world for being a black belt under Joe Moreira and for belonging to jiu jitsu’s “Dirty Dozen”, the first group of 12 non Brazilian men to have been distinguished with the rank of black belt in this grappling style. Roy Harris is also known as one of the first instructors to publicly publish a formal testing criteria for jiu jitsu, formalizing his promotion tests from white belt to black belt. Find more of Harris’ story here.
Marcos Tinoco, also known as Marcos Silva or “Lekinho”, is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Marcelo Garcia, who trained extensively with Juarez Soares in Brazil. Tinoco belongs to a first generation of black belt competitors developed by the legendary Garcia, a team that caused waves in the sport of jiu jitsu at brown belt. Find here more about Marcos Tinoco, his roots and his grappling career.
Why Do We Call The BJJ Uniform a Gi and Not a Kimono? This is a common question, often asked by newcomers. The name derives from the Japanese roots of the martial art, especially the names applied by the judoka. Here are is a quick insight to the Brazilian jiu jitsu uniform names.
For the past few months, ever since Rickson Gracie brought the matter to everyone’s attention last year at the launch of his Jiu Jitsu …
Marcelo Alonso is a 5th degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu regarded as one of Carlson Gracie’s most famous and respected students. Alonso was an instructor at the Carlson Gracie Academy in Rio de Janeiro for many years, coaching many of the great fighters of that era before moving to the United States in the late 1990’s, settling in the Seattle area, where he quickly became a reference among the local grappling scene.
One of the most common submissions in modern day Brazilian jiu jitsu, the straight ankle lock, also called Botinha, Achilles lock, straight footlock among other names, became popular greatly due to the influence of one coach who, in the early 2010 decade, revolutionized the use of the position, improving it drastically.
Rose Gracie is not only the daughter of 9th degree red belt Rorion Gracie (founder of the UFC) and the granddaughter of the great Master Helio Gracie, she is one of the louder voices against the current sporting format of the gentle art. Through her jiu jitsu tournament promotion, Gracie Tournaments, she plans to change the mentality in which BJJ is immersed today, and shift it back to it’s original roots. We had a chat with Rose regarding her plans, Find out more here.
Rafael “Fofitio” was one of the best competitors of the Galo (under 127lbs) division and the leading figure of an important Brazilian grappling team named Oriente Jiu Jitsu, of Niteroi, a team affiliated with Nova Uniao, that produced legendary jiu jitsu competitors such as Thiago Fernandes, Ramon Lemos, Gilbert Burns and many others. A former 2x world champion and 2x world cup champion, Fofitio was one of the top figures of the 2000’s decade.
Marcelo Mello is a former UFC fighter and a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, officially under Royler Gracie, who also trained extensively with the late Master Carlson Gracie. A historical figure in the sport having helped establish the Brazilian grappling style in places such as Argentina and the USA, Mello’s path in jiu jitsu is also unique one, as he was awarded his black belt on two separate occasions (in 1994 and in 1997) by two separate instructors, Carlson and Royler Gracie respectively. Full story here.
Check here the full results of the BJJ European Open 2015. All the fight results from all the adult black belt brackets. a comprehensive insight to what happened throughout Europe’s most prestigious Brazilian jiu jitsu tournament. The tournament had some of the sport’s major stars and a few newcomers who are quickly establishing themselves as real threats to the higher podium spots.
Check out the jiu jitsu European Open Live Stream Broadcast Here! The European Championship gets the ball rolling for IBJJF’s busy 2015 calendar. The first major tournament of the year is taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, having started on the 21st of January (finishes on the 25th of January 2015).
Another fantastic year of jiu jitsu is ahead of us and as per usual, the honours will be made in Lisbon by the European …
Luis Carlos Atalla, commonly known as “Luca” Atalla, is a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu under the illustrious Carlos Gracie Junior and a pioneer in jiu jitsu journalism, being the original chief editor of the sport’s leading magazine – GracieMag. Before turning his focus to journalism, Luca Atalla was one of the rising stars of jiu jitsu with one world title and three pan american championships in the lower belt divisions, find out more about this BJJ figure here.
This year the World Professional Jiu Jitsu Championship seems stronger and more organized than ever. Their trials in the US earlier this month were a great success, and the Sao Paulo version of the event went down the same route. This competition served as a test for some of the newly graded black belts, such as Erberth Santos, Monique Elias, Cesar Felipe, Fabio Caloi, and the new kids did not disappoint, check the full results here.
Javier Vazquez, also known as “Showtime”, is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Rodrigo Medeiros, a rank he achieved in 2003, making him most likely the first Cuban black belt in the Brazilian grappling style. Javier is also a wrestler and a retired mixed martial artist with a successful career having competed at some of the top promotions in the world such as KOTC, WEC and the UFC . Javier Vazquez is also married to Rose Gracie, daughter of 9th degree jiu jitsu red belt Rorion Gracie, with whom he runs the “Gracie Tournaments” organization.
