Hi All,

Been meaning to join for a while but always found excuses and distractions! Thanks for having me! ive trained a couple of places predominantly in the north of England starting at Pendle Martial Arts under professor John 'Staffordshire' Stokes for a short time before moving to Gracie Barra Bradford under the excellent tutelage of Professor Craig Tetley. More recently ive found that i like the freedom of travelling to different gyms and have just applied to be part of the Globetrotter community; currently spending most of my time looking into the weirdness of Priit Mihkelson's Baby Bridge & Hawking methodologies.

On a side note i kind of decided i wanted to make an effort to try and train with the best people wherever they may be in the world and started inviting people over to come and spread the word to the UK. Ive been lucky enough to host Oliver Taza & Priit Mihkelson so far...not sure who i will think of next...always welcome ideas and new ways of thinking :)

P.s. im the one with the Stone Cold T

Hello,

My name is Mitchel Wiles. I am the head coach at Alliance Yellowknife in northern Canada. I was promoted to black belt is 2021 with the support of Master Romero Jacaré Cavalcanti and my professor Faron Sinnicks. I grew up wrestling and found jiu jitsu in 2008 at Complete Martial Arts and Fitness in Regina, SK Canada (AJ Scales). From there I moved to Yellowknife and started training under Alliance. Ten years later our professor moved down south, leaving the club to Josh Campbell and myself. Over the years our club has put on seminars from up Jacaré, Fábio Gurgel, Lucas Lepri and Michael Langhi. While our town is small (20,000) we have slowly grown our club to about 50 adult members and we also offer a few kids programs. For much of our clubs history we were sharing spaces with other groups, and only since 2019 have we had a place to call our own. We pride ourselves on being a safe and welcoming club to train. So, if anyone finds themselves in Canada's Northwest Territories, please come check us out (ykbjj.com).

Also, I think it is great that Beltchecker is offering a free, community-based process to certify rank. It's the way it should be.

(Picture is from our May 23 seminar with Lucas Lepri)

Hello everyone,

My name is Rob Cole, I have been training in grappling/Jiu Jitsu for over 20 years (30 years in Martial Arts overall), I dabbled in some stuff when the first UFC came out while doing JKD, then moved to California in the late 90s and started training with Frank Shamrock, I became a "Black Shirt" in Shamrock Submission Fighting out of AKA in San Jose, California

I moved around for work/life/training (California/Florida/Connecticut), got my Purple Belt from Eddie Bravo and was running a little 10th Planet school in Connecticut, 10th Planet Hartford, then did more Gi heavy training and received my Brown belt from Josh Owen a black belt under Formiga (Soulfighters), after that I was promoted to Black belt by Bruno Liechtenstein a 3 stripe Black belt at Plus One in West Hartford, CT

I have been a black belt for 3 and 1/2 years now and this weekend at the BJJ Globetrotters Maine Camp I received my 1st stripe on my Black Belt from Priit Mihkelson

I teach classes at Ascension Athletics in Bristol, Connecticut, where I get to teach my daughters class which is awesome

I really like the concept of the site, great job on it!

Greetings all, I began training BJJ in Chicago under Carlson Gracie Sr and continued with him until his death in 2006 having earned my blue and purple belts from him. I am honored to have trained under him the last years of his life and to have slept on his couch for a few years while training with him in Chicago. After his passing I continued my training under the tutelage of de la Riva and received my brown and black belts from him.

After receiving my black belt in 2008 I trained with Cyborg until 2021. I opened my academy as a purple belt in Buffalo, NY 2005 with the blessing/insistence of Carlson Gracie Sr. and have been teaching there ever since.

My critics will be quick to point out that as a young marine in 1991 I was court-martialed for national security offenses and served less than 4 years of a 15 year sentence at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, KS. I received clemency without comment from the Secretary of the Navy and was released. Im not going to retry my case here or anywhere else, I never had a security clearance and was factually and legally incapable of betraying the country. I’ve been home since 1994 and have moved on with my life. Jiu-Jitsu has enabled me to grow and contribute to the growth of others through this beautiful art. Wishing you all the best.

I'm in Phoenix Arizona area, and I train at Jay Pages academy in tempe. Started at a different academy for a bit then found Jays. Walked in, fell in love with the school and started that week. Been in and out of the gym alone, I work on an am ulance so when covid hit, I stayed away from everyone. Took awhile to get back into it , but I'm trying! I don't do competitions due to my line of work (if I'm injured, I'll be out of a job). However I started so I could learn how to defend myself in closed, cramped spaces. Jay and Lisa have been amazing, I couldn't ask for a better family.

Welcome!
Jay is amazing, isn't he?

"Bonjour"

I started training in 2009 in Paris, France. As many of us fell completely addicted (went 5 times the first week)... More or less a classic journey : competed a lot, got some podiums, got also injured a bit... As a white belt I was fantasizing about a becoming a black belt on day, got mine 10 years later, but in the process I realized the nearer it was, the less it seemed so important... Not so much obsessing over learning new techniques, I kinda just want to have fun rolling when I train now, I also started teaching some classes at my club, and this is really cool and forces you to rethink a lot of things!

More interesting, I do some weird BJJ artwork/comics where I dump all my pop culture references, you can check it on my website or my Instagram (links in my profile).

Could use some votes!

"Merci"!

That's pretty awesome. Love that movie...

Hey! I spent a month in Malta training with Keith ten years ago! Any chance we met? I would have been a big, loud Canadian purple belt.

I think I met a guy from Sweden who was into Canadian indie rock and worked in the gaming industry?

I spent a week in Malta in 2012. I wish I would have known there was training there.

Hi all the Globe

42 almost, father of 4, looking forward BJJ GT community grow here in Switzerland ! Just finished reading 2 books, The BJJ Globetrotter and Worth Defending. I recommend both.

Peace

Hey guys,
I’m new here, but I see it as a grand opportunity to share knowledge and our mutual love and respect for BJJ.

I started BJJ 12 years ago with my son who was going through puberty and needed martial arts. I actually was training MMA with boxing, Muay Thai, and BJJ. I leaned more and more towards BJJ as I loved it and it closed the gap for me against MMA guys who came in with years of wrestling. Soon I switched to only focusing on BJJ and Muay Thai.

I have had the privilege of training with many great professors but my main professor and the man who changed my life when it comes to Jiu Jitsu is Henry Matamoros who is a 5 stripe BB under Professor Pedro Sauer. I was honored by my professor with being promoted to BB least year after a long journey on the mats.

I had to step away at one point as I lost my vision to this martial art. I took an inadvertent knee while drilling, of all things, and the velocity ripped my right out. I had to endure 7 surgeries and I now have prosthetics in both my eyes to give me vision. This would’ve made many walk away, but I couldn’t. I wear goggles and headgear now and that keeps me on the mats which makes me very happy. I spent a little over a year blind and I still wanted to get back on the mats. That’s when your love and passion for something far exceeds anything else.

In 2014 I opened a martial arts school for Muay Thai. I taught BJJ for a little but ended up hiring a BJJ black belt for a time as I was still a PB. I didn’t feel comfortable taking over the program fully until I was close to my BB. We have steadily been working hard to grow our grappling program but we are a smaller team right now as we are mostly known for our Muay Thai in this area. There are other BJJ schools who are just BJJ schools and are known for that, so of course competition is stiff. But I love out little team., and it’s steadily growing. I came up in a small dedicated team. Many of which have gone on to be black belts as well.

So this is an abbreviated version of my journey but it covers the high notes I think. I’m excited to have found this website and forum.

Hello, my name is Vollie Hollands and I have been training Jiu Jitsu for the last 11.5 years. In addition to competing in Jiu Jitsu I also train Muay Thai and MMA (I've had Muay Thai fights, but no MMA fights...yet). I train at Virginia Beach Jiu Jitsu, a Ribeiro affiliate, and I have recently started a program at VB Fight House where I'm the head instructor. I was recently promoted to black belt last week by my instructor Scott Oates, and naturally, have decided to YOLO myself into Masters Worlds for my first competition at black belt (we'll see how that goes

Hello all, i'm Marko from Belgrade, Serbia.
I am brown belt under professor Max Carvalho, 3rd degree black belt under Ze Radiola. I am head coach and representative of ZR Team Serbia, based in Belgrade. I started back in 2010 with bjj and mma. Did more grappling at the time because of mma but i always loved gi, witch i use now more than no gi. In village where i was from, my coach was a white belt at the time as well so when i moved to Belgrade i got a new coach that was purple at the time and met my professors and friends Max and Ze, where i continued to study under and even became coach myself. I also did mma professioanly as well, mostly in Serbia but some matches were in Europe. As of BJJ i did some competitions outside of Serbia as well, but nothing too big still. We will see what future holds :)

Recently joined here, don't know how still everything functions but i am looking forward to learning that and to met new bjj people here as well.

My name is Fernando Brazileiro; I've been training BJJ since 1995; in 2000 I went, still with a purple belt, to teach in Japan (it was common to have purple belt teachers at that time). I stayed there for five years, and I returned to Brazil in 2005 to start my university degree and stopped training. I returned in early 2010 and received the purple belt in September 2013. I'm trying to update my degrees with Ibjjf, but it's a very long process.

Hello fellow Jiu Jitsu friends!

I'm Patricia aka JiuJitsuPatricia! Been training bjj specifically since about 2008, and did judo (and Japanese Jiu Jitsu) for years and years before that! I'm a black belt under Robert Drysdale, and you'll find me refereeing events all over Ontario (and abroad, when the situation allows). Been actively refereeing under the IBJJF rules since early in my blue belt days!

Hello my name is Jason Ellison, I’m 48 years old, I’m from Tulsa Oklahoma. I roll at Cohesion BJj Killer Bees. I’m a Blue Belt. I’m also a tattoo artist and a musician.

Hello everyone, I'm new at this website and my name is Jovany Varela Jiu Jitsu black belt 3rd Degree and Judo Roku Dan (6th degree red and white belt USA Judo and IJF certified) owner and head instructor at the Anaconda Academy.
If you ever around Gardena California feel free to stop by and roll with us. Guests are always welcome.
If you want to know more about me or my team, feel free to check the info on my profile or my website http://www.Jovany.com.
Thanks and keep training hard.

FEEL FREE TO CHECK MY PROFILE AND MY CREDENTIALS TO VOTE AND HELP ME GET VERIFIED AND THAT WAY I CAN ALSO HELP OTHER REAL JIU JITEIROS GET VERIFIED.

Hey guys my names Justin Cavender I'm a first degree black belt under Samuel Puccio I grew up and came up training in Alabama! But now Nashville Tennessee is home I also teach and train there! I've competed and won quite a few local tournamentss like naga at the expert division and even had a chance to have my first ever gi match at black belt be a super fight against the leg lock legend and adcc vet Joe Baize(that didn't turn out so good for me... lol)

Hello,

My name is Matthew (Alex) Cummings, I've been training for over a decade now and just got my black belt this year at master worlds. I went from white-purple in North Carolina under Royce Gracie affiliates, moved to Montana in 2016, got my brown belt in 2019 and just got my black belt. I use to compete all throughout the east coast with US Grappling and have done a few NY Opens and Worlds. Have competed a lot less since moving west but am looking forward to jumping back into Masters 1 black belt. Checkout my profile, appreciate any verification votes, had more than enough at brown belt but need the renewed for the new belt! Hope to meet some more international friends through here and train more all over.

Black belt lineage: Carlos Gracie > Reyson Gracie > Osvaldo Alves > Fredson Paixao > me

I like triangle chokes and long walks on the beach.
Dislike heel hooks and Gordon Ryan.

Hello from Thibodaux, Louisiana USA.

I own a small academy there, Next Generation Martial Arts and we are a Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu affiliate.

This site is such a great resource for the jiu jitsu community.

Thanks to the creators!,
Scotty Smith Jr.

Hello everyone, I'm Rob. I love what you guys are doing with Bjj Globetrotters, and also this site. I started training in the basement of SOAS in London back in 2010 with Luiz Tosta. I got my blue belt from Eduardo Gonçalves who took over teaching there in 2012. In early 2013 I moved to Bangkok with my wife. I trained at the old Bangkok Bjj with Ben Weinstein from the tail end of the Soi 1 days till the club dissolved in around 2014. Then I moved to the newly founded Bangkok Fight Lab with Lee Livingstone. I got my purple there, then in 2016 I went with Lee when he founded Bigfoot Bjj. I got my brown belt from Lee a few years ago, then recently Lee also promoted me to black belt. It still hasn't really sunk in properly, and honestly I feel like more of a novice than I did when I got my blue (when I was pretty sure I had this stuff close to figured out). I suppose that's the way it goes. Anyway, most of the people on the Bangkok scene will have seen me around, though I'm not super gregarious so maybe we never had a conversation! I'm actually moving back to the UK at the end of the month, and I'm looking forward to continuing my journey through Bjj there. Full circle I guess.

Hi everyone!

My name is Eric, i train and teach in quebec, canada, 40 minutes from montreal.

I am a black belt under Rodrigo Mendanha at gracie barra. I also have a couple instructionnals online, i love to teach to share my passion and to travel to visit gyms!

Im a real bjj geek, i check instructionnals and matches almost every day! I love most styles and guards, gi and no gi. I love leglocks too (dont judge me lol). Im mostly known by my friends for my guard passing and open guard playing!

Im also a black belt in other styles and used to teach self defense so ive been in this a while.

Cheers!

Just another cybersecurity guy with a passion for strangling others. Been doing this thing for a little over 6 years now, and enjoying it thoroughly. May 21, 2022 I was promoted to black belt by Jeremy Arel, who got his black belt from Gordo. Recently competed for the first time at Black belt in IBJJF and took home the gold. Can’t complain about that.

I love to train, I love to teach, I love everything about Jiu Jitsu.

Oh and I’m an ambassador for Tap Cancer Out

Hey!
Finally got myself set up on here :)
I'm a purple belt from Worcestershire (like the sauce) in the UK

Hello! Welcome to Belt Checker. Nice to see another Brit! Seems to be gaining more traction here now.

Thankyou! Yes definitely! Recently went to BJJ Summerweek in Sardinia in Italy and there was a bunch of us, pretty much filled the plane on the way home haha

Hello Everyone!

I'm Mario, a "young guy" from Italy in his fifties.

I started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2018 and after four years of learning and training I've been promoted to blue belt.

When I have the opportunity, I like to compete in local tournaments in master categories.

Ciao

Hi Everyone,

I am from Australia and am a former NSW Police officer. I worked as a Weapons Trainer and as a result of that I started training outside of work. BJJ has helped me in my work-life, building skills that I could pass on to student officers and serving officers. Now I am just training for myself.

Both my young kids train with me at home and love it as well.

Happy to be part of this growing community and sharing BJJ with everyone.

Hi Everyone, I just found out about this site through my first competition sign up via smoothcomp, love the idea and being able to track training outside of Excel.

I'm still new to BJJ as I started in 2/2021, and I really enjoy it. It pretty much changed my life as it helped me take a fresh look at how I wasn't taking care of myself the way I should be. It started me down a path of getting serious about exercise and later on, eventually finding out about and joining CrossFit which I am also enjoying a ton.

My first competition is in a few days and looking forward to being a sponge and learning as much as I can from the experience.

Thanks to those who created this community and are volunteering their time!