Greetings from Buenos AIres, Argentina! My name is Matias Magenta. I am a 40year Old Purple Belt under Pitbull Dojo Prof. Martín Palacio from Sukata Academy.
I started my BJJ adventure in 2016 and instantly get hooked in the art. I ear about this site in a Spanish Podcast of Canarias Islands.

My first year and a half was very tought but wen i get my blue belt i start training every day and start enjoying a lot more, with a great evolution thanks to a drill focused and the study of bjj instructionals ( i have aprox 300 of them) . I quit my job in 2017 to dedicate more time for training and focus in a bjj career.

In Purple belt i get the kids class and the Covid crisis start just 20 days after, so, my bjj objectives was stopped. I start the next month (december) with adult classes in a comeback, so i hope this time everything go ok.

And here I am with some of my friends, that i consider my family.

I hope some day know you all on the mats!!

Sorry for my bad English, i had no practique at all here ;). If you have any questions please feel free to do it.

Till next time, Matias. @matimagentabjj
From Pitbull Dojo @pitbulldojo
Sukata Academy - Carlson Gracie Team
OSS

Hello and greeting from Greece. My name is Nick, I train in a small Aegean Island called Lesvos (Fun fact: Lesvos is the actual birthplace of the term Lesbian/as in homosexual woman). Im 27 years old and have been training for around 5 years now, and been a blue belt for the last 3.
2 years ago a took part in a national competition, not easy to do due to the distance and travel fees that come along with it, to test myself against proven competititors. I was able to snatch a silver medal.
For the past 14 months a couple of semi-serious injuries and, as with all, Covid. has stopped my progression quite dramatically. I'll be honest, a had a few chances to train recently and i feel a ghost of my past jiujichanero self. We have been slowly getting back into it with a lot of care and pre-caution and hopefully my muscle memory will kick back in.

My Professor is Eammon Nassralla, a 3rd degree Black Belt from Leo Negao himself. I have the outmost respect for him for he is strict but fair. His style is very fundamental heavy with twists and turns here and there, but a really deep emphasis in understanding the basics.

Im happy to join Beltcheckers and connmect with co-passionates from all around the world.

Looking forward to know your stories.

Nick
Mytilene Combat Academy
Lesvos

OSS

Hello everyone! Im from Manila Philippines living out of Dubai UAE

At 43 years young, i recently got promoted to brownbelt by professor rafael haubert out of team nogueira dubai. I started training way back in 2000 and have been consistently on and off the mats up until 2015 where in i decided to go all in training 6-7x a week. Best thing i ever did.

If ever you guys stopover or transit here in dubai, please do pass by our gym in team nogueira dubai to have a few training sessions in before you flyout to your destination.

Hey everyone!

I love this site and what it is doing for the community! I've been training for 13 years now. Just recently promoted to Black Belt by Ruben Vera and Cleber Luciano out in Cali! It's all a lot to take in still. I'm excited to get my first competitions going in early 2021. You might as well jump in the deep end of the pool, right?

I've been teaching and coaching since Purple belt. However, today will be my first class teaching as a Black Belt. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel different. I'd actually love to get any advice from anyone willing to give any. I'm excited about this new journey but still a little anxious!

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!

I'm Nikola, training out of Alliance affiliated BJJ Black Dragon in Split, Croatia. Started BJJ while in college back in 2009 and made it to brown belt so far. COVID 19 lockdown is driving me nuts and this site helps to relief the no training pain at least a bit :)

If you guys are ever on holidays around Split area feel free to drop by our gym, all guests are always welcomed!

Jamie Bacon training out of TR fitness in Branson, Misery. We are a Glory MMA & Fitness (UFC fighter James Krause) affiliate gym. I'm knocking on the door of purple, though I've been training for 10 years now. Had to correct a TON of bad habits plus almost all of us got stymied because my coach had been training almost a decade before he put on the gi, himself!

Because I've been training for so long, my no gi divisions are often against purples/browns/blacks. The attached picture is the last competition I did where the first match in my no gi division was against a black belt.

Hey Everyone,

My name is Michael Fernandes. I am new to belt checker and I am just getting back on the mat after several years on the side lines. I got hurt and started a business which led me to put what was my whole life on the back burner. I was rough but I had no choice due to my injuries but I am finally back and getting back into the groove. I began training martial arts when i was 6 in judo, then trained in JKD for 6 years and before I even began training heavy in BJJ I helped Gene Simco open his school. Gene and I were training partners and friends for sometime which was at the very beginning of his BJJ journey which we all know he turned out to be amazing. I still stop the school every now and again and try to catch him to say hello. Anyway, I started training BJJ & Grappling heavy back in 2000 after I got out of the Army with Bart Vales Shoot fighting organization, same place Din Thomas started. From there I began training BJJ under Phil Dyer in Fort Myers Florida who was under Royce Gracie and got my blue belt thru him. As my game began to evolve I met Paolo Di Olivera, who is one of Marcos Santos close friends, in Ft. Myers, FL which Paolo is part of Amaury Bitetti team in Brazil. I
trained with him privately everyday for years and eventually got my brown belt under him. I trained with both Paolo and the shoot fighting organization at the same time. I competed in a few NAGA events on the florida circuit which my last competition I lost the to Dan Simmler by flying arm bar, he is one of Renzos black belts. I also competed in the World Shidokan in Ft. Lauderdale the same night as Shoni Carter which was right after he won his fight in the UFC and then he flew straight to the Shidokan event and come to find out he fought with a broken hand that night and still won the whole event. Tough dude. I made it to the semi -finals and lost to Treban Breban from U.A.E by a knee to the gut. Pretty painful fight to watch for me because when he kneed me my mouth piece shot out my mouth and across the ring. Lol. I also trained in California @ fairtex a few times a year, which this was before Alex was killed. I use to train w. Bunkered & Jongsanon. I would go there and live in the gym for weeks at a time. I loved it. While I was out there I use to train with Ralph Graicies team and I was actually helping a few of them get ready for the Arnold Clasics and even got to be in a few of the photo shoots.
I could go on and on about my experiences and memories, but my point to all this was jiu-jitsu and training as a whole gave my some great memories and allowed me to test myself as well as it helped form who I am today. It brought out my character, taught me grit, taught me resiliency and it taught me respect but most of all it taught me I could do ANYTHING as long as I put in the work. Everyone on this site has accomplished something they should be proud of and something that has shaped the person they are today and its great to be part of a community of like minded people that are always striving to be better and improve themselves. Now, there are some exceptions, there are those who look to cut people down, argue about dumb things or dont want to help others improve but those people are a rarity in the art and they usually find themselves pushed out eventually but overall I have had great experiences with everyone i have trained with. I look forward to hopefully training with some of you as I am the type of person who loves to travel and train with new people and loves to make new friends on the mat.

Hello everyone,
My name is William Abreu. I began training late 2009 after recovering from an intense motorcycle accident. I received my Black Belt back late 2014 from Roberto Abreu. Prior to starting my Jiu-Jitsu journey I had already Wrestled throughout high school and college, also had some experience training with MMA guys. Luckily at the time the top and stand-up game was highly favored so transitioning over was smooth. Not only was my past athletic experience helpful, I became the wrestling coach at the gym I trained (Fight Sports), and prior (2005-2012) I worked as a city recreational coach in fitness and wrestling program head coach. Late 2012-2013 I travelled the world teaching, training and competing. Met some amazing people along the way that showed me Jiu-Jitsu can bring total strangers together. I guess one can say that all that access to mat time was a blessing. In early 2014 Black House Miami Beach (featured in BJJ Fanatics Modolfo Camp) opened in my childhood neighborhood and I had to work there to help kids in my community. Late 2014 I received my Black Belt from Roberto Abreu. My daughter was born late 2015 and I packed away my competitor gear. In late 2016 I became the head coach there and love it more each day. Sorry if this was more than enough, lol many know I sure can talk. Hope everyone enjoys my content and I'm always open to answer any questions. Thank you all for your support.

Photo 2012-2013:
(far left) Alain Pozo - ZR Team UK
(middle) Leon Jason - Fight City Gym

Hey guys,

I'm Mike Guarneri. I started training BJJ on and off when I was in college at the Citadel. I was friends with a Brazilian who was a purple belt. Once I graduated college in 2006, I found a BJJ school in my hometown of Poughkeepsie NY. I trained under black belt Mike Wacker. When I was purple belt I moved to White Plains NY (2010). I stayed under Mike Wacker and trained at his home gym of Thornwood. A lot of the original NY guys have trained at that gym. I trained there the last few years before it closed down. For a few years I trained at random gyms in the Bronx and lower Westchester. I also boxed in the Bronx in preparation for fighting MMA. I was also competing in a lot of NAGA, Grapplers Quest and other tournaments during these years. Most of my competitions were done as a purple belt with a few as brown. I got my brown belt under Mike Wacker. I trained at Animals MMA in Yonkers, NY from 2012 to 2017. I fought 8 MMA fights and a few boxing fights under the Animals MMA banner and all were as a brown belt. In January 2016, I got my black belt under Mike Wacker and Sam Marji. They both promoted me together. In October 2017, I moved to Guttenberg NJ. There I found David Branch BJJ in Hoboken NJ and I started training under David Branch. I became good friends with Dave. I started teaching BJJ classes there and am the instructor on Monday nights. A few days ago (December 11, 2020) David Branch gave me my first stripe on my black belt.
From mid-March till July was the longest break I ever had to take from training and that was because NJ forced all gyms to close due to covid. Once we were allowed to, I started training again with a vengeance.
On my non-BJJ related life I am a civil engineer, married and have a beautiful 3 year old daughter.

The G is for God! Your the man mike!

Hi guys!

My name is Jordan Ryken. I've been training for a few years so far. I started at PS Phoenix BJJ in Paris under 6th degree black belt Paulo Sergio Santos (https://www.bjjheroes.com[...]ulo-sergio) and got my blue belt under him. I've also trained at many other gyms due to travelling a lot for business, sometimes for months at a time. Some other gyms I have trained at are:

Prana Jiu Jitsu (Checkmat Stockholm)
Carpe Diem Hiroo in Tokyo
American Top Team in Zagreb, Croatia

and my new primary gym now that I've moved to London is Roger Gracie HQ. I was recently promoted to purple belt by Paulo Sergio Santos and Mauricio Gomes (https://www.bjjheroes.com[...]icio-gomes) who is an 8th degree coral belt and the father of Roger Gracie (https://www.bjjheroes.com[...]gracie-bio) in case anyone here was somehow unfamiliar.

I train 7 days a week unless there is a legitimate emergency, and I especially enjoy helping other people get better at Jiu-Jitsu. I'd be really happy if you guys took a look at my profile and considered voting to verify.

I'm looking forward to being part of the community!

Hey guys!,
Brown belt here from NC. Been training since 2007. I started with Team ROC in Eden, NC where I received my blue belt and eventually moved to Raleigh. Got my purple belt and brown belt in Cary, NC with TFTC Academy.

In addition to training and coaching, I also instruct law enforcement defensive tactics and work on a full time training unit for my police dept. I have taught to military personnel as well.

It’s great to be here. Looking to network a bit and also support the legitimacy of Brazilian jiu-jitsu for generations.

Hey there everyone. I'm a purple belt from Alberta Canada with the Sylvio Behring Association. In my day job I am an environmental consultant with a focus on wildlife. Beltchecker seems like a cool website and I've enjoyed exploring the site to see where everyone is from.

What's up guys? I'm new here but I've been training for almost 10 years with a few breaks and gym changes . I'm currently a purple belt under Erick Tavares in Washington Twp NJ ... look forward to being part of this growing site

Hello all! Finally got around to submitting my verification info. I've been training for about 6 years now, and I cannot imagine my life without BJJ. I train at Alliance Maryland, and I trained while in Michigan at college at Magic BJJ. I started training as a way to work out, and I feel in love with the idea that me, a 5ft 4in woman could defend myself against a larger and stronger opponent. I'm currently a 2 stripe purple belt and I'm really passionate about getting more women into the sport. Hoping to travel more in 2021 and visit some new gyms!

Congrats on getting everything submitted. And welcome! Being an ambassador for getting women into the sport is great! Jiu-Jitsu can be incredibly empowering, as you likely already have known.

Cheers!

Welcome! Yeah we only have three women training at my gym regularly (it was 5ish before COVID), and I am the only one at the 6 am class. I don't think guys know how lucky they are having so many training partner options within their gender.

I'm hoping to start a monthly women's open mat in my area when vaccines are available. Anyhow, thanks for joining Beltchecker!

Hello
I’m 38 and out of North Canton Ohio. I’ve been training since May of 2014 and can’t get enough. I’m a purple belt under an amazing instructor named Matt Waterhouse who teaches out of Hartville Ohio. I last competed at The Good Fight tournament in February before Covid started shutting everything down and managed to get my first ever competition gold.
In my day to day life I’m a 7th grade art teacher which I also love. I was telling my students just a couple weeks ago that I never thought I would have a job where they were paying me while I was drawing a ninja turtle character.
Nevertheless I love the idea for this website and am looking forward the opportunities to make some connections I wouldn’t otherwise.

Hey everyone,

I found the site through Reddit. I'm u/BJJJosh there. Been training for almost 10 years and just got my Brown in August. I'm also a life long martial artist and start with Hapkido and Taekwondo back in 1991.

I live in Lincoln, NE where the scene is pretty small. It's difficult for a 42 year old brown belt to get a decent division at a tournament so I love going to Masters Worlds. Did well November 2019 when I did IBJJF Kansas City with double gold.

I'm currently a coach at my gym. My normal job is a software engineer.

My husband (who doesn't train) lives that baller software engineer life.

Welcome to Beltchecker!

Hello everyone,

Pretty new to the site. I'm Chuck and I live in the Louisville, KY area. I began training in martial arts in 1984 in Tae Kwon Do. Transitioned to Japanese Jujutsu in 1992 where I met my current instructor, Todd Schweinhart, and continue to training in Japanese Jujutsu and Koryu in addition to BJJ.

I got on the bandwagon late to BJJ in 2003, receiving all my promotions from Luiz Palhares with Todd as my coach, and was promoted to Black Belt in December 2016.

Was also in the military for 25 years where I had the opportunity to train in the Modern Army Combatives Program developed by Matt Larsen, and completed instructor levels 1-3. My competition experience has solely been through the military beginning with the 1st All-Army Competition and competing in my last tournament in 2016.

Thanks and look forward to interacting with you all!

Chuck

Thanks Bridget

It's been the perfect balance of a job for me to be able to train as much as I do and have a family.

Hi Everyone,

I'm Adam or more commonly known as "Woody" I'm a Stacey Wilson Black Belt out of the Submission Factory in Perth Western Australia,

I started training Jiu-Jitsu in 2008, when I drove past one of our sporting ovals in Newman and saw a group of people rolling around on mats. When I went over to talk to them I was quite surprised to find that the person teaching was a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Gerald Burton-Batty. He was up in Newman for temporary work and was teaching a group of people he worked with. I trained with them every chance I got down at that oval, until the inevitable happen 3 months later and they left town.

Not content with leaving it there I made a decision to travel 1200 km (750 miles) to Perth Western Australia to continue training. I made this trip every month for 2 years for my 4 days off on my roster to the Submission Factory ran by Troy Flugge and Stacey Wilson. The whole time I was relentlessly recruiting people that would be willing to roll around on the mats with me out the front of my shed in 40c heat.

After receiving my Blue belt and the patio getting too small for all the people that were now rocking up to my place in the evenings to train. I decided we needed to get more mats and move somewhere larger. With the permission of Stacey and John Will I started Newman Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We hired a number of spaces for the next few years, the real dream was to always have our own venue so we could train when we wanted and be more flexible with our times. This became a reality in 2015 with the formation of Newman BJJ Inc which is ran by volunteers, This allowed us to secure the permanent venue .

Throughout my journey I have been fortunate to introduce my family to this art and travel across Australia learning and competeing. I was very passionate about Jiu-Jitsu from the moment I started I knew this was going to change my life. Until now it has always played second fiddle to work and other commitments. I don’t believe I been able to fully experience this art. So as a Purple belt I took 6 months off from my job, grabbed the wife and kids and traveled and trained across the USA, I was lucky enough to be one of the 2017 Globetrotter sponsored travelers and documented the whole trip in our blog and vlogs on youtube.

After Returning to Australia and receiving my Brown Belt we made the tough decision to leave our home town and move to Perth. Where I could continue to progress and train regularly with more skilled practitioners. I jumped straight into the local competition scene and training...2.5 years after making the move I was promoted to black belt.

-Woody

Hello All, Ryan here in Chandler, AZ. Started in Nov 2018 as a relatively sedentary 38 year old. Competed in my first tournament about 2 months later as a 2-stripe white belt. Unfortunately, aggravated a 20-year old shoulder injury (torn labrum) that cost me 6 months as I had surgery and rehabbed. I was promoted to Blue in September 2020 amongst as the covid craziness. I love my Professor and gym, great atmosphere and I've made some incredible friends. My 2 daughters train with my older one (7 yo) competing for the first time in December 2020. Really looking forward to many years of development and progression. Happy to be here.

Welcome! Great story. My son who trains is 7 too.

Hello and welcome everyone!

Hey everyone!

I started training here in Santa Cruz with Garth Taylor in 2011 (then Kaijin MMA, now Garth Taylor Jiu Jitsu). I'd dabbled in martial arts previously, but figured that, as I got older (then 47), starting (and getting anywhere) was only going to get harder. Plus, I'd just moved my family to Santa Cruz and it seemed like a good way to get to know people. (Surfing, on the other hand, is a rather challenging way to get to know folks!)

It's been a fantastic experience, thanks to Garth and the crew. BJJ has been the perfect complement to my other interests (surfing, climbing, running), as well as my profession (marine biologist). I competed regularly and with varied success in local tournaments, but I injured my knee in 2018 badly enough to require surgery. After an excruciatingly slow recovery, I was finally ready get back in the gym early this year...just in time for the corona virus to hit. I thought I'd missed BJJ while out due to my knee; this is 10x worse!

I hope folks are staying safe and still finding ways to meet your jiu jitsu needs at least to some extent.

Cheers, Peter

Hey Everyone,

Lucian Hughes here. Received my brown belt last week from my current professor Joel Garcia, Black Belt under the American Killer Bees association, founded by Israel Gomes and Anderson Silva.
I have always lived and trained in NC, just different areas. Started my BJJ journey in 2008 under one of only two black belts in the state at that time. Received my blue belt from him. Took about a year and half off of BJJ to finish college (I couldn’t seem to do both at the same time and school wasn’t winning). Started back under my brother-in-law Heath Chapman at East Carolina Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who is a black belt under Robson Moura. Robson and my BiL promoted me to Purple belt. A year later I broke my foot and had to take another long time off before I could train without pain. Next, I moved about and hour and a half away for work, and tried to stay at the same academy but the long drive was too much. Leaving that BJJ family was very hard and I didn’t think I’d find another great school like that, but I was wrong. A new school opened up about 15 minutes from my house and I figured I’d try it out. Glad I did! Now our school, Embrace Martial Arts, has 2 UFC fighters and I think 3 Bellator fighters, but most of important, I’ve found another BJJ family!

Thanks for reading and look forward to reading everyone else’s journeys.

OSS

I need some verification votes, so please help me out! haha: https://www.beltchecker.c[...]p?id=18078

I used to be an active online forum addict that posted under a few names on various martial arts forums, but usually "Mikey Triangles". Here is a short Bio from my website. I currently own two schools in Mississippi, we used to be under the name of Alan Belcher MMA Club, but Alan sold me his half and I joined the American Top Team affiliation this year. Most people know me by the prank video I made with Alex Vamos back in 2013, but what people don't know us that a couple of years later we planned to do it in Brazil, but when Alex and I got there the video as so famous people recognized us not only in the BJJ schools but Alex even got asked for pictures at a few bars we visited!

https://www.youtube.com/w[...]lanbelcher

Michael Sanford was born on the 4th of June, 1985 in Hicksville, NY – United States. Michael started practicing martial arts at 5 years old through Boxing, then Kempo Karate at 7. The martial arts academy where Sanford trained was relatively close-minded, and after a few years, he left it to pursue wrestling and continue learning Boxing with his aunt Peggy Donovan who became a NY Golden Gloves Champion in 1995.

Michael also experimented with several martial arts throughout his teens, but it wasn’t until the age of 18 when he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and began watching old videotapes of Royce Gracie in the early UFC’s. At this time he heard of some underground MMA fights happening locally between various fighters in the area and jumped in winning his first 2 fights with TKO’s in the 1st round. Still training in traditional martial arts and Boxing Mikey sought after BJJ instructors when they came around, but it wasn’t until 2005 that he became an official student of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the tutelage of Master Fransisco Mansor, a Red Belt under the legendary Helio Gracie that had moved to Long Island. Here Mike found his true passion and earned his blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after winning several local tournaments. After receiving his blue belt he also moved into the academy and became an assistant instructor, and started learning to teach. Still competing regularly in the circuit Michael’s true passion for teaching and coaching didn’t start to shine through until he broke his arm in a training accident. At this time he was unable to compete but developed a true passion for teaching. After 2 years of living in the academy Michael moved to Florida to live with his, now wife, Ann Sanford. In Florida under the recommendation of Master Mansor Michael began training under Daniel Moraes, and competing regularly for Team Moraes.

After several years Daniel introduced Michael to Alan Belcher, who recognized Mike’s talent for teaching and immediately asked him to move to Mississippi and be a full-time instructor for Alan Belcher MMA Club (now American Top Team Mississippi Gulf Coast). Mike and his instructors were excited about the idea, and he’s been there ever since teaching BJJ and competing in Mixed Martial Arts. On January 11th, 2014 Michael was awarded his black belt in BJJ under Daniel and Diego Moraes.

Professor Michael Sanford is now a 2nd-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the head instructor of American Top Team D’Iberville and Gulfport in Mississippi and has several notable students including jiujitsu champions and several excelling in the UFC, BKFC, and other leagues. Notable people Mike has trained include Jason Knight, Chase Sherman, Brandon Davis, and more. ”

Hey everybody,

I have been doing bjj since 2009. Currently a 4 stripe purple belt under professors John DeVall, Tony Basile, and Andre DeVillier. Everyone I have ever trained with is new to belt checker so its been hard to get verification if nobody can vote. If I could get a few votes so I can help out everyone else that would be amazing for everyone.