Great Jiu-Jitsu Instructors To Follow
The world of Jiu-Jitsu is growing. Membership across the U.S. continues to shoot up and a new school pops out of the ground seemingly every week. With that growth comes more and more great Jiu-Jitsu practitioners who you should be following. They are willing to share their secrets for our viewing pleasure after all.
Want to learn new techniques? What about watching some legends in action? How about getting a nice chuckle in every once in a while?
No matter where you are in your Jiu-Jitsu journey or what you are looking for particularly, there are instructors out there for you. Now is a better time than ever to start Jiu-Jitsu and this article will introduce some of the best who can help you in every aspect of your journey.
If I missed any of your favorites let me know in the contact form below!
Table of Contents
Best Jiu-Jitsu Instructors/Lessons
Anyone who has started Jiu-Jitsu has ventured into the world of online instructionals. There is no end to the incredible talent that posts and you could earn a masters degree from the content that is available to you.
Let’s get started with some of my personal favorites.
On Youtube
The Grappling Academy
The Grappling Academy was one of the first channels that I subscribed to early on. Coach Tom is incredibly diligent in his lessons and delivers it with a friendly, calm demeanor that kept me coming back over and over again.
I would recommend his channel for anyone, but I would especially recommend it to all newcomers to Jiu-Jitsu. He hits on key details without dragging along his lessons and keeps a pace and energy that anyone can appreciate.
Whether you are looking for Gi or no-Gi content, free or paid instructionals, or vlogs about Jiu-Jitsu, Coach Tom covers it all. I’m a huge fan of this channel and am confident that anyone could benefit from it.
Coach Tom Davey currently trains and coaches in Adelaide, Australia.
Knight Jiu-Jitsu
Knight Jiu-Jitsu is another favorite for any and all Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. It’s likely that you’ve run across his videos at some point and he continues to put out great content to this day.
Eli Knight is a 3rd Degree Black Belt who coaches at Three Rivers Martial Arts Academy in Paducah, KY. His channel, Knight Jiu-Jitsu, has grown to be incredibly popular and currently boasts just shy of 300k Subscribers.
If you aren’t as interested in long Jiu-Jitsu lessons, he also has an Instagram account that shares quick-hit lessons for your game. Regardless of how you like your Jiu-Jitsu lessons, Knight Jiu-Jitsu has you covered.
Bernardo Faria
Even if you don’t know the name Bernardo Faria, you may recognize the infamous “yuge honor for me” slogan that is said at the beginning of every lesson on his channel.
Bernardo Faria is a 5x Black Belt World Champion and was named the best Jiu-Jitsu athlete in 2015. Regardless of his own prowess and expertise, he uses his channel to allow other coaches and competitors to explain their most tried and true techniques.
Because of this, he has an incredible amount of diversity in his lessons. Just about any practitioner you could name has been on his channel and given a lesson. Gordon Ryan, Marcelo Garcia, Roger Gracie, the list goes on.
So when you make it to Bernardo’s channel, know you will have access to some of the worlds greatest Jiu-Jitsu talent teaching their best and highest percentage moves for us to learn.
Bernardo Faria coaches out of his own school, Bernardo Faria Academy, in Bedford, MA.
Gracie Breakdown
It’s pretty hard to get into Jiu-Jitsu without hearing the Gracie name. The family founded what is known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the family carries an incredible amount of clout in whatever they do.
The Gracie Breakdown channel is no different. The channel is mostly run by Rener Gracie who posts everything from anti-bullying and self defense to UFC breakdowns and celebrity rolling sessions.
Rener has an incredible energy and promotes Jiu-Jitsu across the world. Whether you are looking for instructionals, street fight breakdowns, UFC content, or otherwise, you are sure to be both educated and entertained with the Gracie Breakdown channel.
Rener Gracie currently coaches at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, CA. He and his brother Ryron also run gracieuniversity.com.
John Danaher
I would be remiss if I did not include John Danaher on this list. John is a 6th degree black belt under Renzo Gracie and is regarded by many as one of the greatest coaches of today. He is the coach for the #1 contender in the world, Gordon Ryan, as well as a number of other top competitors.
John takes a much more philosophical approach in his teaching and is incredibly thorough in his examination of each and every move. It’s because of this that his lessons will typically run more than 20 minutes for each.
He might not be everyone’s cup of tea in video form, but there is no denying that he has played a major part in some of the top grapplers the world has seen. All that to say it’s worth giving his videos a view.
John doesn’t have his own channel but he contributes to the BJJ Fanatics Youtube channel frequently.
John teaches out of Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan.
On Instagram/Tik Tok
Not looking for longer form lessons? Not a problem! There are a number of great Instagram and Tik Tok instructors to give quick sub 1 minute lessons to help you with your Jiu-Jitsu game. Here are some of my favorites.
Jon Thomas
Jon Thomas’s nickname is Macarrão, which translates to “spaghetti” in Portuguese. This fits his lessons and style well as he uses a flexible guard to find ways to get around peoples guards and make his way into dominant positions. He goes through these and many other techniques that are useful in anyone’s arsenal.
While Jon Thomas does also have a Youtube Channel, he is consistent on giving great lessons within his Instagram channel, which is a great way to learn some new techniques in under 1 minute.
Jon currently lives and teaches at Valhalla Jiu-Jitsu in Götenborg, Sweden.
Dom Bell
Dominique Bell is a black belt in both Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. He shows a number of techniques and best practices for both, which can tremendously help both your stand-up and ground game. He is also skilled in some unique guards and positions such as the tarantula guard, laser guard, and many others.
On top of that, Dom adds a bit of comedy into his lessons while giving some great nuggets to add to your game. I would definitely recommend giving his channel a follow!
Dominique Bell currently trains out of Atos Jiu-Jitsu in San Diego, CA.
Tomer Alroy
Tomer Alroy is an accomplished BJJ Black Belt who competes in both Gi and no-Gi. Before getting into Jiu-Jitsu he was in the Israeli army as a Krav Maga instructor. He has two separate Instagram accounts, @TomerAlroy and @tomerbjj.
Both accounts show incredibly high quality video and cover everything from guard passing and recovery to how-to’s, escapes, breakdowns, and even a bit of comedy. The main difference is that @tomerbjj seems to be targeted to more daily entry level content and @TomerAlroy is focused to more seasoned practitioners.
He takes a straightforward but easy to follow and understand approach and already boasts more than 150,000 followers between both accounts. I am a big fan of his content and believe anyone can learn something from him.
Tomer trains out of MMA Israel in Netanya.
Most Entertaining Jiu-Jitsu Instructors to Watch
Jiu-Jitsu contenders continue to get more advanced while seemingly getting faster, more technical, and, well, more entertaining. There will always be some debate on this topic but there are a few that stand out for me personally.
Some of the contenders mentioned have incredible athleticism, some hit crazy submissions, and some have those silky-smooth transitions who give me that Christian Bale ooh face.
There will be no discrimination here on current contenders or previous legends.
Let me know some of your favorites in the comments form below!
Gordon Ryan
Unless you somehow do Jiu-Jitsu and instantaneously know nothing about it, then you know the name Gordon Ryan. Gordon is the #1 P4P Jiu-Jitsu fighter in the world and has defeated just about every dominant Jiu-Jitsu practitioner there is.
While he isn’t hitting the craziest submissions or doing the most insane moves you’ve ever seen, he is the most dominant for a reason. He is smooth, technical, and composed in all of his action and he does it all with ease.
If you look at a breakdown of his record, he is 92-5-3 at the time of writing this article. He won 74 of those 94 submissions by submission and the spread of type of submission is all over the place. 8 heel hooks, 5 armbars, 5 reverse triangles, 3 triangle arm bar, 3 knee bar, and the list goes on. He is a real master practitioner and continues to only get better with time.
If you aren’t watching Gordon Ryan, then you are missing out on one of the top contenders the world has ever seen.
Kade Rutolo
Kade is one of the top young prospects today. He trains with André Galvão at Atos BJJ and was the 2022 ADCC World Champion.
He is fast, technical, and aggressive in his style. Kade can play on his back but typically elects to go to his wrestling, Judo, and passing game. Because of this, his matches tend to be incredibly fast paced and have almost no stall time.
As a matter of fact, he had the 2022 Match of the Year against PJ Barch which is just one of many impressive matches he has been in. I have a feeling he’s going to continue adding to his highlight reel with every match he takes part in.
Make sure to keep up with Kade and his brother Ty @rutolobrothersjiujitsu.
Marcello Garcia
Remember the Christian Bale “ooh” face I mentioned at the beginning? Well, Marcelo Garcia has given me that face more times than any other practitioner. Both from old highlight videos as well as all of his most recent rolls with other top notch competitors.
In his hay-day, Marcelo became a 5 Time World Jiu-Jitsu Champion and a 4 Time ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship winner. He fought people of all sizes and is regarded today by many as the G.O.A.T of Jiu-Jitsu.
The precision of his attacks and his constant movement while on top or bottom made him incredibly enjoyable to watch. And I contest that he has some of the silkiest, smoothest passing that there has ever been. Pair that with his transition from guard to arm drag or single leg and you most definitely have someone that is worthy of the G.O.A.T title.
If you haven’t watched Marcelo yet, do yourself a favor and go check him out. You won’t be sorry.
Jiu-Jitsu Entertainment
Everyone who does Jiu-Jitsu wants to learn more and get better. That’s probably why you’re here in the first place. It’s also what the first few sections of this article was focused around.
Every once in a while though, it’s nice to have a bit of comedy. We all need a few laughs about the good, bad, and ugly of Jiu-Jitsu. Fortunately, there are a lot of people out there to help you accomplish that need.
Jiu Jitsu Guy
What, you think I was going to write an article without promoting my own Instagram page? What’s a good article without some shameless plugs after all?
I think I’m funny, and so does my mom. So maybe you will too.
Memes only. Pure enjoyment. You’re already here, so why not give me a follow?
Craig Jones
Craig Jones is a legitimately good grappler. Fortunately, he is also an absolute clown outside (and even inside) of his Jiu-Jitsu practice.
Whether it’s photoshopping images of Lachlan Giles baby celebration photos or playing slow jams in compromising positions with teammates, Craig Jones has you covered. And if that’s not enough for you, then just go check out his Instagram to get a taste for yourself.
Brickhousemma_
Nick Bustamante was actually a pro MMA fighter out of Fresno, CA who is a black belt in jiu-jitsu at Dethrone MMA. In between his training and family time, he is a certified funny man.
His page @brickhousemma_ has everything you need to laugh your way into your next session or to wind down after a few good rounds. I don’t think he has posted anything that I didn’t get a good chuckle from.
So take a moment and give him a follow!
If I missed a favorite of yours in any category, let me know in the contact form below!
