Roger Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy HQ

Fightzone, London grapple, roger Gracie's, Los banditos, Jude Samuels place, grapple zone source, 2025 ↗

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in terms of gyms with strong, solid women's teams in london, the first one to come to mind will always be fightzone london in bethnal green. then the big names like roger gracie academy, carlson gracie london, gracie barra etc all have strong womens teams. i've heard good things about grand union bjj and new school bjj brixton too. there are a couple of gyms closer to you that i haven't heard super good things about but it wouldn't be fair of me to post it publicly i think. source, 2025 ↗

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Way back in the day, the majority of access to BJJ instruction in the UK was via Roger's dad Maurico Gomes. As Maurico was affiliated with Gracie Barra, there were lots of Gracie Barra gyms across the UK long as their only access to a black belt was Maurico. I first remember training with Braulio Estima and later his brother Victor when they were brown belts. My first instructor was a blue belt that travelled to London once a month to train for a long time till he eventually moved there, later moving away again to open his own gym. A lot of these gyms then switched to RGA when Roger started hi source, 2025 ↗

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Is this Alliance or Gracie? They tend to charge extreme rates in their Central London gyms. Definitely cheaper options if you’re willing to travel. I pay £89 a month for BJJ+general gym access source, 2025 ↗

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Personally, no. Not worth the effort. Guys like Roger Gracie moved to London with virtually zero BJJ culture, rolled with white belts the entire time and was still able to beat the top players in the game. The ROI of going to a gym 10 minutes away to get good training vs 1 hour to get what you perceive to be “great” training is not worth it. You’re better off spending that 2 hour commute in the gym weight lifting or something else. That commute is not worth it. source, 2025 ↗

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I didnt boxing and a small amount of Muay Thai, I lived in Boston for a while and started training at Mark Delagrotti’s place, Sityodtong. I got choked by a child doing some light MMA sparing. I just thought bjj was a joke even though id seen UFC1 and 2. Never did stand up again. Just couldnt believe a kid could kill me! Hahaha. Went and found a great bjj place called North Shore BJJ in Salem and then moved back to London UK and went straight to Roger’s. That was all about 15 odd years ago. source, 2025 ↗

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Off the top of my head for Europe, ECJJA in Dublin (they have quite a few high ranked women, and active competitors). London - Fightzone, Grapple Collective, London Grapple, Roger Gracie, Hiliti BJJ Berlin. I'm not sure about a 'lot' of women, but the people I'm thinking of train (or drop in frequently there.) There's obviously more, but hopefully this is a useful starting point. source, 2025 ↗

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Hey BJJ community, I’m a musician based in London and will be touring quite a bit this year. I recently started my BJJ journey as a white belt and train at a Gracie Barra (GB) gym. Since I’ll be traveling a lot, I was wondering if it’s okay to train at other GB locations while on tour. What have your experiences been training at different GB gyms? Are they generally welcoming to visiting members? Also, does attending different gyms affect your attendance record at your home gym? I know attendance can sometimes be tied to belt progression (though that’s not my primary concern right now). source, 2025 ↗

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