“Create your own roadshow”

Terence McKenna

I first met Ellis nearly three years ago whilst living in Rio’s hub for Jiu-Jitsu travelers, the  hostel. At the time you would have been hard pressed to find a more unassuming and timid individual. It took me a while to get to know him as, together with his partner in crime Andy, they spent the first half of their stay hauled up in their room when they weren’t training or dining on a cuisine made up entirely of cheeseburgers. The first time we had the opportunity to train together, I played the role of arrogant dick blue belt and looked upon this skinny kid, that didn’t look a day over fourteen (he was actually eighteen), and thought I could easily impose my obviously superior Jiu-Jitsu upon him. Predictably I was beaten, submitted and taught a lesson in humility; something that Jiu-Jitsu seems to excel in.

His is an interesting tale of a self-taught practitioner, talented teacher, sponsored athlete and academy owner who has gone on to terrorise competition both domestically and throughout Europe, with plans of taking it to the world stage this year.

This success led to multiple sponsors looking for him to endorse their brands, including a unique dual sponsorship with both  and .

Perhaps his greatest accolade to date came with winning his ticket for this year’s Abu Dhabi World Pro. Competing in the trials in Athens, he finished second on the first day which was enough to make it to the second day and fight for a ticket to the world championships. Unfortunately, that night he came down with sickness and diarrhea, this lead to vomiting out everything he’d ever consumed, and an inability to eat anything or sleep more than a few hours. But he got back on the mats where he won three hard-fought matches whilst holding back his bodies desire to irreparably sully his fresh white kimono. This can be seen as quite the battle against adversity, both against stiff competition and his own bodily functions.

This incredible shift in confidence has also been a result of his constant travelling, which has taken him to North and South America and all the way across Europe, where he has met hundreds of new people, who he now calls friends. These days he tries to be out of the country at least once a month. The desire to travel, he explained, had predated Jiu-Jitsu but, like a lot of things, it never really seemed possible. He credits the travel for ensuring he hasn’t ended up back digging holes eight hours a day.

The man I spent the day with, who continued to school me on the mats, could not be further removed from the friendly but incredibly shy, young dude I met in Rio. Running his own academy has meant interacting with new people everyday, which he now cites as one of his favourite things. Teaching has now become something that he enjoys, highlighting:

“The feeling of knowing that you have ignited a person’s love for Jiu-Jitsu, students who grow to love the sport as much as you, even creating students who are better than you”.

He has created a brotherhood at his academy, ; which he sees as perhaps his biggest achievement. All the guys compete together, travel abroad together, go out to eat together, and then train hard and attempt to assassinate each other every single night.

When questioned on his aspirations for the future, he stressed the importance of never settling and thinking that you are good enough. He is working diligently at growing the academy and making it into a success both financially and creatively. His idea is to add a children’s class to the schedule with the aim of creating a project that would allow him to sponsor dedicated youngsters to travel and compete alongside him. He would like to be a teacher that nurtures the individual needs of his students whether they are competitors, those looking to keep fit, or simply people looking to make friends, so they have the ideal environment for growth within the sport, something that he never had.

His goal is to be the best competitor that he can be. He is striving tirelessly to be the best in the world, but regardless of success he is forever grateful of the travel and the confidence that Jiu-Jitsu competition has given him and all the amazing people that he has met along the way. This isn’t too shabby for a dude who taught himself in a garage from watching videos on YouTube.