Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is growing in popularity across Greater Manchester and has helped to transform the lives of many who train — from hero policemen to recovering heroin addicts. MM visited four gyms in the area to speak to them.
A few days before Christmas last year, PC Paul Matthews was called to the scene of a violent rampage inside a home in Manchester.
A man had stabbed his wife, slashed a member of her family and was – as far as Paul knew – still armed and dangerous.
Paul confronted the attacker, pinned him to the floor and handcuffed him – actions which resulted in him being nominated for a bravery award called a Chief Superintendent Commendation.
But it isn’t his police training that Paul credits for bringing the man under control.
It was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
“Having something like Jiu Jitsu is ideal when you go into that kind of situation,” he said. “In a confined space where you’re able to grab at clothing, which might not be similar to the gi [worn in Jiu Jitsu], you can still grab things and use very similar grips and get control.”
The martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, established in Brazil 100 years ago, is a form of submission wrestling focusing on ground fighting with joint locks and chokeholds. Its popularity has grown ever since the UFC arrived on television screens, and coaches all over Greater Manchester have seen an explosion in the numbers of people training.
Paul said his training had made the difference in stopping anyone else from getting hurt when dealing with the man – and he thinks the training should be made mandatory for other officers.
He has trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for six years at the Factory BJJ gym in Reddish, Stockport, under head coach Adam Adshead.
Explore the map to see where Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gyms can be found in Greater Manchester.
In response to Paul’s actions during the incident, Adam said: “To be able to give someone some insights, some techniques, some strategy and provide them with a positive training atmosphere that they’re able to take into a live situation and protect their colleagues and the general public, that’s one of the things I am most proud of.”
Paul’s nomination for the award is one of the many uplifting stories found in gyms across Greater Manchester today that demonstrates the potential Jiu Jitsu has to change – and save – people’s lives, even in the most unexpected ways.
At Henshall Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym in Newton Heath, Manchester, Sophie Banyard used Jiu Jitsu as part of her recovery from a heroin addiction.
The 39-year-old personal trainer from Hyde has trained in Jiu Jitsu since April last year and now looks to compete in the sport she has dedicated herself to.
“I really admired the commitment and discipline it takes for people to get great at a martial art,” Sophie said. “You have to train four or five times a week and I wanted to do that – so I started.”
Jayden O’Reilly-Broad, 20, has been training since 2015 at Henshall Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, started by former MMA fighter Steven Henshall. Jayden, from Moston, credits Jiu Jitsu for his transformation from a shy, awkward kid at school to the happier and successful person he is today.
“It’s because of Jiu Jitsu I am so much more successful in my life,” he said. “I’m in my third year of university, I have a full-time job, I have my own place and I’ve succeeded so much more by doing Jiu Jitsu – it’s crazy to think that, but I’m so happy because of it and I’m so thankful for the person it has made me today.”
At the Factory BJJ gym, 38-year-old Joe Gavagan from Stockport also recognises the positive impact Jiu Jitsu has made on his life since he started training a year ago.
“I drank quite a lot, but now I’ve cut out drinking fully,” Joe said. “I’ve lost nearly 20 kilos through good exercise, good diet, and I’m motivated to be a healthier version of me.”
The positive impact of Jiu Jitsu has also been felt by couples who train together.
Andrew Isherwood is 36 and he started training at Factory BJJ in 2020 after convincing his partner to join him too. He said they had become closer as a couple since they started.
Even trained together at the gym on Valentine’s Day.
“She’s a lot smaller than me, but it doesn’t matter, she’s very good,” Andrew said. “It’s been humbling being beat up by my missus.”
Jiu Jitsu is enjoyed by many people in Manchester as both a combat sport and a martial art, which has been growing in the area for more than ten years.
In 2006, Mark Elliot opened his gym in Eccles, Salford, to teach various martial arts including Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do and Silat.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was also taught twice a week at the start, but it became so popular with students Mark decided to teach it exclusively at his Gracie Barra Trafford Quays gym.
At the Stealth BJJ gym in Oldham, Steve Campbell also started out teaching two sessions a week at the gym and kept his full-time job during the day when the gym first opened. Steve returned from eight years in Brazil in 2008 to open the gym in his home city after earning his black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr, the son of the founder of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
This year, Stealth BJJ will celebrate its fifteenth-year anniversary and now runs a full timetable filled with multiple classes each day for adults and children at different levels taught by multiple coaches.
Factory BJJ also celebrates its fifteen-year anniversary this year and one of the things its head coach has seen change over that time is how much information is now available online for people to use.
“I’m old enough to be one of the guys that was ordering VHS tapes when trying to learn,” Adam said. “So the ability to be able to learn things is so much more accessible on and off the mat now that it feels like the sport is blossoming and the level is increasing massively.”
Adam started training 19 years ago and early on had a training partner who would often catch him in a knee bar when sparring. Unsure how to defend against it, Adam went to YouTube – at a time when the platform had recently launched – and searched for ‘knee bar escape’, but was shown zero results. The same search on YouTube today returns more than 500 videos, including the one below.
The popularity of Jiu Jitsu across Greater Manchester is also seen at the competitions throughout the area. Some of the biggest events in the area are run by Empire Grappling, the grappling events company founded by Jake Cross in 2016.
Jake ran his first Jiu Jitsu competition event in 2012 as part of a company called Submission North and attracted 35 competitors from different gyms around Greater Manchester.
Today, an average event put on by Empire Grappling in Greater Manchester expects around 450 people to compete and another 600 people to watch as spectators.
“There are probably competitions in Manchester every two or three weeks now,” Steve Campbell said. “I remember back in 2000 there might have been one or two competitions a year across the UK, so that’s a massive difference.”
In the years ahead, there are different routes for Jiu Jitsu to follow in order for it to keep growing in Greater Manchester. Mark Elliot points out how, as time goes on, more black belts will emerge who may be looking to open their own gyms and get even more people training.
“Some people are motivated to open their own gym,” Mark said. “So, there will be more gyms popping up all over the place and spreading the word of Jiu Jitsu”.
Mark sees this as a good thing for the sport as more gyms open across Greater Manchester mean more people find it easier to train and can pick the gyms closest to them.
“We could just fill the whole area up and have a gym on every street corner,” he said.
