Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is on the rise in West Cumbria. Just Grind MMA and fitness centre have made a big push towards 'the gentle art' in recent years.

Seminars with some of the highest level black belts in the world are being held at the Workington based martial arts school. Their latest grappling seminar takes place at the dojo on Monday November 26 when Matheus Diniz brings his no-gi expertise to the mat.

Diniz has grappled with huge names in the sport of BJJ, holding wins over Garry Tonon and Neiman Gracie. Previously, Phil Harris and 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu black belt Ben Eddy have held seminars. Diniz was awarded his black belt by Marcelo Garcia, one of the discipline's pioneer names, mentioned in the same conversations as Rener Gracie and Eddie Bravo. Matheus Diniz is credited with schooling Vitor Belfort, a former UFC world champion and one of MMA's most recognised names.

The high level coaching seems to be paying-off as the gym are seeing continued success at BJJ competitions. On November 17, JP Hasley took gold in the Empire No-Gi Grappling Lancashire Open. A spokesperson for the gym had this to say about the win: "That's his third gold medal in recent competitions and a much deserved reward for all his hard work on the mats".
The resident coaches in BJJ are David Delveccio, who takes the adult class and Mark Hodgson who coaches the juniors.

With mat specialists like SBG's Dillon Danis and UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov growing in popularity, gone are the days where sluggers got all the respect.
Tapout Knockout MMA and Jiu-Jitsu, who operate out of Workington leisure centre, also have a strong BJJ team. In September they made the trip down to Wolverhampton for the Junior BJJ European Open, bringing back a haul of medals. 

Cumbria's martial arts representation has expanded exponentially in the past five years and it shows no signs of stopping.