New Wave Jiujitsu's Next Star

Over the weekend a 19 year old purple belt submitted 4 older more experienced men to win EBI 25. We’re going to look at his game and explain why he’s so interesting.

Now let’s get into it.

The Eddie Bravo Invitational (EBI) was a catalyst for modern professional submission grappling. And that has nothing to do with EBI’s unique rules.

EBI was the first professional invitational jiujitsu event that paid real money and is still running today. The promotion regularly gives out tens of thousands of dollars with bonuses for submissions.

Perhaps more importantly, EBI gave us the legend of John Danaher and his “Death Squad”. Over the first 15 EBI events, Danaher’s athletes Garry Tonon, Gordon Ryan, and Eddie Cummings won 11 EBI title matches with violent leg locking and brutal rear naked chokes. Their success at EBI led into Ryan dominating ADCC and the birth of a grappling super team.

But EBI fell out of favor. They created Combat Jiujitsu by adding palm strikes to the matches in the hopes of making grappling more exciting.

Many in the jiujitsu community (like yours truly) didn’t get it.

We already have MMA. Why do we need a watered down version of MMA that forces people to grapple more? Why can’t we just have MMA separate from high level jiujitsu?

Much to the praise of many grapplers, EBI returned to their old rule set this weekend for a stellar jiujitsu event. They had UFC fighters, Polaris Champions, and an IBJJF No Gi World Champion. But then a 19 year old kid came out of nowhere to run through the tournament in less than 4 minutes of total mat time.

Landon Elmore is a 19 year old purple belt training with Garry Tonon, John Danaher, Gordon Ryan at Kingsway Jiujitsu. On the surface he’s just another Danaher guy with good leg locks. But if you look past the box score you’ll an athlete that doesn’t compete like anyone else from their team.

Elmore started all of his EBI matches swiping and pawing at his opponent’s head. Then he would launch himself straight to guard.

But when Elmore gets just the right look, he jumps past his opponent’s initial defense and throws himself straight into submissions.

But where Elmore really wants to be is on his opponent’s legs. He can even throw himself straight into leg attacks from standing.

Elmore even caught his teammate in an outside heel hook after rolling to the legs on the feet.

Elmore uses the threat of ankle locks to switch legs and submissions.

In the finals, Elmore took out a no gi vet a new twist on a classic submission entry.

The back step to cross and inside ashi is a classic leg lock entry. In fact, here is an old veteran from Elmore’s team, Garry Tonon, using it in EBI 9 close to a decade ago.

It’s certainly tempting to label every young finisher training with John Danaher the next big thing. I think Elmore is different.

Elmore doesn’t roll like his teammates. Sure he does a lot of leg locking, but he has a unique way of doing all of the attacks that made his coaches and teammates successful. And that’s the mark of someone that can truly be great.

Good fighters do what works. Great fighters take what works, modifies it for the time, and then add their own personal flair to the techniques they employ. Combat sports greatness comes from a degree of originality and Elmore has that in spades. Now I’m just excited to see what he will do next.

Wrestling’s Senior World Championships are still underway as I type this. I don’t really follow wrestling, but I try to watch the Olympics, NCAA Finals, and World Championships to see if there is anything I can steal for my jiujitsu classes.

This year has already had a few performances that stood out. American Zahid Valencia won the -86KG division, didn’t give up a single point, and beat everyone by at least 10 points, except his semi final opponent who he beat 7-0.

Japan’s -70KG Wrester, Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, won his division and only gave up a single point in the process. This is after getting silver at last year’s Olympics. Oh and he’s still only 23 years old.

But I think another younger wrestler stole the show.

Jax Forrest is an 18 year old high schooler competing at -61KG. To make it to the World Championships, he had to beat another former World Champion, Vito Arujau.

Forrest didn’t win the tournament, but his defense and overall style is so fun to watch. He has a fluid form that shows technical skills well beyond his age.

It’s not just offense though. Forrest flows through defense and counter attacks to constantly off balance his opponents.

But it’s not like Forrest only has tunnel vision. He mixes his targets up well, attacking his opponent’s head and legs until they fall over.

Again, this kid is really just an 18 year old kid. With the right coaching, there’s no reason to think he can’t get at least one world title.

We’ve added another athlete to 2026’s ADCC Rookie Report. Magomed Dzharbaev.

Dzharbaev is a Dagestani wrecking ball. An enigmatic 32 year old competitor that made the switch to submission grappling after wrestling through his adolescence. And there’s really not much else known about him.

Dzharbaev hardly posts on social media. When he does, it’s him training, on the podium, thanking a sponsor, or announcing another match. His Smoothcomp record is light, if not outright incomplete, and he doesn’t have a page on BJJ Heroes.

Dzharbaev really is one of those guys that waltzes down from the mountains to smash a few people, collect a check, and go home to wait for the next opportunity.

You might be asking yourself, what’s so exciting about this guy? If we don’t know anything about him, how can we think he’s any good?

Because, like most of the people from his corner of the world, Dzharbaev can wrestle his ass off. He’s not the most active on the feet nor floor, but when he locks up with his opponents he pushes them around easily. And even when they get close to scoring, or at least getting anything going he shuts it down rather effortlessly.