Dave Camarillo - Founder of Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu

David Camarillo was born in 1977 in California, USA. He is not only a black belt in BJJ but also in judo. He received his BJJ black belt under Ralph Gracie. Later he opened his own BJJ academy named Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu. Now he is one of the best coaches who produced successful students of UFC and BJJ.

Camarillo’s father, Jim, was a famous Judoka and had his own judo club in California named Bakersfield. That’s why Camarillo started his martial arts training at a very young age, at the age of five. His father took him and his brother to his judo club and both judo training six times each week. Camarillo trained in this academy until he turned eighteen.

Camarillo was very passionate about making a career in martial arts. Hence, he visited Fresno State to join the Fresno State Judo Club. During this time, he also got a chance to visit Japan and train judo at Tsukuba University.

During his training at Fresno, Camarillo sustained a knee injury that made it difficult for him to practice judo. During this time, Dave Camarillo tried jiu-jitsu because it involved ground fighting and was not as harsh on the knees as judo.

To train in Jiu-Jitsu, Camarillo chose Ralph Gracie’s Academy. In this academy, Cesar Gracie and Ralph Gracie became his first BJJ teachers. This was the place where Camarillo met with a UFC champion and star, BJ Penn, who became his close friend and both of them still have a strong bond of friendship.

In Gracie Academy, Camarillo realized his knack for Jiu-Jitsu. Dave Camarillo made a record and earned his blue belt in the minimum time of ten days.

Camarillo continued to surprise his coach with his abilities and achieved his brown belt in the record period of two years. When he was a purple belt, he achieved medals in various major competitions including ‘II Oscar de Jiu-Jitsu Contra a Violência’ in which he defeated Fredson Paixao with points. After four years of training under Ralph Gracie, Camarillo received his black belt.

David Camarillo just received his fifth strip on his black belt in July 2023. He shared this news with his fans on his Instagram account in these words:

In 2003, when Camarillo was newly promoted to black belt, he started coaching at an academy in San Jose named American Kickboxing Academy. His coaching style was very different from the other instructors in the academy. That’s why he named his game style, Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu. Later he opened his own academy with the name of Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu and trained his students his unique fighting style. Now Dave Camarillo has become one of the top coaches and has trained various legendary fighters under his tutelage.

Dave Camarillo’s brother Daniel Camarillo, also known as Dan Camarillo, is also a Jiu-Jitsu and Judo black belt. He runs his own martial arts academy, the Camarillo Jiu Jitsu Bakersfield.

Dave Camarillo is happily married and has a son.

Dave Camarillo has a series of instructional videos on BJJ Fanatics. His course name is ‘The Armlock Obsession’. In this video series, Dave Camarillo has explained how to apply, control, and break an armlock in detail.

Dave Camarillo is a famous martial arts coach who is serving martial arts by imparting his knowledge and producing some of the best fighters. His unique fighting style distinguished him and his students from other fighters.

Jon Fitch received his black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo. He has an MMA record of 32-8-2. He received the Fight of the Night award twice in 2012.

Josh Koscheck earned a black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu and was a wrestler under Dave Camarillo. His MMA record is 17-11-0. His UFC awards include:

1. Submission of the Night (Once)
2. Knock of the Night (Twice)
3. Fight of the Night (Twice)
4. 4th ranked fighter having the most bouts in the history of UFC Welterweight division

Cain Velasquez is an American wrestler and a former MMA fighter. His winning record in MMA is 14-3-0. His list of awards in MMA is quite impressive. But his most prominent achievements are as follows:

1. UFC Heavyweight Champion (Twice)
2. Knockout of the Night (Twice)
3. Performance of the Night (Once)

Mike Swick is a former American MMA fighter who competed in the middleweight division. He is a purple belt in BJJ under Dave Camarillo. His MMA record is 15-6-0. He is the winner of the UFC award Knockout of the Night Honors (Twice).

Mark Zuckerberg is an American millionaire and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of a social media website, Facebook. In 2022, Zuckerberg revealed on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he is practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

In 2023, he appeared in a BJJ tournament, BJJ Tour Silicon Valley, on the 6th of May in California. He represented Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu and trained under Dave Camarillo. He won two medals in Gi and No-Gi fights.

Dave Camarillo, the founder of Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu faced Edison Missio in the final of the 2007 Dumau International Cup in the lightweight division. Both fighters started the fight with high energy. They tried to take down each other from the start. Firstly, Missio tried to take down Camarillo but could not be successful. Later Camarillo also lost one chance to overcome Missio.

After one and a half minutes, Missio succeeded in taking Camarillo down And immediately secured the top position. Camarillo tried to apply full guard but he could not. After a few seconds, he successfully applied a successful armbar and submitted Missio only three minutes into the fight.

The armbar was so strong that Edison Missio did not even get a chance to tap. On the other hand, Dave Camarillo refused to loosen his grip. Later Edison Missio demonstrated aggression but Dave Camarillo maintained composure.

David Camarillo x Edson Missio

Spectacular submissions: David Camarillo in US Nationals

Dave Camarillo Highlights

Photo Credits: @davecamarillo