Gianni Grippo - 8 Times BJJ World Champion

Gianni Grippo is one of the top No-Gi competitors and was born on the 21st of March in 1992. Grippo is multiple times World and Pan champion. He started his Jiu-Jitsu career with Renzo Gracie Academy. Later he was promoted to Black Belt by Marcelo Garcia. Gianni Grippo is also one of the prominent members to execute the Berimbolo technique.

Gianni Grippo was inclined towards sports from his early childhood. His father was a triathlete and loved to participate in various games. Gianni Grippo was greatly influenced by his father to join sports and then martial arts. It was Gianni’s father who found Jiu-Jitsu suitable for his son.

Gianni was an athletic child so he loved to participate in various sports. His favorite one was swimming. Gianni took part in various swimming tournaments. He won the Junior Olympics in swimming for three consecutive years.

His love for sports took him to the team’s varsity roster in the starting years of high school. Gianni Grippo could not stop himself and also appeared in boxing as an amateur fighter.

Gianni was introduced to Jiu-Jitsu by his father who discovered Renzo Gracie Academy through one of his friends. As Jiu-Jitsu was a very new thing, Gianni was in love with Jiu-Jitsu after his first class.

His first coach was Magno Gama who was working in Renzo Gracie Academy. Gianni Grippo’s father wanted his son to learn Jiu-Jitsu. He supported him and drove him from New York to Manhattan on a daily basis.

Until 2004, grappling was just a hobby for Gianni Grippo. Until he visited the IBJJF World Championship in Brazil. That year, Gianni watched Ronaldo Souza defeating the best fighter, Roger Gracie.

After watching one of the most interesting fights, Gianni decided to take Jiu-Jitsu as a profession. To attain his target, he also decided to leave swimming.

Gianni Grippo started his BJJ journey with Renzo Gracie Academy. He trained there until his Brown Belt promotion. He became one of the top competitors of the generation and won the World Championship multiple times. He represented Renzo Gracie Academy in the international competitive circuit.

Later Gianni Grippo realized that he needed to train in No-Gi BJJ. This forced Gianni Grippo to leave Renzo Gracie Academy and join Alliance under Marcelo Garcia.

A lot of controversies came out after his transition. Gianni Grippo announced his change of academy via his social media post. He joined Alliance Marcelo Garcia in March 2012. After choosing Marcelo Garcia as his coach, Gianni Grippo started his journey toward excellence.

Gianni Grippo is very thoughtful about his training routine. In an interview, he mentioned that training all the time is not a way to success. Try to understand your body. If you are tired, you should give proper rest to your body. You cannot win the competition with a tired body. He mentioned that he used to do conditioning training in the early morning.

Furthermore, he mentioned that he tried to be on the mat even if he is injured. But he could not train someday, due to tiredness or any severe injury, he did not waste time. He spent his time watching videos of specific techniques.

He also thinks that BJJ is not just a physical game, it is a mind game. So a day off the mat is not a wasted day. You can learn some other things.

Gianni Grippo likes John Danaher as an elite No-Gi coach. He is a person who always tries to learn and teach irrespective of the rank. John Danaher is an example that there is always something to learn even if you are one of the most reverend coaches of martial arts. He also mentioned that Roger Gracie is the best fighter of all time.

In 2013, Gianni Grippo earned the World and Pan Champion title as a Brown Belt. After his consecutive promising victories, Gianni Grippo was promoted to Black Belt by Marcelo Garcia on the 1st of October 2013.

Gianni Grippo is one of the competitors who earned the World Champion title at every belt division and became eight times World Champion. He was World Champion in 2009 as a Blue Belt.

He became Gi and No-Gi World Champion in his Purple Belt division in 2011 and World Champion in 2012 and 2013 as a Brown Belt. After his Black Belt promotion, he again secured his No-Gi World Champion title thrice.

Gianni Grippo is ten times Pan Champion, five times in Gi, and five times in No-Gi. Gianni earned his four Pan titles in his colored belt divisions. After the Black Belt promotion, Grippo secured his Pan Champion title six times, three times in Gi, and three times in the No-Gi championship.

The Berimbolo technique was created by Marcel Ferreira in 1993. This technique is derived from De La Riva Guard. Later, Andre Galvao named it Berimbolo which means “scramble” in Portuguese. Some fighters are very well versed to perform Berimbolo and Gianni Grippo is also one of them.

Gianni Grippo is ranked the number one No-Gi fighter with 444.5 points and 3rd top ranked No-Gi Grand Slam fighter with 403.0 points according to the IBJJF Ranking. 

Gianni Grippo faced Shane Hill Taylor in the final of the Pan No-Gi 2017. Taylor took a dynamic start and secured the top position. He did not want to give Taylor any chance. Meanwhile, Gianni strangled Taylor’s leg and altered the position. He took down Taylor in a fantastic manner and scored two points.

Taylor performed very actively and strangled one of Gianni’s legs and arms. Gianni Grippo succeeded to escape his arm but Taylor did not lose his grip on Gianni’s leg. A few next minutes passed with Gianni’s efforts to escape his leg. After a struggle of a few minutes, Gianni managed to take the top and then the standing position.

He got his leg free and then applied the guillotine but Taylor managed to escape. Taylor was fighting in a very dynamic manner but Gianni’s strong core did not allow him to take control. Taylor went for full guard. Gianni got himself free and tried to take the back of Taylor. Failing to do so, he again tried for a leg lock but it was out of time. Gianni Grippo defeated Shane Hill Taylor with points and became the 2017 No-Gi Pan Champion.

Gianni Grippo faced Marcio Andre in the final of the 2018 World No-Gi Championship. This was the first-ever World Championship final Gianni reached after his Black Belt promotion. At the start of the match, Gianni Grippo managed to take the top position. He did all his efforts to take complete control of Marcio Andre.

Marcio was also super active. He took advantage of his position and strangled Gianni’s leg. After struggling for a few minutes to escape his leg, Grippo stood up to free his leg. Marcio pulled his leg and executed a fantastic takedown for two points. Meanwhile, Gianni applied full guard. Grippo strangled Marcio’s leg and Marcio quickly stood up to escape and again rescue his top position.

Gianni restored his energy and executed a dynamic performance afterward. He strangled his leg and managed to take his back. After a super athletic performance, Gianni Grippo submitted Marcio Andre with RNC to become the 2018 No-Gi World Champion. Gianni Grippo earned the title of World Champion for the first time as a Black Belt.

Gianni Grippo faced Lucas Silva in the final of 2021 World No-Gi. Both fighters were there to earn the World Champion title and their outstanding performance extended their efforts for the title. At the start of the match, Silva went for a single leg but was taken down by Grippo.

Silva strangled Grippo’s leg and Grippo countered by strangling Silva’s ankle. Grippo applied pressure on Silva’s feet to submit him with an inside heel hook but Silva resisted and also escaped his ankle from Grippo’s grip. Gianni took a few minutes to escape his leg.

Gianni secured the top position and tried to lock his leg by putting all his body weight to exert maximum pressure. When it did not work, Gianni applied Kata Gatame. Lucas Silva did not bear this Kata Gatame and got unconscious. Gianni Grippo won the World Championship final again in 2021 and became World Champion in the Lightweight category.

Gianni Grippo faced Gavin Corbe in the final of the 2022 World No-Gi Championship. After his fabulous submission in his previous two World Championship finals, Gianni’s fans were very excited to see a fantastic fight. Both fighters started their fight in a sitting position and Gianni’s leg was in the grip of Corbe.

After the effort of a few minutes, Gianni escaped his leg. After escaping his leg, Gianni tried for top control. Corbe countered by the full guard. Gianni tried to escape from the full guard and in this attempt, Corbe again strangled his leg.

In the next few minutes, both fighters exchanged top positions but Corbe did not free Gianni’s leg. Gianni countered by grasping Corbe’s foot. Now it was Corbe’s turn to escape his foot. In his struggle to escape his foot, Gianni executed a fabulous takedown and scored two points.

Gianni tried his best to submit Corbe with an ankle lock but Corbe resisted at his best. Gianni scored two points for his fabulous submission attempt. At the end of the match, Gianni Grippo submitted Gavin Corbe with points.

Gianni Grippo v Gavin Corbe / World No-Gi Championship 2022

Gianni Grippo v Johnny Tama / Pan No-Gi 2021

Gianni Grippo v Fabio Caloi / World NoGi 2021

Gianni Grippo vs Shane Hill Taylor / Pan NoGi 2017

Photo Credit: @giannigrippo