Jonathan Satava - A Gem of the Golden Generation of BJJ Grapplers!

One look at Jonathan Satava’s BJJ journey is enough to understand his ambition as a sportsman. He tried different sports, including skateboarding and freestyle wrestling, but his injuries consistently hindered his progress. Ultimately, jiu-jitsu helped him achieve the glory he had always imagined for himself. Satava’s story highlights how his imagination of becoming a seasoned sportsman became a reality through jiu-jitsu.

Jonathan Satava is a BJJ black belt under Marcelo Garcia, a legendary BJJ black belt, seasoned grappler, and instructor. Jonathan Satava belongs to the golden generation of grapplers who trained at Garcia’s New York Academy. Besides Jonathan Satava, the team of a golden generation of grapplers includes Dillon Danis, Marcos Tinoco, Mansher Khera, Matheus Diniz, and Dominyka Obelenyte. Jonathan Satava has won some of the most prestigious BJJ competitions, including Pan American Championships, and World No-Gi Championships at the lower belt levels. He usually competes in the 82 kg weight class in both GI and No-Gi tournaments. After acquiring his black belt, Jonathan Satava proved his BJJ skills and prowess by competing against and submitting seasoned BJJ grapplers, such as Kayron Gracie, Marcos de Souza, and Marcelo Mafra. Showing stellar performances in the first year of competing made Jonathan Satava a rising BJJ star.

Jonathan Satava was born on September 2, 1989, and hails from East Patchogue, New York, United States. Satava was an athletic child and enjoyed participating in sports, particularly skateboarding. Besides skateboarding, he tried freestyle wrestling twice. Satava’s natural talent for freestyle wrestling helped him join his middle school team and compete in three competitions. However, it didn’t work out for him as sustained a severe shoulder injury that hindered him from competing that year. After this unfortunate event, Satava didn’t train in freestyle wrestling until high school. Unfortunately, he broke his collarbone while training and became unable to compete long before the tournament season started. With these injuries, he finally let go of his dream to become a professional freestyle wrestler.

Satava spent most of his teenage years practicing different moves on the skateboard, including kickflips and rail slides. His school friend, who was passionate about skating even more so than Jonathan Satava, used to bring Tech Deck finger skateboards and he and Satava used to play with these boards during science class. Satava learned about skateboarding through Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video Games. Eventually, virtual skateboarding was not enough and he picked up a skateboard. Luckily, other children in the neighborhood were also into skating. Hence, Satava found a support system for himself to adjust to the skateboard culture. Satava first started skating at the age of twelve and he still skates as a BJJ champion.

Due to training in freestyle wrestling during middle school and high school, Satava had some combat sports experience as a child. Finally, at the age of 18, he discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while he was in college. After developing an interest in jiu-jitsu, Satava shifted all of his focus to training in this martial art. With BJJ becoming his first priority, Satava spends little time skateboarding. He also avoids performing stunts that he had mastered as a kid. Getting hurt while skateboarding can adversely affect his jiu-jitsu career. However, he still enjoys skating and learns new moves when he is alone or with friends.

In an interview with JiuJitsu Style, Satava shared:

Drawing parallels between skateboarding and jiu-jitsu, Satava also stated that BJJ and skateboarding both require the same level of focus, patience for refinement, and attention to techniques. Just like in skateboarding, jiu-jitsu also requires practitioners to master a set of techniques and try to chain them together with different positions and techniques that they have already mastered.

He further stated:

Jonathan Satava discovered jiu-jitsu in 2007 during his freshman year at college, Stony Brook University. The university offered mixed martial arts classes in its basement. When Satava came to know of this, it piqued his interest. When he entered the class, he was informed that it was a jiu-jitsu and not an MMA training club. Satava chose to give jiu-jitsu a try and was immediately hooked to the unique grappling style. As a result, he joined the team and began training under Krishna Mirjah for three years. Under Mirjah’s tutelage, Satava’s jiu-jitsu skills were polished. Mirjah’s teaching influence still reflects Satava's fighting style.

In Mirjah’s class, Satava mostly trained non-gi jiu-jitsu. Along with Eddie Cummings, Satava’s training partner, he developed his interest in no-gi jiu-jitsu and preferred it over traditional gi jiu-jitsu.

During his interview with BJJEE, Satava shared that when he was in university, he was considering a career in accounting or medicine. However, after training in jiu-jitsu, his aspirations changed completely. He wanted to pursue martial arts professionally. As a blue belt, he competed in a local tournament and narrowly lost. The realization that he could have won if he had been able to practice jiu-jitsu full-time without all the academic demands coming his way made him quit school one day. With his resolve strengthened, he decided to train full-time and actively pursue his goal. It took a lot of hard work to achieve his goal of becoming a professional BJJ practitioner, but he stayed firm in the face of adversity.

His family didn’t fully support his decision at first. But Satava eventually convinced them that he could become successful in life by practicing only jiu-jitsu. 

After training for three years under Mirjah, Satava decided to train under Marcelo Garcia, a five-time IBJJF World Champion, and four-time ADCC Champion,  to further hone his skills and increase his chances of competing at large-scale tournaments. When Satava began training with Garcia, he was a blue belt.

Satava’s physique and movements were similar to Marcelo Garcia's. Consequently, he got an edge by training under the legendary BJJ master. Impressed by Satava’s unparalleled grappling skills, the BJJ enthusiasts started calling him, “The American Marcelo Garcia,” a title Satava was honored to have.

Within five years of training with Marcelo Garcia, Satava won multiple prestigious BJJ competitions, including the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship, Pan American No-Gi Championship, and Pan American Championship. The year 2014 proved to be the most successful year for Satava. He competed in both Gi and No-Gi tournaments as a brown belt and won more than five gold medals that year. In 2015, Marcelo Garcia promoted Jonatha Satava to the black belt level.

Following his promotion, Satava proved himself worthy of a black belt by winning gold medals in the IBJJF New York Open Championships, a silver medal in the World No-Gi Championship, and a bronze medal in the Pan American No-Gi Championship. His stellar performances made him one of the most feared middleweight jiu-jitsu fighters in the BJJ circuit.

The main concern of Satava’s family was that he would not be able to make a steady income by practicing BJJ. In the beginning, Satava used to work at a pizzeria. But true to his word, he made a name for himself in the world of jiu-jitsu and can now support his finances through private lessons, teaching classes,  seminars, and sponsorships. The most prominent sponsors of Jonathan Satava include MGinAction, Revolution in Motion, and Skate-Surf-Jiu-Jitsu.

In his interview with BJJEE.com, Jonathan Satava shared that he wanted to start his own BJJ academy. During his BJJ journey, Satava taught his jiu-jitsu techniques and strategies in various seminars across the world. His instructional content has been featured in popular jiu-jitsu magazines. A few of his BJJ instructional videos are also available on YouTube. Over the years, Satava has become one of the most revered BJJ instructors worldwide. He has been an instructor at the Marcelo Garcia Academy in New York City for many years. Satava has over 15 years of BJJ experience that he is now sharing with the BJJ community through his own academy, Peak Jiu-Jitsu, which is established in Patchogue, Long Island New York. The Peak Jiu-Jitsu Academy offers free trial classes, kid’s training programs, BJJ fundamentals training programs, advanced training programs, and open training.

In the 2018 IBJJF Atlanta Spring International Open Championship, Jonathan Satava competed against Higor Diniz in the black belt division. Both Satava and Diniz demonstrated exceptional grappling skills; however, Satava outperformed his opponent by executing a manipulation and submission employing the arm in the Ezekiel technique. Jonathan Satava won the final round and the championship.

In the 2023 IBJJF Dallas Summer International Open No-Gi Championship Jonathan Satava faced Marcus Vinicius in the black belt division final. After displaying stunning BJJ moves and techniques, Satava managed to submit his opponent through a well-executed reverse triangle technique, winning the championship and bagging a gold medal in the process.

In the 2017 Abu Dhabi Jiu Jitsu Pro Championship, Jonathan Satava faced another remarkable jiu-jitsu fighter, AJ Agazarm in the black belt division. Both Jonathan Satava and AJ Agazarm struggled to gain a dominant position and in this process, Satava managed to take the lead and secured a clear win by points. 

Jonathan Satava v Vinicius Lino / Memphis Open 2023

Dustin Akbari VS Jonathan Satava / Pan NoGi Championship 2017

Pedro Moura vs Jonathan Satava / Baton Rouge Open 2023

World Abu Dhabi Trials 2013 MTL - Jonathan Satava (Marcelo Garcia) VS Vincent Duhamel (BTT)

De'Alonzo Jackson vs Jonathan Satava / New York Summer Open 2017

Photo Credit: @jtsatava