BJJ in Charlotte

Charlotte is the deepest BJJ market in North Carolina by a wide margin, with 18 listings inside city limits spanning South Charlotte / Steele Creek, NoDa, the Monroe Rd corridor, Ballantyne, the South Tryon / Club Fitness corridor, and Pineville-adjacent neighborhoods. The single most pedigreed academy in the city — and arguably the highest BJJ competition pedigree in the entire Carolinas — is **Alliance Jiu Jitsu Lucas Lepri | Charlotte** at 9129 Monroe Rd. Lucas Lepri is a 9-time IBJJF Black Belt World Champion and IBJJF Hall of Fame inductee from Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, who came to the US in 2009 first at Alliance NYC and then at Alliance HQ Atlanta with Master Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti before founding the Charlotte and Fort Mill SC academies. Frederico Silva (cousin of Lucas, black belt 2016, Brazilian National Champion) co-leads the sister Fort Mill location. Charlotte and Fort Mill have together produced 26+ IBJJF World Titles. The Atos lineage runs parallel through two academies under the Andre Galvao tree: **Mindset BJJ Academy (Marlon Loor Vera)** is led by a 3rd-degree black belt who is a 2019 and 2024 IBJJF No-Gi World Champion and 8x IBJJF No-Gi Pan Champion — his black belt was awarded by UFC champion Gilbert Burns and his degrees come from Andre Galvao, with training partners that include JT Torres, Kaynan Duarte, Lucas Barbosa, and Gustavo Batista. **ATOS JIU JITSU Of CHARLOTTE** is led by Fernando Loor Vera, a multi-time IBJJF medalist (Pan Ams, Worlds), operating since June 2011 inside Club Fitness on South Tryon. Together the Lepri / Loor Vera trio gives Charlotte three of the most decorated IBJJF competitors anywhere in the Southeast. The Roberto Traven Carlson Gracie cluster anchors Charlotte's Pineville and South Charlotte footprint. **Top Martial Arts Charlotte (TMA Charlotte)** in Pineville (565 N Polk Street) was founded 2012 by Jae Ho Lee, a 2nd-degree BJJ Black Belt under Roberto Traven (Coral Belt) with Howard "Mitch" Phillips (2nd-degree black belt, since 2006 in gi BJJ) on the daytime adults schedule. The Renzo Gracie thread in South Charlotte runs through **Renzo Gracie Charlotte** and **Leadership Martial Arts** — the two listings share the same Steele Creek address (9928 S Tryon St), phone, and head instructor: Derek "TC" Richardson, a 3rd-degree BJJ black belt under Renzo Gracie himself with 30+ years martial arts experience, a 6th-degree black belt from Master Robert Tucker, Sandan 3rd-degree Judo (USJA/ATJA), and additional black belts in American Kickboxing and Hapkido. **Brazilian Top Team Charlotte (BTT CLT)**, opened July 2023, is led by Guto Neto, a 3rd-degree BJJ black belt under BTT founder Murilo Bustamante (with additional instruction from Diego Gamonal and Ruy Frade) — Neto began training in 1990 in Juiz de Fora, Brazil and moved to Charlotte in 2017. **Real American Grappling** (formerly Checkmat Charlotte) appears as two listings on Westinghouse Blvd — both led by 3rd-degree black belt Michael Allen with husband-and-wife black belts Dan and Jillian Schnitzler on staff plus catch wrestling alongside the BJJ program. **Gracie Barra Charlotte Jiu-Jitsu & Self Defense** holds the GB flag inside city limits, teaching the official GBK Kids / GB1 Fundamentals / GB2 Advanced / Master Cycle curriculum. The independent and specialty bench across Charlotte is wide. **Charlotte Jiu-Jitsu Academy (CJJA)** in NoDa (2508 N Davidson St) brands itself "No Politics. No Cliques. Just Training." and publishes a clean two-tier structure ($150 twice-a-week / $180 unlimited, plus a $10/mo CJJA On Demand 4K roll-review service) — the academy lists 26+ IBJJF World Titles and 9 World Champions made on the mats and carries an unusually large coaching roster including BJJ self-defense YouTuber **Eli Knight**. **Core Combat Academies** (founded 2012) is led by Stan Banks, a 2x NCAA D1 All-American and 2x ACC Champion in wrestling, giving Charlotte a wrestling-anchored grappling room with explicit Wrestling / Jiu-Jitsu / Judo / Fitness offerings. **Fuzion Martial Arts** on Providence Rd is run by black belt Justin Revak under the Solecki Jiu-Jitsu system (UFC veteran Joe Solecki's network out of Gastonia), pairing BJJ with Dutch Kickboxing + Muay Thai blend and Youth Wrestling. **Fight Sports Charlotte (FSC)** at 11812 Carolina Place Pkwy in the Pineville/Carolina Place area runs adult Gi/No-Gi at 6 AM and 7 PM with one of the largest kids programs in the metro and weekend open mats. **Ballantyne Martial Arts** in south Charlotte is a multi-discipline Karate-and-BJJ school with a Tue/Thu kids BJJ track. **KC Roll Jiu Jitsu** is the BJJ program housed inside Karate Charlotte. **Dojo Arts** offers Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (gi Tue/Thu, no-gi Mon/Wed) alongside Muay Thai and a Wim Hof Method program. **Fit to Fight Charlotte** (founded 2003, national Fit to Fight network) blends Modern Krav Maga, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Jiu-Jitsu for youth, teens, and adults. **Shock Factor MMA** on Nations Ford Rd and **Arte Suave Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy Charlotte** complete the city footprint. Adult unlimited monthly pricing inside Charlotte where published clusters around the $150–$180 band set by CJJA, with Real American Grappling at $100 and Core Combat at a $50 introductory rate as the lower outliers.