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San Diego's Grappling Gym

Our Submission Grappling gym offers high level training for Beginners to Pros in this very practical art, also known as No Gi Jiu Jitsu or Submission Wrestling. With the increasing popularity of Grappling competitions such as the ADCC’s, we meet this demand with 15 weekly Submission Wrestling classes at our San Diego gym and offer a very active and successful Competition Team.

In our San Diego No Gi Jiu Jitsu classes, as in our Gi classes, we focus on the fundamentals. It doesn’t make sense to learn the latest competition technique if you don’t even know how to posture or escape guard. This focus on fundamentals give our Novice grapplers a strong foundation to build their skills upon.

We also emphasize intermediate / advanced classes in our San Diego school. These No Gi classes build on each other, while introducing competition tested techniques that are continuously evaluated for high percentage competition success.

As with our other programs, our Submission Wrestling training in our San Diego school is focused on real world application, whether on the street or on the mat. We constantly put this training to the test, with a major focus on competition training. This has allowed us to develop an outstanding Jiu Jitsu team that successfully competes at the highest level in both Gi and No Gi Jitsu.

One of our key differentiators are the training camps we hold every year in San Diego. We dedicate a large amount of resources on creating the best training camps possible to increase our students’ grappling success.

Our Submission Wrestling Program Director is Xande Ribeiro, widely regarded as one of the top 5 Jiu Jitsu competitors in history. Besides his 7 IBJJF Gi World Championships, Xande is a 2x IBJJF No Gi World Champion in the Heavyweight and Absolute weight classes. He is also an ADCC 7x medalist, with 2 Heavyweight World Championships. Adam Bradley is our Head Submission Grappling instructor. Widely known for his Grappling game, he is an IBJJF No Gi medalist. Prior to receiving his Black Belt, he was ranked the #1 Brown Belt in the world by Flo Grappling. He was also one of 16 contestants on Flo Grappling’s reality series “Who’s Next”. Adam is know as “The Escape Artist” for his skill in fighting out of bad positions.

Looking for the best private grappling training in San Diego? We have you covered. Once you become a member of our gym, you pay our trainers directly and we stay out of the transaction. We get your membership dues, the trainers keep what they earn, and you get huge savings. It’s a win-win-win for everyone. So if you want San Diego’s best private grappling lessons at the best prices, we’re your gym.

If you’re looking for grappling “near me”, youn found us. Members come from all over San Diego to train at The Arena. Our grappling gym is easily accessible in Point Loma off the 8 freeway on Sports Arena Blvd. Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Bay Park, Downtown San Diego, Golden Hill, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, North Park, South Park, La Mesa, El Cajon, Clairemont, College Area, Miramar, Kearny Mesa, Clairemont Mesa, City Heights, La Jolla, Del Mar, Carmel Valley, Coronado, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach are all within easy driving distance.

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For 30 Days

Testimonial | Paul W.

“I’ve been training at The Arena in San Diego with Baret ever since I started. Baret is an excellent instructor, I like his style. Since I’m a small guy and he’s a small guy, I feel like whatever he’s teaching I should be able to do. And he’s always going up against big guys and beating them, so I feel like training under him is really, really good for guys my size or even smaller. Because Baret will always give you the confidence that you need to go up against the big guys.”

Testimonial | Dominic D.

“Moved to The Arena from another San Diego gym a couple years ago. It’s been amazing. The support from the staff, the facilities, the different diversity of people that we get to come in training. One thing about Baret is that he trains all day with all the students. He teaches Gi and No Gi. He’s always looking to keep his students active and structuring the classes in a way that’s good for both competitive aspirations, but also for new students to come in and learn fundamentals and basics.”

Competition Grappling

Ready to take it to the next level and compete? Then join Team Arena. Just fill out our form and we’ll be in contact. Whatever your competition level is, we have you covered. If you’re just starting out, we’ll develop you into a skilled novice. If you’re an experienced novice, we’ll bring you to the highest amateur levels. If you’re ready to turn Pro, we’ll guide you through every step. And if you’re a talented pro willing to put everything you have into it, we can bring you to a world-class level.

Ready To Compete?

Submission Grappling FAQ's

The Arena offers the most complete schedule of any submission grappling school in San Diego, having 6 adult classes daily between Gi and No Gi. The price point for membership is far lower than any other gym in San Diego and The Arena provides more training times and mat space compared to anywhere else. (27,000 sq. ft. total with over 8,000 sq. ft. of Jiu Jitsu mat space) We have a great grappling community here at The Arena, and we work hard to support you in your journey. The training will be challenging but with the solid support from your peers and the people that have come before you, the path will seem possible. Here, training partners often become lifelong friends as they overcome adversity together.

Submission fighting, Submission grappling or Sport grappling, is a form of competition and a general term for martial arts and combat sports that focus on clinch and ground fighting with the aim of obtaining a submission through the use of submission holds.

Submission grappling teaches how to utilize leverage and techniques in order to put yourself into an advantageous position against opponents, regardless of their size. Submission grappling places heavy emphasis on the technical details, allowing for smaller opponents to negate the benefits of larger, stronger opponents.

For submission grappling, all you will need is a rashguard and some grappling shorts. The Arena sells Baret Submissions rash guards at the pro shop. Stop by to get yours today.

Submission grappling is an outstanding martial art of beginners. It will teach you how to be efficient, fluid, and technical with your movements on the ground. This will result in an increase in body awareness, allowing you to utilize your own strengths in order to gain an advantage.

We offer various membership options to fit your specific needs. Our most popular unlimited training membership is under $100 monthly.

As with most martial arts, this will depend on a number of circumstances; however, we recommend training 2-3 days per week in order to see improvement. The Arena offers two submission grappling fundamentals classes every day, Monday through Friday.

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