The world of competitive grappling has exploded in recent years. We now have our own network, reality show, widespread sponsorship, meaningful prize money, and large platforms for athletes to promote their skills and personalities. Gone are the days where you would tell someone you did Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and the reply would be, “how many board can you break?”. Athletes like Craig Jones and Gordon Ryan are now recurring guests on Joe Rogan and for the first time in our art’s history we have house hold names in the grappling sphere. While this current explosion in popularity is exciting, sadly the history of US grappling is not being celebrated. There is no fanfare for the athletes who put the art on display when events were held in the dilapidated middle school gymnasiums of Bayonne, New Jersey. The early practitioners, who knew their efforts carried no fame or fortune, but pushed on to make the scene a better place for future generations, I am here today to celebrate those great grapplers. Here I present these forgotten heroes in no particular order…you probably haven’t heard of them.
Andrew “Goatfury” Smith

Some of us old timers first encountered Andrew when we stumbled across his eBay store where he adopted the moniker “Judo Goat” and sold VHS copies of rare BJJ and MMA events in order to fund his coast to coast competitive grappling career. Andrew was the definition of unassuming. He would walk in wearing a thrift store sleeveless t-shirt, hair down to his ankles, and a physique more closely resembling a grunge musician than a competitive fighter. However, whatever confidence his opposition was able to garner from his humble appearance was shattered once they locked up with him. Andrew would use his length to slither around his opponents and trap their arms in ways that didn’t seem anatomically possible. Before his opponents could consult the nearest copy of Grey’s Anatomy to figure out exactly what extremity was where they would be strangled with a triangle. Another unique aspect of Andrew’s game was his willingness to put himself in compromising positions to gain advantage. He’d let his opponent start to settle into north south only to roll on top and take their back, he’d allow himself to be mounted then use his uncanny flexibility to throw his legs across the hips and spin into a heel hook. The latter move being colloquially referred to as the “Goat hook”. Andrew would go on to rack up literally hundreds of victories, it didn’t matter where the event was if you were at a grappling event in 2005 an Andrew Smith superfight was as certain an eventuality as death and taxes.
Mike “The Prowler” Fowler

Mike Fowler’s career was a bold experiment in grappling. He would be the first American to truly be a full-time competitor. He didn’t own a school, he wasn’t out teaching seminars, he didn’t go to college, he was training and competing in jiu-jitsu and nothing else. He was a product of the Lloyd Irvin academy. Everyone within the martial arts world is required to give a lengthy disclaimer before uttering those words or face the slings and arrows of all onlookers. I’m not looking to touch on those controversies and whatever your feelings are on Lloyd personally you have to admit, when it comes to grappling competition the man gets results. Shortly after he began training, Mike Fowler was promised to earn a black belt within 4 years, unheard of at the time as it was an accomplishment that typically took a minimum of a decade. He did it. He was forecasted to be the American that could not only hold his own against the best Brazilians, but be able to beat many of them. He did it. The final portion of the prophesy was that he would become a black belt world champion. He fell short, but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, also that was a tremendous amount of pressure to put on the shoulders of a teenaged blue belt. Inflation might be running rampant, but I doubt it affects Mike Fowler because he has the ultimate hedge in the form of a near endless supply of gold medals earned throughout the early 2000s. When Fowler went to a tournament he would typically win his weight class, then win the absolute, then put the gi on and do the same thing, then finally step up and win the superfight. It was a miracle the man didn’t develop tendonitis from having his arm raised so many times in an afternoon. Fowler was unique in many ways. He was one of the first grapplers to use branding. He had trademarked leopard print hair and he would compete in brightly colored kimonos. If you didn’t know him by name you knew him by look. This might be commonplace today, but twenty years ago it was new and bold. He was the first grappler to really utilize the internet as a promotion platform. He would blog about his training, video every single match and do commentary over it, he would have surrogates post about him on every message board across the world wide web which was how the community spoke before social media. Finally, his success was used for the largest product launch the grappling scene had ever seen. In truth though, all this self promotion was the doing of Fowler’s instructor. Truthfully, Fowler always seemed uncomfortable in front of a camera and seemed like he would much rather just be training in peace. On the mat Fowler’s game was equally unique in that he wasn’t good at a particular portion of grappling, he was strong everywhere. He could wrestle, he could pass, he had a sweep nicknamed “the unstoppable”, he could choke, armlock, leg lock and escape. There was no clear path to beating him. Many were jealous of Fowler’s success and the opportunities afforded to him and as a result there was a large contingency of doubters. Those types were quickly silenced in 2007 when he defeated Renzo Gracie and Saulo Ribeiro at ADCC. With those victories Fowler gave hope to every young American grappler that with enough hard work you could not only compete against the Brazilian legends, you could win.
Rick “The Vanilla Gorilla” Macauley

Philadelphia was an important city in the early development of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in America. Steve Maxwell brought the art to the east coast after training with the Gracie family in the late 80s. He opened the first BJJ schools in the region and started running the first tournaments. The Philly scene moved beyond Maxwell and one of the powerhouses to emerge was Balance studios founded by the Migliarese brothers. Balance Studios became known as one of the toughest rooms on the east coast and the top competitor to fly their flag became Rick Macauley. Rick had a take no prisoners approach to grappling, he wasn’t interested in winning on points or advantage, he wanted to make you tap and the quicker the better. Looking back on it, it was as if Rick traveled through time and brought the modern grappling approach of today back in time. Butterfly guard to x-guard to leg entanglements, heel hooks and rolling kimuras Rick was ahead of the curve and breaking with tradition at break neck speed. Much like Mike Fowler, Rick sent a message to the Brazilian legends, the Americans are coming. Rick would go head to head with world champions like Fernando “Margarida” Pontes and give them Hell. He wasn’t intimidated by resumes and no matter what your accolades were if you had the Vanilla Gorilla across from you, pack a lunch you were in for a rough ride.
Dave “The Rock” Jacobs

Every sport has their iron man, seemingly ageless wonders who have a combination of grit, toughness and longevity who seem to defy the natural limits of mankind. In baseball it was Cal Ripken, in MMA Randy Couture, in US grappling it was Dave Jacobs. If you were a lightweight grappler coming of age at the start of the millennium, getting beat up by Dave Jacobs was almost a rite of passage. A D-1 wrestler turned powerlifter, Dave was 32 before he took his first BJJ class, but his front headlock and knee slice would give fits to all the hot shot 20 somethings on the scene. A product of the fierce Yamasaki academy Dave brought a no non-sense, in your face, pressure style that would shut down the flashiest inverted guard with the quickness. Dave’s game continued to evolve over time with a bottom game that would be just as frustrating as his top pressure, he showed that not only could an old dog learn new tricks, they could come up with tricks people are yet to see. Dave later moved on to officiating and become one of the first American referees for the IBJJF, mind you he did all this while being a practicing attorney, a father of three, and running his own academy. Sadly, Dave passed away in 2018, but his place as a US Grappling pioneer will never be forgotten.
The Avellan brothers


I know I said five, but much like the Miyao or Mendes brothers of current day it is nearly impossible to think about one and not be reminded of the other, so lets call this a 2 for 1 deal. David and Marcos Avellan were the non-conformists of the US Grappling world in the early 2000s. They trained exclusively without the gi, which was nearly unheard of at the time. They made “hack moves” like cartwheel passes, flying toe holds, and can opener neck cranks, the things that aren’t supposed to work consistently, their bread and butter. They would take grapplers who had beautifully clean and precise technique, drag them into grinding dog fights and get their hands raised. They didn’t have a celebrated lineage, no one knew who trained them or if they even held a belt rank. In all ways they were the exception to the rule and they started taking Miami and the rest of the east coast by storm. While many of you might not remember them, you certainly will know their top students from that era. UFC superstar Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, internet legend Kimbo Slice and grappling standout Enrico Cocco all called the Avellan’s “Freestyle Fighting Academy” their home. After tearing through local advanced divisions, David and Marcos began entering superfights and overperforming at every turn. In 2003 Rorion Gracie organized an event known as “The Ultimate Submission Showdown”. Rorion made his own special rules and entered his son Rener. This was supposed to be showcase the Gracie’s dominance. Rorion hand selected the opponents and among them was David Avellan. David would eventually make it to the finals and defeat Rener under his own no time limit rules. It was official, the Avellan brothers were on the map. Finally both Marcos and David qualified for ADCC, claiming many of the top American grappling scalps along the way, the dark horses had officially become the front runners. David would eventually go on to win a bronze medal at ADCC defeating numerous world champions along the way. Marcos and David showed the grappling world that you didn’t need a famous coach, you could innovate your own style, learn on the job and give Hell to the very best.
So the next time people are talking about the top grapplers on the scene you can sound like the smartest man at the acai bar and earn some serious OG grappling cred.

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