Nicolas Gregoriades: First Black Belt by Roger Gracie

Nicolas Gregoriades, often famous by the name of “Nic” is a South African BJJ grappler. He is the first BJJ fighter who has been promoted to Black Belt by the Legend Roger Gracie.

Nic were born on 2nd September 1979 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was introduced to Martial Arts by his father who was a Karate Black Belt. From the very start, he got martial arts inspiration firstly from his father. This inspiration led him to choose Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that later became his passion.

He received his training in Judo at the age of 7. He reached the level of Brown Belt in Judo.

After becoming a Brown Belt in Judo. Nic wanted to pursue his career in BJJ. At that time BJJ was not available in Cape Town. So, he joined a submission wrestling club in Cape Town in early 2000. Ludwig Strydom was his coach in that club.

In 2004, he joined Roger Gracie’s Academy in West London, England. This was the time when his BJJ career started. This was the time when Nic was desperately searching for elite mentors to get into BJJ as he had left martial arts for many years.

He tried to strangle a guy by using Rare Naked Choke which he only saw once in an academy in England. This increased his interest in BJJ.

He became a Black Belt in August 2008. He earned the prestige of becoming the first person to receive a Black Belt from legendary Roger Gracie.

He was the Gracie Invitational Champion in 2006 and 2007. While being a Brown Belt, he won the Championship in 2007. He won Gold in the Championship hence dominating his opponents.

He was the ADCC-UK Champion under the Men’s 77 Kg to 87.9 Kg in 2006. He won in the Purple Belt category.

He secured 1st position at the British Open Championship in 2012 and won the title of British Open Champion.

Being a Blue Belt, he won the title of London Open Champion in 2005.

Nicolas Gregoriades and Luke Costello both are considered elite BJJ fighters. In the 2009 Abu Dhabi Pro European Trials, Nic defeated Luke Costello by Heel Hook submission. The match was quite a tough one as Luke tried to gain the dominant position throughout the match but Nic did not let him succeed in his endeavor.

Nicolas Gregoriades won the fight from Max Carvalho in the Brown Belt final at the Gracie Invitational Tournament. Many times Nic tried to grab Max by the BJJ Gi but did not succeed. Multiple times Nic escaped Max’s locks. And in the end, Nic got the submission by applying the Armbar.

In 2018, Nic fought with Daniel Priebe who is also a very famous BJJ fighter with his own institute known as Daniel Priebe BJJ. The fight was very intense as both the players kept on executing their moves. But in the end, Nic won by the decision of the referee.

• Gracie Invitational Champion
• Grappler of the Year - France
• Absolute Submission Fighting Winner
• British Open Champion

Nic was associated with Roger Gracie Academy and received his BJJ Black Belt from Roger Gracie. Being a student of Roger Gracie, Nic became an accomplished and renowned BJJ fighter.

He has written books on BJJ as well as his spiritual journey. Some of his books are mentioned below:

Nic wrote this book for BJJ practitioners. This book is a must-have for Jiu-Jitsu students. It gives a detailed study of BJJ, its training methods, techniques, and moves.

This book is for beginners. It describes BJJ techniques with a broader explanation as well as a pictorial representation explained by Nic.

In this book, Nic has given more comprehensive details about more advanced BJJ techniques. It also contains content from different UFC coaches and World Champions in the grappling sport.

Nic wrote this book on the different and interesting topic of personal development. He wrote this book for the understanding of places, people, viewpoints, and modes of living. This book is a motivation for people seeking wider knowledge about the journey of life.

After becoming the British Open Champion in 2012, Nic went on his spiritual journey in the forests. There he took a break from BJJ and worked on himself. During this journey, he became aware of Ayahuasca which revolutionized his life completely.

He spent 5 years away from BJJ. he did not take part in any BJJ competition. He was out of the BJJ competitive circuit. He focused on himself and during this time he went to the Amazon.

During the spiritual journey, Nic became familiar with Ayahuasca. It is basically a spiritual experience that comes from a wine that is brewed entheogenically. For a very long time, Nic wanted to visit Amazon and have this experience, so after taking 5 years off the mat he finally experienced it. This experience impacted him a lot.

He has also run a very famous and accomplished online business. Despite being a BJJ fighter, he also indulged in many other activities such as online business, spirituality, writing books, and meditation, which really made his spectrum broader.

Nic is the founder of Jiu-Jitsu Brotherhood in London, UK. He is also the head instructor there. After getting retired from the BJJ competitive circuits, Nic opened his BJJ institute in London and now is teaching BJJ there. Many of his students are famous BJJ fighters who take part in national and international championships.

He is actively involved in giving interviews. He also appeared as a guest in many podcasts in which he talked about himself, his childhood, his BJJ journey, and philosophies of human existence. Some of his podcasts and interviews are listed below.

Since 2018 Nic has retired from international competition. He is more focused on his institute, “The Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood”. He is also a spiritual explorer and a transformational coach.

He currently travels around the world teaching BJJ. He is a Spiritual Explorer, BJJ Coach, Businessman, Traveller, Author as well as spiritual Coach.

He is the host of his own show “The Nicolas Gregoriades Show”. He talks about mindfulness and many other things along with BJJ fighters.

BJJ: Nicolas Gregoriades vs Max Carvalho

Nicolas Gregoriades vs Leo Queiroz - BJJ British Open 2013 - Black Adult - Medium-Heavy

Luke Vs Nicolas Gregoriades.wmv

DGL Superfight: Gregor Herb(Ger) vs Nicolas Gregoriades (UK)

Photo credit: @coach_nic_g