7 Years of SHBJJ Hong Kong

This month, we celebrate the seventh year SHBJJ's Hong Kong academy has been in operation. Some of you may be aware of our background, and others may not, so it's a good time for a bit of history. I'll tell it from my perspective and how it interweaves with my jiujitsu journey.

I first came into contact with jiujitsu in 2012 when Epic MMA first opened. My office was across the street in Gloucester Tower, and it was a short walk to the gym and I was curious to try out grappling, as I'd had experience in both boxing and Muay Thai in the past, but had never tried any wrestling or ground fighting. Epic had pulled out all the stops, building a beautiful facility in the middle of Central, and hiring an all star line up of black belts, led by Rodrigo Medeiros, who became my first jiujitsu instructor.

Starting off as a 40 year old white belt was daunting, but I soon became addicted, training daily as jiujitsu practice overtook all my other physical training and became my main form of daily movement. I was at Epic five days a week, usually at lunch class, and started to bring my son to the kids' class. I was promoted to blue belt rather soon, and started to compete, with one of the highlights as a blue belt being a gold medal at the Asia Open in Tokyo in my age and weight class.

2015 marked a big shift in career for me. I had decided to leave the field of finance and go back to my family business, which is in retail and primarily deals with baby products and children's clothing. Geographically, the job was also centered more around Shanghai and Taipei, as our operations were mostly in China at the time, but the business was headquartered in Taiwan. My travel schedule became quite intense, as I started to spend more of my weekdays in Taipei and Shanghai, and only came back to Hong Kong on weekends. I still wanted to train while not in Hong Kong, and found second homes on the mats of TWBJJ (Taiwan Brazilian Jiujitsu) and SHBJJ (Shanghai Brazilian Jiujitsu). My team loyalty was always to my lineage at Epic though, and I was very honored to follow this Carlson Gracie lineage even as I travelled and trained across the region.

Two years later, in 2017, Stanley Tam, the founder of SHBJJ shared with me that he was interested to move back to Australia to continue his studies, and that he wanted to sell his controlling stake in the academy he had founded in 2004. I connected him with the management of Epic MMA, and there were discussions, but no deal was to be made. Epic also soon announced that it would be closing, which was a surprising and abrupt end to the business after the large initial splash it had made in Hong Kong.

I had a historical investment in a boxing academy called DEF Boxing, which was established in 2002. The business has both a traditional boxing gym for amateur and professional boxers, as well as DEF Promotions, a boxing promotion business engaged in putting on boxing matches and large scale sporting events in Hong Kong. I thought about using that platform as a way to help Stanley by taking over his ownership of SHBJJ in Shanghai, and also bringing DEF Boxing to Shanghai. It could also be a platform to help find a new home for the students at Epic who were looking for a place to train. So in 2017, together with some partners, we formed a new company called DEF Group to run the SHBJJ academies in Shanghai, operate boxing instruction under the DEF Boxing brand there, and also open a Hong Kong branch of SHBJJ.

So SHBJJ Hong Kong started operations on November 1, 2017 with a lease on Ping On Lane on Hollywood Road. Our first two black belts came from Epic, Professor Caique Loyolla and Professor Dangelo Viera, and most of the students had followed them over at that time. DEF Group opened 3 academies in Shanghai under the DEF Group banner, teaching jiujitsu under SHBJJ, boxing under DEF Boxing, and also providing instruction in Muay Thai, strength training, and yoga.

One part of the deal that was made when we opened SHBJJ in Hong Kong was that the lineage and team affiliation for the Hong Kong academy would remain unchanged from the original team. Given Professor Rodrigo had planted that seed, continuing the affiliation with the BJJ Revolution Team and also continuing the lineage we had built up through Carlson Gracie to Rodrigo Medeiros made sense. So if anyone asks you, as a student of SHBJJ Hong Kong, what your lineage is, now you know how to answer.

Time has flown by. We signed two 3-year leases at Ping On Lane, and before our second lease came due on October 31, 2023, it became evident that we would need more space for our growing family. After much searching and planning a new location was found at 88 Wing Lok Street, and we officially began operations here on November 1 of the same year. Much has happened in the past 7 years, and it has been a challenging and difficult journey. But we have made it through, and we continue to look forward to meeting any new difficulties with hope and faith.

On a personal note, I was promoted to black belt by Rodrigo at SHBJJ in 2023, 11 years after I had started my jiujitsu journey. I was very happy that I had received every belt from the same instructor and that I could play a role in the growth and development of this art we all love in a city I call my home and which I also love. Along the way, injury, economic uncertainty, social upheaval, and a pandemic were but a few of the obstacles which had to be overcome, but I believe that with a positive outlook, hard work, and faith, we will be able to continue to build and grow on this history we have built together.

-Alex