📍 Hawaii

The students who came up through Relson's early classes became the foundation of Hawaii's competitive identity. Egan Inoue, who first trained at Relson's academy before moving on to the Machado lineage, became in 1996 and 1997 the first non-Brazilian to win gold at the IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship — at blue and then purple belt absolute. He opened Grappling Unlimited in 1995, one of the state's earliest independent academies. Todd Tanaka, now a sixth-degree black belt, competed in those 1992 tournaments and went on to lead Team HK — the Relson Gracie affiliate named after its original Hawaii Kai students — which remains one of Honolulu's anchor schools. The most famous name tied to the islands is B.J. Penn, from Hilo on the Big Island. Penn began training at seventeen after a neighbor introduced him to jiu-jitsu. He earned his black belt in under three years and in 2000 became the first non-Brazilian to win the World Championship at black belt level.

Geographically, Oahu carries the bulk of the state's density. Honolulu is where most of the lineage concentrated: Team HK, the Ronn Shiraki Academy, Gracie Technics (running a Pedro Sauer lineage under Rylan Lizares), Island Jiu Jitsu (an Atos affiliate), and United BJJ Hawaii, co-founded by Angela Lee Pucci — a six-time ONE Women's Atomweight World Champion — and Bruno Pucci. Maui has its own established scene, anchored by Master Heredia's school in Haiku, which he opened in 2000 after a decade coaching at the Rickson Gracie academy in Los Angeles, and a Carlson Gracie affiliate in Lahaina run by Christian Grandi. The Kajukenbo Self-Defense Institute, rooted in Emperado's original system, continues teaching on Oahu. Penn put the Big Island on the competition map, and training options exist in Hilo and Kona, though the scene there is smaller than Oahu's.

The culture across the islands leans toward practical self-defense alongside sport, a sensibility Relson himself instilled from the beginning. Training in Hawaii is not isolated — visiting black belts and seminars move through the islands regularly, and local competitors travel to the Mainland and international circuits at every belt level. For anyone relocating or visiting, MatMade lists 116 BJJ gyms across Hawaii, spanning Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, and Kauai, with filtering by location and affiliation. Wherever you land in the state, a mat is close.