New Zealand’s Home of
Competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
NZ Grappler has built the country’s most consistent and inclusive BJJ tournament circuit. With 12+ events held nationwide each year, we’re proud to provide a professional, welcoming platform for athletes at every level, all grounded in whānau values and a shared passion for the sport.
Overview
NZ Grappler was founded in 2006 by Ricardo Liborio BJJ black belt Steve Oliver, the son of legendary Kiwi weightlifter Don Oliver and head ground coach for UFC fighter Mark Hunt.
New Zealand Grappler runs a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament circuit that has grown from one annual tournament in Auckland to 12+ events held throughout New Zealand each year. Our events bring traditional martial arts values and moral codes to every generation through a high-level competitive experience in a professional, family-oriented environment.
We are a family-run business based in West Auckland. Our staff are whānau, and we only bring people into our team who share our family vision.
Grow with us
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a relatively new sport in New Zealand, but organisations such as the UFC in America and ONE Championship in Asia have helped shine a light on sports such as BJJ. As a result, we have experienced significant growth throughout New Zealand over the past five years.
There are now approximately 250 gyms nationwide with around 10,000 members. Mixed martial arts is now widely considered the fastest-growing sport in the world.
Our tournament circuit gives grapplers the chance to put all of their hard work to the test. We are always looking to push boundaries and find new ways to create an innovative, interactive and entertaining environment for our audiences, both at the venue and through live streaming on social media and our website.
Tournament participation in New Zealand has grown from a humble 150 competitors at our first event to as many as 1,000 competitors today.
Our Vision
We are creating an innovative and interactive competition circuit that sets the standard for tournaments nationally and pushes boundaries internationally.
We envision events that use state-of-the-art technology to create high levels of engagement for both spectators and competitors, supported by systems and processes that lead the way for competition circuits around the world.
Our vision includes live streaming for every event, action cameras on referees, interactive platforms and software that tracks each athlete’s complete BJJ history and rankings.
Most importantly, we see our tournaments as a place where people can test themselves on a professional, world-class circuit while remaining part of a strong family community. As organisations grow, they can lose touch with their audience.
We are proud of the strong connection we have with our community, and we will continue to maintain a genuine grassroots connection with all our fighters and families.
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