By BJJ Heroes on January 10th, 2011

JT Torres (Lloyd Irvin)

JT Torres

JT Torres, also known as “The Spiderman”, is a gifted Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt with an extensive and impressive list of accomplishments such as the World and Pan American Nogi championships at a black belt level. The American native is part of the new exciting generation of BJJ fighters and has one of the most fan pleasing games in the world.

JT Torres in Detail

Full Name: Jonathan Torres

Nickname: “JT” is short for Jonathan, while “Spiderman” was a name awarded to him because of his grip strength. His grips are so strong that his team mates said it resembles a spider as it webs up it’s victims.

Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rickson Gracie > Jorge Pereira > Leo Dalla > Lloyd Irvin > Jonathan Torres

Main Titles

Pan American Nogi Champion (2010 black)
World BJJ Nogi Champion (2008 brown)
European Champion (2009 brown)
2x New York Open Champion (2010 black, 2009 brown)
Miami Open Champion (2010 black)

Other Important Achievements:

World Silver Medallist (2009 brown)
World Nogi Silver Medallist (2009 black)
Brazilian National Silver Medallist (2010 black)
European Open Silver Medallist (2012)
3x Pan American Silver Medallist (2006 blue, 2007 purple, 2009 black)
World Nogi Bronze Medallist (2010)
Pan American Bronze Medallist (2009 brown)

Weight Division: Peso Leve (76kg-167lbs)

Favourite Submission: Armbar

Team/Association: Team Lloyd Irvin

JT Torres Biography

JT Torres was born on the 2nd of September, 1989 in New York – United States of America. He began training martial arts early in life, achieving a black belt in Karate even before he started High School. Though as he reached a more mature age (early teens) he decided to quit Karate to dedicate himself to other more traditional sports.

He became part of his High school Basketball team, but when he got cut-off he found himself without a physical activity. His father proposed he should go back to Karate, but Jonathan was not keen to return. Instead, he heard his old martial arts school was offering a small Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program. JT had heard of this sport and decided to sign up. It was love at first sight, JT was a “natural” and felt very comfortable with grappling, and he immediately signed up in a BJJ school. He managed to achieve his blue belt in 6 months.

He then moved academies and started practicing under Louis Vintaloro at Performance BJJ with whom he received his purple and brown belts in less then 3 years. He was very successful under Louis Vintaloro winning the Pan American BJJ Open on 2 occasions, but decided to move teams and joined team Lloyd Irvin. He achieved his black belt from Lloyd Irvin in 2009.

JT Torres vs Dan Simmler