Austin Baker

Austin Baker is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Flávio Almeida who represents the Gracie Barra Academy in the sport’s international circuit. Baker first made waves in grappling as a colored belt, a time when he conquered a Pan American title with the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) as well as a silver medal at the World Championships, also with the IBJJF. During his black belt debut year (2021), Austin conquered important medals at the American Nationals and other International Open tournaments, further cementing his place as one of the top ultra-heavyweight (over 222.0 lbs) prospects in grappling.

Austin Baker Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Austin Baker

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Junior > Flávio Almeida > Austin Baker

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF New Orleans Open (2021**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Boise Open (2021)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Boise Open (2021*)
• 2nd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021)
• 3rd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021*)
• 3rd Place IBJJF American Nationals NOGI (2021)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2020 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2018 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2017 purple)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Blitz Passing Style

Weight Division: Pesadíssimo (+100,50 kg / +222.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Gracie Barra

Austin Baker Biography

Austin Baker was born on August 9th, 1994, in San Francisco’s Bay Area, in the United States, but lived in many different locations within the state of California while growing up.

An active kid from early in his development, (American) Football was Austin’s first sporting love, one he played competitively from middle school all the way to college, with the Riverside City College Tigers.

Ending his football career at the age of 20, Austin was at a crossroads as there was no prospect for a fruitful career in the sport he had practiced for the past decade, but there was still plenty of competitive drive in him. As he was a big fan of mixed martial arts, he decided to gear his athletic potential towards a career in cage fighting.

In preparation for his MMA career, Baker joined a local Gracie Barra gym (GB Corona) where he learned jiu-jitsu from coach AJ Polder. Austin spent 2 years training with Polder, where he earned his blue and purple belt rank promotions.

As his love for jiu-jitsu slowly outgrew his interest in MMA, Austin started dedicating more of his time to grappling. This led the California native to switch gyms after 2 years with GB Corona in the pursuit of a more challenging training environment, then joining Philipe Della Monica’s Gracie Barra Headquarters Academy as a purple belt.

The fact that Baker was gaining plenty of traction as a grappler came with a predicament. As his mat prowess became known, finding fighters willing to compete against him at entry-level shows (Austin was 1-0-0 at the time) for experience began to be an arduous endeavor.

With this and a few other obstacles in the way of a profitable MMA career, and considering Austin was growingly interested in jiu-jitsu, the table was set for a complete career change. As such, in 2018, Baker moved to Arizona to be part of the growing Gracie Barra squad there, led by Flávio Almeida.

In January 2021, Austin finally took a complete dive and turned pro, quitting his job at a game shop to dedicate all his time to jiu-jitsu. Only a few days later, Baker was promoted to black belt alongside his teammates Thiago Aso and Lucas Norat.

Austin Baker Performance at Sub Spectrum 2021