Ethan Crelinsten

Ethan Crelinsten is a Canadian professional submission grappler and former student of John Danaher and Firas Zahabi in jiu-jitsu, who represented the New York-based Renzo Gracie Academy and Montreal’s TriStar Gym in the sport’s international tour before he formed his own squad, B-Team, together with other teammates from GRA. Ethan gained notoriety in jiu-jitsu’s no-gi circuit after his wins at the North American ADCC Trials (2018, 2019), and his victories over established pro-athletes while Crelinsten himself was still a colored belt. His long list of accolades earned him a profile on BJJ Heroes before his black belt promotion, and he was the first athlete to do so on the site.

Ethan Crelinsten Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Ethan Crelinsten

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Renzo Gracie > John Danaher> Ethan Crelinsten

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place ADCC East Coast Trials (2018)
• 1st Place ADCC West Coast Trials (2017)
• 1st Place Jitz King Invitational (2020)
• 2nd Place BJJ Fanatics 170lbs GP (2020)
• 2nd Place P-Belum Invitational (2020)
• 2nd Place Onnit Invitational 4 (2017)
• 3rd Place ADCC East Coast Trials (2023)

Favorite Position/Technique: Back Attacks

Weight Division: Peso Pena (70,00 kg / 154.5 lbs)

Team/Association: B-Team

Ethan Crelinsten Biography

Ethan Crelinsten was born on May 14, 1994, in Montreal, Canada, where he spent his formative years.

A late bloomer to sports, Crelinsten was not a sporty child growing up, with his first contact with a competitive activity coming at the age of 19, through mixed martial arts (MMA), a decision taken by the influence of the growing popularity cage fighting experienced in Canada at the time.

During his first experience at a small, local gym, Ethan’s training was solely focused on striking and wrestling, and it was only when he made the move to the larger TriStar gym, that Crelinsten added jiu-jitsu to his weekly activities, under the gym’s leader – Firas Zahabi.

With time, Ethan started enjoying jiu-jitsu more than he did MMA, a sentiment that led him to switch gears and focus all his efforts solely on submission grappling.

The link with the Renzo Gracie Academy and John Danaher’s workgroup came from Tom Breese, a TriStar fighter who brought in one of Danaher’s star pupils, Gordon Ryan, to TriStar for a fight camp. The superior technical ability of Ryan led Ethan to the source, in New York. With Crelinsten’s continuous success on the mats, the Canadian quickly became part of the Danaher Death Squad elite group of grapplers, although all belts – from white to brown, were awarded by Zahabi, who continued to tutor Ethan in partnership with Danaher.

In November 2020, Ethan was awarded his black belt by coach John Danaher, the same day as teammate Nicky Ryan.

THE END OF DDS AND START OF B-TEAM

In July 2021, coach John Danaher announced the end of the Danaher Death Squad as a unified training and competition team, alluding to “the physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members” as the main factors for the split (original statement here).

Later that year, during the Summer months, Ethan, Craig Jones, and Nicky Rodriguez announced their new team. This new group was labeled the “B-Team” with its training base being set in Austin, Texas.

Ethan Crelinsten vs Keith Krikorian