Luke Griffith

Luke Griffith is a South African professional submission grappler and a student of John Danaher, Gordon Ryan, and Garry Tonon who represents team New Wave in the sport’s international circuit. Griffith made waves in the sport back in 2022 when he won the ADCC European & African Trials and represented his country at the World Championships in Las Vegas, USA. Griffith also conquered many important gold medals in the no-gi jiu-jitsu ruleset, including the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) World title in his weight class and the open (absolute) as a brown belt.

Luke Griffith Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Luke Michael Griffith

Nickname: N/A

Main Achievements (Pro Level):

• GrappleFest U100kg Title (2023)
• 1st Place ADCC EU & Africa Trials (2022 / 2023)
• 2nd Place UFC Fight Pass Invitational (2022)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2022 / 2023**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2022 / 2023**)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Championship NOGI (2023**)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2022*)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2022*)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: RNC

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

Team/Association: New Wave

Luke Griffith Biography

Luke Griffith was born on December 27, 2000, in South Africa.

Being the son of a jiu-jitsu practitioner and black belt, it didn’t take long until Luke started learning the sport. By the time he was 5 years old, he was already on the mats with his dad, Lloyd Griffith.

Although his training started with his father, coach Bobby Karagiannidis was also an important piece of Luke’s early jiu-jitsu upbringing. He also promoted Griffith up to the purple belt rank. As the young athlete grew up he became more interested in the no-gi aspect of the game, leading to his decision to travel to the USA to train with one of the best coaches in the game, John Danaher.

In November 2021, Luke took his first vacation to Austin, Texas. His idea was to train as much as possible at the Renzo Gracie Academy there, where coach John Danaher taught to a standard/hobbyist crowd, but after assessing Griffith’s talent, Danaher invited the South African to come and train with John’s professional athletes workgroup at the Roka Training Centre where he eventually earned his brown belt on June 25, 2022.

NOTE REGARDING LUKE GRIFFITH’S RECORD

Traditionally BJJ Heroes has only accounted for black belt records as they signify an athlete’s entry into our sport’s elite ranks. Luke, however, is a special case as he’s been competing in the pro-grappling circuit and being very successful at it since his colored belt days. This has left BJJ Heroes with a delicate predicament of defining when to start accounting for the young prodigy’s match records.

Considering that no-gi jiu-jitsu has slightly different dynamics to that of the gi ruleset and athletes tend to compete at the pro level much earlier (especially if they are representing certain pro teams), we have decided to add Griffith’s matches at the upper echelon of the circuit in years before his black belt promotion.