Professor Dimitrios Mavraganis

Professor Dimitri’s training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu started at the age of 18 (in 1997) at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance. There he studied under Grand Master Helio Gracie, Royce Gracie, Rorion Gracie. & Caique Elias. After seeing the world championships on a video he decided that he wanted to become a champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and felt that the Machado Brothers may be able to help him more to achieve this goal. In 1999, Professor Dimitrios started training under the Machado Brothers in Torrance California, specifically Rigan and Roger Machado. He was extremely impressed with their style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and began training very consistently, becoming one of the teams most dedicated students.

After training for a number of years, Rigan returned to spend some time in Brazil, and Roger moved his academy to a location that was too far to follow (Pasadena). So in 2004 Professor Dimitrios started training with Pan-American champion Paulo Guillobel at a Machado affiliate academy near his home. He received his brown belt from Paulo Guillobel with both Roger and Rigan’s blessing. In 2005 Paulo received an opportunity to expand his academy and also began teaching at a location that was too far to follow. Professor Dimitrios then returned to the Machado Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, and trained with Rigan ever since. He received his black belt from Jiu-Jitsu master Rigan Machado in early 2006 and currently holds the rank of 4th degree BJJ black belt.

Professor Dimitrios Mavraganis has won more than 50 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions. Some of these tournaments include; The NABJJ Los Angeles International Tournament, taking home the gold medal in the black belt open class. He also dominated in multiple NAGA tournaments, including NAGA San Diego where he took home championship belts in both the Gi & No-Gi Expert divisions. Also, In 2013 Professor Dimitrios won the SJJF World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships at the Black Belt level. He has also taken home gold medals in multiple State, National, and IBJJF Pan American Championships, as well as many other Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu titles. He has conducted BJJ seminars all over the USA and Europe and takes a special liking to teaching arrest and control seminars for the US Marshal’s, FBI, and Correctional Officers at the federal prison of Terminal Island, in Long Beach, CA. Professor Dimitrios has also appeared in “Tapout” & “Grappling” magazine multiple times to demonstrate his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques.