Greg Fernandes

Greg has been an avid martial artist since 1993 when he began studying Hsing-I Kung Fu in college at Virginia Tech. Moving to MI, he continued training Hsing-I under Professor James Burchfield, later adding Ashtanga Yoga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to his curriculum in 1996. In 2013 he began studying Muay Thai kickboxing. Greg has trained with numerous BJJ World Champions, including Flavio Almeida, Otavio Souza, Romulo Barral, Gabriel Arges, Caio Terra, Gordon Ryan, Saulo and Xande Ribiero, Lucas Liete, Lucas Lepri, Bernardo Faria, Samuel Braga, and Luis Heredia. Greg has traveled to Thailand to train Muay Thai at various gyms, including the world-famous Meenayothin gym, and has trained with the top 2 Ashtanga yoga practitioners in the country: David Swenson and Tim Miller. Prior to his martial arts experience, Greg was a competitive HS wrestler under his Coach Alray Johnson, who was himself an Olympic qualifier.

Greg continues to foster his competitive interest by regularly competing in local, national, and international BJJ competitions. In 2021 Greg won both the gi and no gi IBJJF World Master’s light featherweight titles as a brown belt, outscoring his opponents by a combined 39-0, making him the only MI practitioner to win both major IBJJF World titles that year. Greg also has 2 second-place finishes (2017 & 2019) and 1 third-place finish (2018) at the World Master’s competition in prior years, accumulating a 9-3 record in that time