The Yamasaki Academy counts with a remarkable group of instructors. We are one of the very few Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Schools in the United States with 7 full-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt instructors. All our classes are taught by professionals with years of teaching martial arts experience.

Our Instructors

Mario Yamasaki Brazilian Jiujitsu	Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He began training in Jiu-Jitsu in 1986 under the late Marcelo Behring who was a 5th degree black belt under Rickson Gracie. In January of 2002, Mario received his 3rd degree on his black belt from Otavio de Almeida, president of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He currently works as a referree for several Mixed Martial Arts organizations, the most notable being the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Fernando Yamasaki Brazilian Jiujitsu	Born 1967 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He began training in Jiu-Jitsu in 1986 under the late Marcelo Behring who was a 5th degree black belt under Rickson Gracie. Fernando holds a 4th degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a 4th degree Black Belt in Judo and 6th degree Black Belt of JJIF Ju-Jitsu Aside from the Pan Ams and the World Championships, he is the winner of many other national and international championships - in jiu jitsu, wrestling, judo and several other grappling forms. Also, Fernando Yamasaki was one of the original referrees when Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was first established in Brazil. He has instructed several S.W.A.T. squads on self defense, as well as National Customs, Federal Police, Special Operation Groups, Special Forces from the Narcotics Dept. in Sao Paulo, and other law enforcement groups here in the US, such as the Secret Service, DEA and FBI.
Francisco Neto Brazilian Jiujitsu	Francisco Neto was born in 1979 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His training in the Martial Arts began at the early age of three with Judo under the guidance of Shigueto Yamasaki, Mario and Fernando Yamasaki's uncle. Neto started competing when he was only seven and began his start as an assistant instructor at 13. As a competitor, Neto won titles as State Champion, National Champion, South American Champion, North American Champion and many others, also placing 2nd and 3rd in dozens more. Neto was a member of the Brazilian National Team of Wrestling, Judo and JJIF Jiu-Jutsu. Neto began training in Jiu-Jitsu in 1991 under Fernando Yamasaki. When he moved to the Washington D.C. area in October 1999, Neto began teaching full-time at the Yamasaki Academy with Mario. Shortly after his arrival in the U.S. he had the first "super fight" that Grapplers Quest ever had in the country against Renzo Gracie's Matt Serra. He has also fought well-known opponents such as Nova Uniao's B.J. Penn and Relson Gracie's Steve Maxwell. Neto's goal at the Yamasaki Academy is to pass on all that he has learned as a competitor and as a teacher to the students of the Yamasaki family! Neto currently holds the rank of 2nd Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and 2nd Degree in Judo.
David Jacobs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Fairfax	Black Belt - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 2007 US Grappling Copa NOVA - Advanced No-Gi Featherweight Champion 2007 Copa Atlantica - Advanced No-Gi Featherweight Champion 2007 Grappler's Quest North American Championships - Advanced No-Gi Featherweight Champion 2007 Grappler's Quest North American Championships - Black Belt Featherweight Champion 2007 North American Combat Sports Championships - Advanced lightweight gold medalist 2007 International Masters Seniors Silver Medalist - Black Belt Featherweight 2006 WKA East Coast Grappling Championships - Advanced lightweight gold medalist 2006 Abu Dhabi Trials Competitor 2005 International Masters Seniors Bronze Medalist - Black Belt Featherweight 2005 Pan American Bronze Medalist - Brown Belt Adult Featherweight 2005 Grappler's Quest Beast of the East - Brown Belt Lightweight Champion 2005 Grappler's Quest USA Team Trials Tournament Silver Medalist - Pro Division Lightweight 2004 Grappler's Quest USA Team Trials Tournament Bronze Medalist - Pro Division Lightweight 2000 Pan American Silver Medalist - Blue Belt Master Lightweight 1999 Pan American Silver Medalist - Blue Belt Master Lightweight 5X Grapplers' Quest Advanced Division No Gi Champion Referee of numerous submission wrestling and jiu-jitsu tournaments Division I wrestler
Paul Bush Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Leesburg	Yamasaki student since 1996 Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 1999 Pan American Silver Medalist 1999 competitor in the World Championships 4-1 MMA record Referee of numerous submission wrestling and jiu-jitsu tournaments
Ahmed Ghandour Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Rockville	Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has been training Jiujitsu with Fernando and Neto for more than 10 years.  Ahmed holds a Black Belt - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu .
Morgann Paraskevas Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Rockville	Black Belt - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 3X Pan American Bronze medalist 2003, 2005, and 2008 Pan American Champion 2006 European Champion 2007 European Silver Medalist 2008
Mark Jones Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Fairfax	Black Belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu 2007 International Masters Seniors Bronze Medalist - Black Belt 2006-Pan American Champion Brown Belt Senior - Middle weight Division. 2005-Pan American Gold Medalist - Brown Belt Masters Medium Heavy Weight 2003-Pan American Silver Medalist- Purple Belt Masters Heavy weight 2002-Pan American Silver Medalist - Blue Belt Masters Heavy weight 2002-VABJJF Gustavo Machado - Blue Belt Champion 2002- Grapplers Quest U.S Nationals of Submission Grappling - Champion
Joe Sirko Brazilian Jiu Jitsu	Black Belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu. More to come..
Hal Williamson Brazilian Jiu Jitsu	Hal Williamson Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Defensive Tactics Instructor 2007 International Masters and Seniors Brown Belt Champion--Medium Heavyweight 2007 International Masters and Seniors Brown Belt Champion--Absolute
Salvatore Sanguinetti Brazilian Jiu Jitsu	Born in Peru Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 2007 European Championship - Brown Belt Silver medalist 2005 VABJJF Gustavo Machado - Brown Belt Champion 2005Grapplers Quest South East Championships - Brown Belt Champion  2005 Yamasaki Championships - Purple/Feather - 1st Place  2004 Judo Maryland State/ Champion  2003 Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championships – 3rd Place  2003 Copa Atlantica Purple Belt/Feather – Champion  2003 VABJJF Gustavo Machado - Purple Belt Champion  2002 VABJJF Gustavo Machado - Blue Belt Champion  2001 International Pro-Am  - Champion  2001 Grapplers Quest National Championship- Advance 2nd Place - No Gi
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Washington DC	Born in Venezuela Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 1999 Virginia Beach Regional Championship 1st Place GI 1999 Yamasaki Jiu-Jitsu Tournament 1st Place GI, 3rd Place No-GI 1999 Yamasaki Jiu-Jitsu Tournament 2nd Place GI 2001 Pan-American Championships 3rd Place GI (Blue Belt) 2004 Pan-American Championships Bronze Medal(Purple Belt) 2005 Virginia Beach Regional Championship 2nd Place GI 2006 East-Coast Championships 2nd Place GI and 3rd Place No-GI
Mike Crawford Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Mechanicsville	Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Grapplers Quest Champion Battle of Seven Hills Vale Tudo Champion Certified US Army Combatives Instructor
Derrick Nguyen Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Frederick	Purple Belt Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. (more info coming up)
Klint Radwani Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Mechanicsville	Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brown Belt 2005 Pan American Bronze Medalist Four Time Grapplers Quest Champion Two Time Grapplemania Champion Two Time Budweiser World Cup Champion Arnold Gracie World Champion Combat Sports Challenge Champion Virginia Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion U.S. Grappling Champion Boris Talis Cup World Champion Top Rated Featherweight Fighter for 2004
Joe Cunningham Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Yamasaki Woodbridge	Joe Cunningham has been a student with the Yamasaki Academy since 1998. His interest in the sport started after watching Royce Gracie dominate opponents in the early Ultimate Fighting Championships using techniques that, at the time, were widely unknown to most people in the United States . Like most students of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu usually find, once he started training he was quickly hooked and began spending as much time as he could at the Yamasaki Springfield academy learning from the instructors. In November of 2006 he was awarded the rank of Brown Belt from Mario and Fernando Yamasaki.
Sergio Cabrera Thai Boxing	Born 1982 in Los Angeles, California. He entered the Yamasaki Martial Art training program in 1998. Today Sergio teaches Thai-Boxing and is also a Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Yara Cordeiro Capoeira Yamasaki Rockville	Yara Cordeiro holds a psychology and a physical education bachelor's degree and has been a physical education teacher for over ten years. She has received her graduate degree in Sports Psychology and Capoeira from the Brasília University-UnB and her Master's in Psychology from the Brasília Catholic University. She has consistently directed her studies toward the understanding of unexplored aspects of the relation between capoeira and sports psychology, which has led to the publication of three works: Capoeira, Identidade e Adolescências [Capoeira, Identity and Adolecense], (2008); Capoeira e desenvolvimento [Capoeira and development], (2005) and Capoeira e auto-estima [Capoeira and self-esteem], (1998/2003), the latter now in its second edition. In addition to her academic work on the relation between capoeira and sports psychology, Yara has been a capoeira practitioner over twenty-five years. She has held workshops and given lectures and is qualified to do capoeira work with the most varied groups: children, adolescents, adults, people with special needs, and the elderly. She has created a special fitness program that uses capoeira movements for aerobic and localized exercises, as well as another program that uses capoeira movements as a form of bodily expression and for choreographing purposes. www.abadadc.com <more>