Yuan Yi
Yuan Yi is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Professor Takeo Antonio Tani of UFC Gym Singapore. He is currently running his own team, Galaxy Jiu-jitsu, in Changsha, China.
Yi began his training in 2012. At that time, he had already graduated from university and was working in a bank, but exposure to jiu-jitsu-related training and competition videos during his college years compelled him to explore the martial art further. Hungry for a deeper understanding of the sport, Yi resigned from his bank job and changed the direction of his life by practicing jiu-jitsu full-time at Shanghai BJJ.
Over the course of his journey to black belt, Yi has competed over 20 times and has taught seminars in over 20 cities across China on all aspects of jiu-jitsu and in both Gi and No Gi. By the end of 2019, Yi earned his black belt in Singapore under Takeo Tani.
Yi’s philosophy about his own jiu-jitsu is that it should be comprehensive and complete, and his goal is to be well-rounded in the Gi, in No Gi, and in MMA. ‘Jiu-jitsu is a competitive sport for me, but even more, it is a martial art,’ he said. ‘I attach great importance to the basics and require myself to understand them thoroughly. I must be very proficient at both left and right sides, and I must be able to make changes and apply them to different scenarios.’
Flow-rolling is one of Yi’s favorite aspects of training; it’s his chance to pay attention and appreciate the fluency, coherence, and beauty of the movements. To sum up his own style, Yi says he combines strengths of all schools of thought with his own advantages. He looks up to practitioners including Romulo Barral, Gordon Ryan, and the Mendes brothers.
Main achievements:
- 2016, he ranked first in the male purple belt division in the Greater China Jiu-Jitsu Federation (GCJJF) rankings.
- 2019, he ranked first in no-gi and second in gi in the Brown Belt division of the ASJJF Asia Region.
- 2019, he had a perfect record of three consecutive wins of MMA fights in ONE Hero Series, all ending in submission victories.
- 2021, he ranked first in China and third in Asia in the AJP Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Master 1 division.
- 2022 and 2023, he won the Chinese National Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship back to back and received the Best Technique Award for male athlete twice.
- 2023, he won first place in the IBJJF Asian Open Black Belt Master 1 division.
- 2024, he became the champion of the ASJJF Asia Cup in the adult black belt division.
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