Daniel Schuardt

Daniel "The Manchild" Schuardt built his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu foundation in Australia, developing his competitive identity within a domestic grappling scene that proved to be an unusually fertile training environment. Among his most significant early influences was Craig Jones, with whom Schuardt shared a close training partnership. In an October 2026 interview covered by BJJ Doc, Schuardt reflected warmly on that period: "Craig and I were the boys back in Australia and we used to train together heaps and he helped me a ton."

Equally formative was his time alongside Lachlan Giles, whose intellectually restless approach to technique left a clear mark on Schuardt's understanding of the sport. Schuardt has spoken admiringly of Giles's capacity for creative problem-solving, describing him in that same interview: "Lachlan is very good ideas man. He's very creative. His ability to be like to find a new idea and test it and noodle and tinker is much better than mine." That willingness to treat grappling as an ongoing research project shaped Schuardt's appreciation for systematic technical development — even as he acknowledged that his own strengths lie more in refinement and execution than in originating ideas.

The Decision

When Schuardt decided to relocate to the United States to pursue elite competition, the question of where to train carried significant personal weight. His two most natural options were B Team, given his long history with Craig Jones, and John Danaher's Kingsway gym. The choice ultimately came down to an ultimatum from his partner — then his girlfriend, later his wife — who made her position unambiguous: train with Danaher or don't make the move at all.

Her reasoning was direct and difficult to argue with. She was concerned that B Team's social media presence projected an atmosphere she likened to a "frat house," and her logic about Danaher was straightforward: Danaher coaches Gordon Ryan, Gordon Ryan is the best, so that is where Schuardt was going.

Why Danaher's Environment Works

In reflecting on the decision, Schuardt made clear the choice was genuinely his own once he examined what kind of training environment he needed. In the October 2026 BJJ Doc interview, he described what Danaher's classes offer: "There's just something about a Danaher class where it's like 'Do what I tell you to do and just do that until I say stop.' And I as an athlete really need that. I'm a real good 'Yes, sir.'" The centralized, directive structure of Danaher's coaching — one authoritative voice running the room — suits Schuardt's learning style in a way that a more decentralized training culture does not. Beyond coaching philosophy, he has spoken warmly about the community at Kingsway, crediting the "love and support" from the "Kingsway boys" as something that makes the environment genuinely special.

Navigating the Transition

The decision introduced a degree of friction with Jones. Schuardt acknowledged the cultural weight that gym-switching carries in BJJ, particularly when personal relationships and rival camps intersect. He was careful, however, to frame the choice as logistical rather than personal: "It was never an intention to be like '[ ] you' to Craig or anything like this. It was purely just like I have a choice to go or not and I'm going to go." His self-characterization as "pretty happy go lucky, pretty chill" and his assessment that "it's not that deep" reflect an athlete who keeps interpersonal dynamics in clear perspective.

Origins and Development

One of the techniques most closely associated with Schuardt is the Mussolini Lock — a submission that garnered significant attention in the BJJ community and brought broader visibility to his name as a technical contributor. The technique's origins trace directly to Lachlan Giles: it was Giles who first showed Schuardt the foundational grip around which the submission is built, making his Australian coach the originating mind behind the concept.

What Schuardt contributed was the sustained work of development. Over approximately a year, he refined, stress-tested, and systematized the technique — constructing a cohesive and teachable framework around Giles's initial idea. His role was that of a dedicated developer and popularizer rather than a sole inventor. The result was documented in instructional content released through BJJ Fanatics, where Schuardt laid out the Mussolini Lock system in full.

A Collaborative Blueprint

The trajectory of the technique — from a grip Giles shared to a named system Schuardt spent a year pressure-testing — illustrates a dynamic that runs throughout elite BJJ: techniques evolve through shared knowledge, and the line between origination and development is rarely clean. The collaboration between Giles's creative ideation and Schuardt's systematic refinement reflects the same intellectual environment Schuardt described when praising Giles's willingness to "noodle and tinker." The Mussolini Lock's viral moment represented the public-facing result of that process and established Schuardt as a meaningful technical voice within the no-gi grappling conversation.

The clearest measure of Schuardt's standing as an international competitor came at the 2026 ADCC World Championships, where he earned a bronze medal in the 99kg division — one of the most historically deep and competitive weight classes in the tournament's history. The result placed him among the elite of no-gi submission grappling on a global stage, validating both the quality of his preparation under John Danaher at Kingsway and the technical development he pursued over the preceding years.

Competing at 99kg, Schuardt demonstrated that the systematic approach he absorbed — from his Australian years alongside Giles and Jones through to the directive structure of Danaher's coaching — translates into results at the highest level. The ADCC bronze stands as the most significant benchmark of his career to date and signals an athlete whose trajectory within elite no-gi grappling remains firmly upward.