JW Wright

Joe Wayne Wright Jr., widely known as JW Wright, was born in 1976 in Sullivan, Missouri, and raised in the small town of Steelville, MO. Growing up in a rural environment with limited access to martial arts resources, Wright nonetheless cultivated a fierce passion for combat sports from a young age. His journey began with karate — a discipline that captivated him enough to drive two towns away on a regular basis the moment he earned his driver's license at 16, simply to attend the only school in the area offering instruction in the Japanese striking art.

Wright's competitive instincts emerged quickly. He took to the tournament circuit with enthusiasm and steadily broadened his martial arts foundation, adding taekwondo, kickboxing, and other combat disciplines to his repertoire. The pivotal moment that would reshape his path came in 1995, when the historic victories of Royce Gracie in the early Ultimate Fighting Championship events inspired the 19-year-old Wright to attend a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu seminar led by the legend himself. That first encounter with grappling left a lasting impression and planted the seed for what would become a lifelong dedication to the art.

Following the 1995 seminar, Wright searched for a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school near his home in Missouri, only to find that none were accessible in the region. Unwilling to abandon his grappling ambitions, he enrolled in a Sambo class in 1996 — the closest available discipline to what he sought. True to form, Wright embraced Sambo with full commitment, earning a bronze medal at the AAU Sambo National Championships and achieving his Sambo black belt in 2001.

His coaching career began unexpectedly during this period. When his Sambo instructor stepped away from teaching to focus on his primary profession, the training group turned to Wright to fill the vacancy and keep the team together. Despite his own uncertainties about his readiness, he accepted — gaining his first meaningful experience as a martial arts instructor. In parallel, Wright began practicing judo in 2000, further rounding out a grappling base that was growing increasingly sophisticated. Throughout these years, he never relinquished his original goal of training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

As Wright developed his Sambo and judo skills, he researched the BJJ competitive landscape and identified Royler Gracie as the dominant force in the featherweight division during the late 1990s — the very weight class in which Wright competed. Drawn to Royler's technical mastery and consistency on the IBJJF circuit, Wright seized the opportunity to attend a Royler Gracie US tour seminar in 1999, where he was granted a private lesson with the Royler Gracie|Gracie family legend.

That private session deepened Wright's admiration for Royler's skill. Seeking guidance on where to continue his BJJ education in the United States, Wright received a direct answer: Royler personally provided the phone number of David Adiv, affirming that Adiv would be his ideal coach. Acting on that advice without hesitation, Wright took a week-long leave from work and traveled to New Jersey to train alongside Adiv and Royler, who remained in the country at the time. He attended every available training session and booked private lessons each day — a level of dedication that earned the respect and admiration of both black belts.

From that point forward, a lasting relationship was established. Wright made regular trips to train with Adiv in New Jersey and traveled to Rio de Janeiro to continue working with Royler Gracie. Both mentors guided him through the BJJ ranking system, and in 2008, Wright was awarded his BJJ black belt under the dual authority of David Adiv and Royler Gracie.

Drawing on his combined background in Sambo, judo, and Jiu-Jitsu, JW Wright opened a grappling club in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2002, operating under the supervision of Royler Gracie and David Adiv. At the time of its founding, the gym stood as a pioneering institution in the Midwest — one of the very few places in the region offering structured Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instruction. Less than a year after receiving his black belt in 2008, the gym was formally incorporated as an official affiliate of Gracie Humaitá, cementing its place within one of BJJ's most storied lineages.

As a coach, Wright demonstrated a clear talent for developing competitive athletes. Among the notable practitioners he helped shape were Jena Bishop and Nick Schrock, both of whom earned recognition within the broader BJJ community. Wright also maintained an active competitive career at featherweight (Peso Pena, 70 kg / 154.5 lbs), capturing the IBJJF Pan American Championship in the Master 1 division in 2010 and the IBJJF Chicago Open title in the Master 1 division in 2013. A brief involvement in mixed martial arts preceded his shift toward full dedication to gym ownership and event production.

In 2015, Wright channeled his entrepreneurial instincts into one of his most impactful contributions to the sport: the co-founding of FUJI BJJ alongside his friend Vince Anzelone. The concept was groundbreaking — FUJI BJJ was conceived as the first franchise tournament model in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, designed to bring standardized, scalable competition infrastructure to the grassroots level across the United States.

The venture gained significant momentum through a partnership with World Judo Champion and USA Judo national team coach Jimmy Pedro, owner of FUJI Mats, and Lia Hatashita, owner of FUJI Sports. The alliance united expertise in combat sports business, event organization, and equipment distribution. FUJI BJJ launched with 8 events across the United States in its first year and scaled rapidly, reaching close to 80 tournaments nationwide by 2018. That growth trajectory validated Wright's vision, establishing the franchise-based model as a viable and effective mechanism for expanding competitive BJJ at the regional level.

Also in 2015, Wright launched Respect Professional Jiu-Jitsu — a separate event series that reflected a distinct but equally deliberate vision for the sport. At a time when no-gi and submission-only formats were gaining increasing traction in professional BJJ circuits, Respect Professional Jiu-Jitsu set itself apart by requiring all matches to be contested in the gi, utilizing a traditional point-scoring system rooted in classical BJJ values.

The project represented Wright's commitment to preserving the technical and philosophical foundations of Jiu-Jitsu within the professional arena. By positioning traditional gi competition as central rather than secondary, Respect Professional Jiu-Jitsu offered competitors and audiences an alternative that honored the sport's origins. The series stood as a deliberate counterpoint to the evolving professional landscape, affirming Wright's belief in the enduring relevance of classical Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.