Shay Montague

Shay Montague was born on November 10, 1998, and grew up between the small coastal towns of Nairn and Findhorn in the north of Scotland. By his own admission, he was far from a natural athlete in his early years — his time split between Xbox and socializing rather than competitive sport. The closest he came to structured physical activity was weekly table tennis sessions with his father and a brief, chilly experiment with snowboarding he quickly abandoned.

At 16, a growing fascination with the UFC led Montague to search for local mixed martial arts academies. What he found did not appeal to his slight, 45-kilogram frame — nearby gyms projected an image of hardened, muscular training cultures that felt unwelcoming to the young Scotsman. It was during this search, while consuming MMA content on YouTube, that he encountered BJJ highlight reels featuring Ronaldo Jacare Souza and the Rafael Mendes and Guilherme Mendes brothers. The technical artistry of jiu-jitsu captured his imagination in a way that pure MMA had not. When he searched for local BJJ academies, he found a noticeably more diverse and inclusive community — one that convinced him to step onto the mats for the first time.

After spending several months at an introductory local gym, Montague sought a more serious training environment and found it at BJJ Misfits in Inverness, run by Ross Houston and affiliated with SBG. There, he trained under coaches Martin Donaldson and Kevin McAloon — two figures he credits as instrumental in shaping his foundational development as a grappler.

Despite Inverness carrying no established tradition of high-level competitive grappling, Montague earned significant medals representing the gym and progressed through to purple belt. His early competition record signaled genuine promise: he claimed gold at the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi in 2017 at blue belt, followed by silver at the IBJJF European Open in 2018 — results that marked him as a competitor capable of performing on the international stage even while training in a small Scottish city. Throughout this period, he balanced competition deliberately against his academic commitments, keeping BJJ secondary to his studies as he progressed through school.

At age 20, Montague relocated to Glasgow — Scotland's largest city — to pursue a university degree, selecting The Griphouse as his new home gym. He simultaneously expanded his training network, making regular visits to Darragh O'Conaill's East Coast BJJ Academy (ECBJJA) in Ireland, a connection introduced through Ellis Younger. The combination of The Griphouse's competitive environment and the technical influence of the ECBJJA group proved transformative to his development.

Brown Belt Dominance: A Historic IBJJF Campaign

Montague completed his university degree in June 2022 and transitioned to full-time BJJ training immediately afterward. What followed stands as one of the most dominant brown belt campaigns in modern IBJJF history. Competing at roosterweight, he swept through the major international circuit in 2022, winning the IBJJF Pan Championship in both gi and no-gi formats, the IBJJF South American Championship, the IBJJF European Open, the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals, and the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi — claiming every major IBJJF title that year with the sole exception of the Worlds gi. He carried that momentum into 2023, winning the IBJJF World Championship gi at brown belt to complete the collection, which also included the purple belt Worlds gi title in 2021. By the close of that run, Montague stood as the undisputed number-one ranked roosterweight in the world at brown belt across both gi and no-gi divisions.

On June 25, 2023, coach Darragh O'Conaill promoted Montague to the black belt rank — a recognition of a competitive record that was, by any measure, exceptional.

Montague's transition to black belt placed him among the deepest and most competitive talent pools in the sport. He met that challenge with a result that etched his name into Scottish grappling history. At the 2025 IBJJF No-Gi World Championship, Montague won gold at black belt roosterweight — becoming the first Scottish athlete ever to claim an IBJJF No-Gi World Championship title. The achievement stands as the defining result of his black belt career to date and a landmark moment for the sport in Scotland.

His black belt record also includes the GrappleFest U65KG title, affirming his ability to perform across the growing landscape of high-profile submission grappling events beyond the IBJJF circuit. The 2025 No-Gi Worlds gold remains the pinnacle — a result made more meaningful by its historic nature and by the fact that it was achieved through the full-time professional approach Montague adopted only after completing his university studies. His stated ambition to raise the profile of competitive BJJ in Scotland and create tangible pathways for young Scottish athletes now carries the weight of a world title behind it.

On February 12, 2026, Montague competed at UFC BJJ 5 in one of the highest-profile matchups of his career, facing Mikey Musumeci — widely regarded as one of the most dominant roosterweight grapplers in the history of the sport. The bout placed Montague on a mainstream international platform and reflected the standing he had earned within the global grappling community.

Mikey Musumeci defeated Montague via foot lock submission in round 2. While the outcome was a loss, the invitation to compete against Musumeci at that level served as a marker of the respect Montague commands at the elite level. His appearance at UFC BJJ 5 also delivered meaningful international visibility to Scottish BJJ, introducing his story and his country's emerging competitive scene to a significantly wider audience.

What distinguishes Montague's rise is not only his results but the context in which those results were built. Developing elite-level jiu-jitsu while based in small Scottish towns and cities — places with little grappling infrastructure and no tradition of producing world-class competitors — demanded a degree of resourcefulness and self-motivation that few athletes have had to demonstrate. He trained across multiple countries, built a network of high-level partners through initiative rather than geography, and did so while completing a full university degree before ever committing to BJJ full-time.

Montague competes under the nickname "Shay The Brave" — a nod to both his Scottish identity and the competitive boldness he has shown in taking on elite opponents at every stage of his career. His historic status as the first Scottish IBJJF No-Gi World Champion gives him a platform that extends beyond individual competition. He has been vocal about his desire to use that platform to professionalize BJJ in Scotland and help young Scottish athletes access and succeed at major international competitions across both gi and no-gi formats.

In February 2026, Montague appeared as the featured guest on JitsCast #64 by JitsMagazine, reflecting the growing recognition he has earned within the broader BJJ media community. His trajectory — from a self-described unathletic teenager in the Scottish Highlands to a black belt world champion — represents one of the most compelling stories in contemporary British jiu-jitsu.