BJJ bucket list

Marcelo Garcia

Marcelo Garcia is one of the greatest of all times. He specializes in intuition, movement, and chokes, has an amazing competition record at the highest levels, and is famous for being a small guy who wins open class competitions. One of my all time heroes. Training at his gym in NY is a dream of mine, and I have considered moving there to train under him to get a black belt under him. His first crop of fresh black belts just recently went and swept a high level BJJ competition (I think it was worlds?), all taking double golds if I remember right.

Not surprised, just the legend living up to his name.

John Danaher

John Danaher is a legend within the BJJ community. He dropped out of a Ph.D Philosophy program to focus on BJJ and become a full time Jiu Jitsu monk, essentially. His analytical, cerebral, philosophical approach to BJJ is exactly what I crave, and is how I approach the sport myself.

Unfortunately, he teaches under Renzo Gracie at his gym in NY, and they have some Yelp reviews that make me afraid to ever give a credit card to their processors, much less sign a contract with them.

Further, he has experienced serious hip/knee problems, sadly, which continue to hurt his ability to participate on the mats. Sad day. On the other hand, the less in the body, the more in the mind. I'm sure he'll continue being someone invaluable to study under for many decades.

Dean Lister

Dean Lister is a guy who went unsubbed in competition for 14 years, ever since blue belt. He is known for his amazing leg lock game, but to me, I found myself really impressed and interested in him when I read an interview where the guy really showed that he's a thinking man. He also lets guys crash at his place and train with him, an idea I found really cool. He just seems like another kindred spirit in the sport.

Leandro Lo

Leandro is a living legend in his own right. He has now won worlds in three different ascending weight classes, and he focuses on guard passing, and does it like no other. His game is innovative, aggressive, relentless, and doesn't waste time on being overly focused on guard. That's not to say he's not incredibly competent in guard; he just realizes its place, and puts the guard players in their place. :)

For that, he has my respect, and I'd love to train with him for a season to absorb what I can from him.

Kit Dale
http://www.jiujitsubrotherhood.com/2014/04/why-concepts-are-better-than-techniques-in-bjj/
Kit Dale is someone that most don't take too seriously after a lackluster Metamoris performance and being more well known for his funny youtube videos than anything else. But I have found in his writings someone that thinks about training like I do--focus on concepts, not moves. Focus on principles, not drills.

And he does have a good sense of humor. ;)

I'd love to just develop a friendship with him, seems like a great gym mate/instructor.

Gary Tonon

Gary Tonon has a game that is all the things I aspire to have in mine. He also looks like he just takes it easy, is inventive and surprising and unpredictable. Would love to study with him and soak up his game.

BJJscout

These videos are the mind of an analyst par excellance! Whoever he is, the way he breaks down and thinks about topics has richly illustrated my own thinking on many concepts, and I would love to have someone like this around to analyze my game and tell me how it works better than I myself know!

Unity Gym NY:

These guys are like my spirit gym. Hard rolling, 3 open mats for the public every week, no room for politics. And some of the top names in the world.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/comments/39ahll/inside_unity_jiujitsu_gym_with_the_miyao_brothers/

Do a BJJ Globetrotters camp
Paradise, man. I love the ethos these guys espouse, and these camps look amazing. This is the kind of thing I would fill my days with if I had time to blow. Christian seems like a great guy.