Carlson Gracie London 302 Team was founded by Wilson Junior and Luca Menagacci.

Like so many other of the U.K's top BJJ and MMA fighters they met while training at the 'The Budokwai' in Chelsea, London. Wilson who grew up in Rio had gone travelling and ended up in London where he wanted to carry on his training in Brasilian Jiu Jitsu. Wilson had trained and competed in BJJ and wrestling with the Carlson Gracie Team in Rio De Janeiro Brazil.

The Carlson Gracie method of Jiu-Jitsu eventually landed properly on English soil in 2000 when Luca Menagacci returned from training at the Carlson Gracie school in Rio De Janeiro.  Luca was struck by the warm, supportive atmosphere at the classes and the passion with which the students trained.


Training would start at 6.30am and continue onwards with various classes until 8.30pm. Some of the students would train in each and every class, such was the drive and commitment. The training and camaraderie had such an impact on Luca he felt he had to do something himself; "I couldn't forget the training in Rio and felt I had to do something in London to keep the tradition alive". Upon his return he saw a familair Kimono (Gi) at 'The Budokwai' and recognised it as one he had seen while he was training at Carlson Gracie Rio. The wearer of that Gi was Wilson Junior who had borrowed the Gi from his cousin who had looked after Luca at the club in Rio. Wilson and Luca immediately struck up a friendship and one year later, Carlson Gracie London was born.

It was with Carlsons hard training ethos that Wilson and Luca started Carlson Gracie London. They wanted to bring the hardcore style of training that Carlson taught in Rio to London. Rather than water the art down for England they have both strived to keep the training exactly the same as the training in Carlsons Academy in Rio that has taught so many world BJJ champions and MMA fighters how to win.

The first Carlson London academy finally opened in January 2002 in The Albany Hotel in Earls Court London. Wilsons instructor, Carlson Gracie Black Belt Nelson Solari arrived in the U.K to instruct alongside Wilson and help run the team. The Dojo was in the basement of the Hotel in a disused Nightclub that was painted and matted. Many up and coming fighters trained there when word got around about the tough sparring and superb teaching skills of Nelson and Wilson.

The founding members of The Carlson Gracie London Team were Wallid, Rob Lawlor, Alain Pozo, Simon Hayes, Dickie Martin and Dennis Kelly. Some time later the dojo moved to another location in Torquay Street, London before finally settling at its new location in Hammersmith, The Boiler Room, 56 Glentham Road, London, SW13 9JJ. The team still train there seven days per week and pride themselves on the fact the Dojo is open fulltime for practise and sparring.


During this time the team have welcomed many Blackbelts to the dojo to stay and train with them, teach classes or give seminars. Most notable visitors include Amaury Bittetti and Rodrigo Medeiros who both fought for the famous Carlson Gracie Arrebentacao Team alongside such greats as Murillo Bustamante, Andre Pederneiras, Vitor Belfort, Mario Sperry, Whalid Ismail, Carlao Barretto, Ricardo De da Riva, Paul Dantas and Ricardo Liberio.

The Carlson Gracie London 302 Team have proved themselves to be extremely tough competitors in the European BJJ scene most notably with these prestigous results among the many Gold Medals their fighters have won in competiton-Gracie European Invitational Seni 2004 - The Team Sent a 5 man squad who won 5 Gold Medals. Winners of The 1st London Open BJJ Competition. Winners of Numerous European Championship Gold Medals. Gold medal winners at every major tournament in the UK. In addition to the many successes in the BJJ arena the 302 MMA Team led by Dennis Kelly and Ryan Robinson have proved again and again that the Carlson Gracie Style is a formidable skill to take into the cage. Dennis Kelly's performances have quickly established him as a first round submission specialist in MMA /Vale Tudo.


Carlson Gracie London 302 Team train with Master Carlson Gracies teachings in mind. The Instructors and Team teach and understand the importance of the Carlson style and how it differs from other forms of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Carlson's style is all about fighting for a dominant position, a position that in a real street fight or MMA match will keep you out of harms way. Fight from the top and finish the fight with a submission. It is with this ethos that the Carlson Gracie London 302 Team fight in BJJ and MMA competitons.

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