Meet Our Jiu Jitsu Team
Owner & Head Instructor Santos Rene Rivera
Santos, a Tucson native, started Jiu Jitsu at 13 years old. He stopped training Jiu Jitsu to pursue wrestling at Marana High School. He became an Arizona State Champ Wrestler after only wrestling his junior and senior year. A true martial artist, Santos also had multiple kickboxing and MMA fights before pursing Jiu Jitsu full time in 2014. A few of his most notable accomplishments include:
- 2x IBJJF No Gi World Champion (Purple & Brown Belt)
- 2x Bronze Medalist IBJJF Pan Championship (Gi & No Gi Black Belt)
- Abu Dhabi World Pro Bronze Medalist (Brown Belt)
- Multiple time IBJJF Open Champion & Medalist (all belt levels)
Completely devoted to his students, Santos truly loves helping people reach their Jiu Jitsu goals.
Black Belt Phil Olsen
Phil received his black belt in 2018 and has a true passion for Jiu Jitsu. Despite being a father & working full time, he still finds ways to train and compete at the Black Belt level. He has competed for organizations such as the IBJJF and ADCC and continues to be an avid member of the Tucson Jiu Jitsu Community.
Competition Team
Here at Legacy Grappling Academy no one is pressured to compete if they do not want to. Despite this, we’ve had success on the competition scene. Most of the competitors here at Legacy Grappling Academy have trained with Santos since they were white belts and do not have any prior grappling experience. We take pride in taking on multiple rulesets, competing in various organizations, in both Gi and No Gi. Even if you do not plan on ever competing, we take pride in helping you sharpen your Jiu Jitsu skills and evolve as an athlete.