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Learning jiu-jitsu in south Brooklyn
This guide covers Brooklyn south of the Prospect Expressway: Bay Ridge through Gravesend and Brighton Beach out to Canarsie, a stretch where fully published rate cards, walk-in free first classes, and clubs that train from nine to midnight all coexist. For someone just starting, the real question is not "which academy is best" but "which one fits me." This guide exists to answer that question.
Open mats in South Brooklyn
Rooms whose published schedule prints an open mat, each with the complete recorded summary of that schedule, its source and the date it was read. What an open mat is, and what a beginner does with one
- Renzo Gracie Bay Ridge The borough's only seven-day week, with a Sunday open mat and a Saturday women's-only class — but no beginner-labelled slot, and weekday adult classes run thin and late (mostly 8 PM) source · 2026-09-02
- Sheepshead Bay Roll Three sessions weekly — Tuesday gi and Thursday no-gi from 9 PM to MIDNIGHT, Sunday midday open mat. The times are the story: useless for a daytime visit, unique for the late-shift trainer source · 2026-09-01
A schedule is what the page printed on the day it was read. The academy's card carries the visitor and price facts recorded for it; where admission to an open mat, or its cost, is not published, ask the academy.
Women's classes in South Brooklyn
Rooms whose published schedule or programme page prints a women's or women-only class, each with the complete recorded summary of that fact, its source and the date it was read. What academies publish for women, and what to ask before a first class
- Pillar Jiu Jitsu A dedicated women's class, Monday evenings from 6:15 PM; the new grid ends it at 7:30 and the women's page at 7:45 source · 2026-09-04
- Renzo Gracie Bay Ridge A women's-only BJJ class, Saturday 11 AM source · 2026-07-28
A summary records what the page printed on the day it was read. Whether a class is women-only or mixed, and who may join, is in the summary where the academy publishes it; visitor and price facts are on the academy's card; where something is not published, ask the academy.
Map
Every academy with a full entry is pinned on the map, and neighborhood-level pins say so. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
BBJJ Bay Parkway
Who this academy suits
A local wanting the chain's $19.99 start — same reading as the sibling entries, and call (347) 881-3445, not the offer page's number
Why we say it: The identity is settled by byte-identical addresses, the phone by the newer surfaces (verified 2026-07-28)
Pricing published Kids classesStriking classes too
Your first visit
- Free trial
- The chain's member's-name guest gate applies; the intro is the stranger's door source · 2026-07-28
Classes and cost
- Membership
- The $19.99 intro is the only figure source · 2026-07-28
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 6320 Bay Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY 11204 source · 2026-07-28
BBJJ Dyker Heights
Who this academy suits
A local wanting the chain's $19.99 start — read with the same open eyes as the Cobble Hill sibling, plus the oddity that this room's address exists on one unlinked page
Why we say it: The offer and address are the chain's own; the rulings are measured at the sibling entry (verified 2026-07-28)
Pricing published Kids classesStriking classes too
Your first visit
- Free trial
- The guest form demands a member's name a stranger doesn't have — the $19.99 intro is the actual door source · 2026-09-03
Classes and cost
- Membership
- The $19.99 intro is the chain's only figure; membership is unpublished source · 2026-07-28
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 7603 13th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11228 source · 2026-07-28
BBJJ Gravesend
Who this academy suits
A local wanting the chain's $19.99 start — at the room whose own title and email say karate first
Why we say it: All facts are the chain's own surfaces (verified 2026-07-28)
Pricing published Kids classesStriking classes too
Your first visit
- Free trial
- The chain's member's-name guest gate applies; the intro is the stranger's door source · 2026-07-28
Classes and cost
- Membership
- The $19.99 intro is the only figure source · 2026-07-28
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 172 Avenue U, Brooklyn, NY 11223 source · 2026-07-28
Brooklyn Mixed Martial Arts, Marine Park
Who this academy suits
An all-rounder wanting BJJ twice a week inside a 33-class week, through Brooklyn's most welcoming drop-in page. Call first: the drop-in price, and whether the Men-filed BJJ sessions are open to women
Why we say it: The calendar and API settle the week and labels; the drop-in page's welcome and missing price are verbatim (verified 2026-07-29)
Schedule verified No-giKids classesStriking classes too
Your first visit
- Free trial
- The most traveller-addressed drop-in page in the sweeps — gear provided, no experience needed, out-of-towners named — and no price on it. The door is open; the number is withheld source · 2026-09-04
- Class schedule
- A 33-class live timetable on the unlinked booking tenant — with exactly TWO adult BJJ sessions (Mon 7 PM, Thu 8 PM), nothing on other days, and no beginner class source · 2026-07-29
Classes and cost
- Programs
- Youth classes run per the academy's own labels source · 2026-07-29
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 2418 Ralph Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11234 source · 2026-07-29
Phone 718-677-5979 — the phone is real and linked; no email exists on the site Website Naver Map Apple Maps
Canarsie Community Dojo
Who this academy suits
A Canarsie adult wanting near-private attention: two black belts across four weekly classes, an unconditional beginner welcome, the neighbourhood's only recorded room. Call or text first — no trial or price exists in writing
Why we say it: The bios, schedule and welcome are the room's own; the absences are measured (verified 2026-07-29)
Schedule verified No-gi
Your first visit
- Class schedule
- Four sessions weekly — gi Monday and Friday evenings, no-gi Wednesday evening and Sunday morning — and adults only, rare in this borough source · 2026-09-01
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 981 E 77th St, Brooklyn, NY 11236 source · 2026-07-29
- Instructors
- Professor Bannister (a 2020 black belt under Gene Dunn) and Jesus Guerrero (2017) — two black belts on a four-class week, a near-semi-private ratio source · 2026-09-04
Phone (917) 755-9268, call or text Website Naver Map Apple Maps
JMA Brooklyn
Who this academy suits
An early-morning trainer: the borough's only 6:30 AM class in a beginner-appropriate band, on a card honest enough to publish its own 4% surcharge. The room's own schedule key now defines the CT bands — and ask what the trial's unpublished eligibility means
Why we say it: The card and schedule are the room's own; the band definitions now print on the room's own schedule key (re-read 2026-09-03); the asterisk resolves nowhere (verified 2026-07-29)
Schedule verified Pricing published No-giStructured curriculum
Your first visit
- Free trial
- A free trial gated by an asterisk — '* Must meet eligibility requirements' — whose requirements are published nowhere. This guide's least legible hidden condition. No drop-in rate either source · 2026-09-04
- Class schedule
- One of Brooklyn's widest weeks — with the borough's only 6:30 AM class. The CT-A/B/C bands are Caio Terra curriculum tiers: a beginner takes CT-A (Mon/Wed 8:15 PM) and CT-A/B slots — six suitable sessions weekly; CT-C is not a first class source · 2026-09-01
Classes and cost
- Membership
- Published: $175/$195/$220 monthly (auto-billing rates) — plus a stated 4% card fee, a rare published surcharge a reader should count source · 2026-09-03
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 2651 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11223 source · 2026-07-29
- Instructors
- John Laracuente, training under 'professor JAO' since 2009 by the room's account — no BJJ rank published source · 2026-09-03
Lions Fight, Kings Highway
Who this academy suits
An evening regular wanting six nights a week: two-hour sessions nightly, a published plan ladder, a free first lesson. Know what it isn't: no beginner class, no split, no named coach, nothing for a short stay
Why we say it: The schedule and absences are measured on the room's own surfaces (verified 2026-07-29); the rate card is now a static table on the schedule page (re-read 2026-09-03)
Schedule verified Pricing published Free trialKids classes
Your first visit
- Free trial
- A free trial lesson with no conditions — and then the gap: no drop-in or week rate exists, so a short-stay visitor has nothing between the free lesson and $190 source · 2026-09-03
- Class schedule
- Six adult sessions a week — the most in outer Brooklyn — every one an undifferentiated evening block: no beginner slot, no gi/no-gi split. Volume without a named on-ramp source · 2026-09-01
Classes and cost
- Membership
- Published once, as a static table on the schedule page: $190 to $350 monthly by weekly frequency, each Get started button leading to the contact page; the former purchasable product page now redirects to prose. No drop-in or week rate exists source · 2026-09-03
- Programs
- Three kids' rows on the Kings Highway grid, nine sessions a week: Mon, Wed and Fri 6 PM, and Tue, Thu and Sat at 4:30 PM and 6 PM source · 2026-09-03
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 2085 Coney Island Avenue, 3rd floor, Brooklyn, NY 11223 source · 2026-07-29
Pillar Jiu Jitsu
Who this academy suits
The visiting beginner: a tri-state free first day, then a published $30 all-classes day, no gi rules, four beginner slots weekly — and the room's own honesty about the five-month all-levels gate. The one withheld number, membership, is withheld by stated choice
Why we say it: Every element is verbatim on the room's own pages; the grid is dated by its upload path (verified 2026-07-29)
The forgotten populations: a dedicated women's class and twice-weekly senior strength, both published, both rare in Brooklyn
Why we say it: Both are on the dated grid (verified 2026-07-29)
Schedule verified Pricing published No-giStructured curriculum
Your first visit
- Free trial
- The free trial day is tri-state-scoped in its own heading — and then, unlike every gated room in this guide, the fee for everyone else is published right below. And no gi requirements: wear whatever gi you want source · 2026-09-04
- Class schedule
- Four beginner-named slots a week, a Monday women's class and twice-weekly senior strength — read with the room's own rule: all-levels requires 5+ months, so a day-one beginner's slot is the 6 PM beginners class, not noon source · 2026-09-02
Classes and cost
- Membership
- A published $30 visitor day, all classes — the number gated rooms hide. Membership is a published refusal to publish; the heading's promised week rate doesn't exist — ask source · 2026-09-04
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 1661 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11226 source · 2026-07-29
- Instructors
- Roothchild (RC) St Germain — a Unity brown belt under Murilo Santana, ten years in, by his own account source · 2026-09-03
Renzo Gracie Bay Ridge
Who this academy suits
The least-gated first step in south Brooklyn: a free class asking only your name, a first-degree black belt teaching, a seven-day grid, a women's Saturday class. Know the two silences: no price exists, and joining triggers an unpriced mandatory gi kit
Why we say it: The form, bench, grid and gi-kit rule are all the room's own surfaces (verified 2026-07-28/29)
Schedule verified Free trialNo-gi
Your first visit
- Free trial
- 'Your first class is on us' — the form asks for contact details and nothing else. The hidden condition arrives at membership: a mandatory academy gi kit whose price is published nowhere source · 2026-09-04
- Class schedule
- The borough's only seven-day week, with a Sunday open mat and a Saturday women's-only class — but no beginner-labelled slot, and weekday adult classes run thin and late (mostly 8 PM) source · 2026-09-02
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 7914 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 — the building's 2nd floor is a separate judo academy source · 2026-07-28
- Instructors
- Professor Edgar Chutan, a first-degree black belt under Renzo Gracie and the owner — with a second black belt and a brown belt on the bench source · 2026-09-03
Phone 718-812-4745 and 917-658-5794 — the room publishes both Website Naver Map Apple Maps
Sheepshead Bay Roll
Who this academy suits
The late-shift trainer nobody else serves: 9-to-midnight sessions twice a week, a walk-in free first class, pay-as-you-go with nothing to sign. Ask the price per session and who's teaching
Why we say it: The schedule, trial and terms are the room's own; the price absence is measured (verified 2026-07-29)
Schedule verified Free trialNo-gi
Your first visit
- Free trial
- 'Walk in, roll, and see if it's for you' — a free first class and pay-as-you-go with no conditions of any kind: a genuine counter-example to this guide's gated-door pattern source · 2026-09-03
- Class schedule
- Three sessions weekly — Tuesday gi and Thursday no-gi from 9 PM to MIDNIGHT, Sunday midday open mat. The times are the story: useless for a daytime visit, unique for the late-shift trainer source · 2026-09-01
Location, instructors, contact
- Address
- 2565 East 17th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11235 source · 2026-07-29
Academies being verified
We are re-confirming the essentials: class schedules and trial mechanics. Each academy joins the full guide once its facts meet the bar.
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Glory Martial Arts Center Brooklyn · Official site(718) 833-4622Last checked: 2026-07-29
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South Brooklyn BJJ · Official site130 Brighton Beach Ave, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11235 · (917) 748-9781 · Zhenya (Gene) Sakirski — a Renzo Gracie black belt of 25-plus years, by the room's own accountLast checked: 2026-09-03
Frequently asked questions
Which academies in South Brooklyn offer a free trial?
JMA Brooklyn: A free trial gated by an asterisk — '* Must meet eligibility requirements' — whose requirements are published nowhere. This guide's least legible hidden condition. No drop-in rate either; Lions Fight, Kings Highway: A free trial lesson with no conditions — and then the gap: no drop-in or week rate exists, so a short-stay visitor has nothing between the free lesson and $190; Pillar Jiu Jitsu: The free trial day is tri-state-scoped in its own heading — and then, unlike every gated room in this guide, the fee for everyone else is published right below. And no gi requirements: wear whatever gi you want; Sheepshead Bay Roll: 'Walk in, roll, and see if it's for you' — a free first class and pay-as-you-go with no conditions of any kind: a genuine counter-example to this guide's gated-door pattern
How do I book a trial class?
It differs by academy. Where we could verify the booking method, it is listed under "Your first visit" in that academy's entry; otherwise, asking through the academy's official channel is the most reliable route.
I'm a complete beginner. Can I just show up?
It differs by academy. Entries show where a fundamentals program and first-visit process are verified. For the rest, check with the academy before visiting. For what a first class actually feels like, see the beginner posts on our blog.