Leonid Gatovskiy

Leonid Gatovskiy is the seminal figure in Russian Brazilian jiu-jitsu, universally credited as the country's first BJJ black belt. Before BJJ he trained boxing, Thai boxing, traditional European ju-jitsu and freestyle wrestling. He encountered BJJ at a 2002 championship in Poland and began serious training in 2004 at the Bastion Tychy club under Slawomir Szamota. Over the following years he travelled repeatedly to train under a range of instructors within the Gracie Barra structure, earning his brown belt in 2008 and his black belt from Renzo Gracie at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York in 2011. Returning to Russia, he founded Gracie Barra Moscow at the Lion Sport Club, cited as the first and largest modern BJJ center in the country, and opened branches in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. He famously defeated a young Khabib Nurmagomedov in a 2009 grappling match, and mentored Ali Magomedov, the first black belt he promoted.