MY ROOTS
I am a wrestler from Bulgaria. I come from a small village south-west in Bulgaria, called Kochan. As it’s a Bulgarian tradition to start training from an early age, I started first with outdoor wrestling and that’s from where my passion for wrestling came.

EDUCATION & TRAINING
During my time at the sports school, I won a lot of competitions, including being 4 times Bulgarian National Champion and I’ve won international competitions. Being part of the Bulgarian national team was a great experience and I still use the knowledge. Then, I got accepted to the National Sports Academy, where I studied for two years, and I went to the States on the Work & Travel program.

While I was in America a friend contacted a college, called Colby Community College, in Kansas which was looking for a wrestler of my weight. They said that I can go and if I beat the other guys, they would give me a full scholarship. This happened in the 2005/2006 academic year.

So, I went there, smashed all three of my opponents, they offered me a full scholarship and an opportunity to change my status from Work and Travel visa to Student visa. There I learned a lot, especially about American style wrestling.

In 2009, I came back with my wife to Bulgaria. We lived in Varna for one year where I continued training with the Varna wrestling team. The Bulgarian national MMA team was based there. So, I decided to go there and try it. During my first time there I smashed all of the people since MMA was quite different than it is today.

Afterwards, my wife and I started thinking about moving abroad and decided to go to the UK. The first thing I did when we moved there was to head to City, University of London. The first shock I received there was that I had to pay to fight because as I was a member of the Bulgarian national team I never paid for anything. My focus was only on wrestling until then, but the rule was to pay. So, I had only 50 pounds and decided to give them all in order to fight. After only two weeks they saw my skills and that I know different wrestling styles and asked me whether I could teach them. They saw the potential and recognized it immediately.

So, from there I competed in the British nationals and other tournaments and started making connections. For example, now in London, there is a private school called Marathon Science School, which has about 300 students which I coach wrestling and PE.

BRAZILLIAN JIU JITSU
I had only heard about BJJ, but I didn’t know what it is until the time came to meet Roger Gracie. So, while I was teaching in the LDG Fitness Centre in East London, one of the guys there, Marcus Collinson, used to bring three of his children to the gym. He was friends with Roger Gracie’s father and they were both black belts. At the time, in 2013, Roger fought against Tim Kennedy in the UFC. So, they knew that Roger had to learn wrestling as his skills had to improve and they were looking for a wrestling coach. Marcus recommended to me and asked me whether I want to train a BJJ fighter without me knowing who I’m going to train. He told me his name but I didn’t know him. Then, one of my friends who is obsessed with BJJ told me who Roger is and who was I supposed to coach.

I taught Roger many techniques and he used these techniques to take Tim Kennedy down. After that, he invited me to start coaching at his academy in London, which is one of the best academies in the world. I accepted and it was the reason I became more known and my name has expanded more. I am very grateful for the opportunity he gave me. It is unbelievable when people feel the style and the technique in wrestling.

So, if you want to be good at BJJ, you also have to know wrestling and mix it up.

A lot of people ask me which is better, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or wrestling, but you cannot say which one is better. In my opinion, it’s best if you combine them. It’s best to mix them up. You can do wrestling on itself, but BJJ is better if you combine it with wrestling and you can benefit from it. My experience as a wrestling coach has shown me that people who started wrestling alongside BJJ become better in a short period of time. I definitely recommend wrestling for people who are doing BJJ and MMA. With my good friend, Stuart Tomlinson, the co-founder of Warrior Collective, we’ve done a project and filmed a lot of videos about wrestling for BJJ and MMA.

FAVOURITE TECHNIQUE
The front headlock system is my favourite as it is an amazing combination and you have to know how to operate from that position. If you can master this technique, it’s great. Another favourite submission is a variation of a rear-naked choke. The wrestling/grappling is vast and you can choose what you like. You have to enjoy something in order to do it. It might be the best submission in the world, but if you don’t enjoy it, you’ll never approach it.

MY GOALS
Throughout the years I have established my name in the UK and in the London area where I’ve held many seminars and training. I coach at Roger Gracie’s academy and other BJJ academies, such as New BJJ School academy. I don’t try to keep everything under one umbrella because you got to share the knowledge. If you want to develop, you got to be involved in many places and try to spread the knowledge to as many people as possible. I have recently received an offer to become their wrestling and grappling coach in UFC Gym, they opened a gym in London and have their headquarters in Nottingham. This is a huge opportunity as the UFC is one of the biggest organizations in the world. I am honoured to become one of the coaches there. Another plan is to travel and spread the knowledge around the world and teach in different BJJ and MMA Camps.