Ali Monfaradi is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete from Janusan, Bahrain and began training BJJ at the age of 12 years old. For Monfaradi it was his family’s background that got him involved, as he puts it “Well, my entire family trained, and I wanted to join for as long as I could remember. So when they started teaching kids, I started and never stopped after that.” Around 11.5 years later he received his black belt from Fabio Gurgel who is still his main teacher. He now owns his own gym where he currently trains at which is Elements Jiu Jitsu Academy in Bahrain.
We asked Monfaradi about his favourite positions when playing BJJ and he said this “It’s hard to say, it depends on when you ask me, I try to always evolve and expand and avoid sticking to one style. If you ask me today, I’d probably say ashi garami, or spider guard. With sweeps today, I suppose anything involving the lapels.”. He also enjoys pressure passing from the top half guard and darce chokes and guillotines for submissions.
Monfaradi is also an avid competitor who usually competes at below 69KG. In terms of his biggest achievements he states “Perhaps my bronze at the 2018 World Professional Championship, or my gold at the European No Gi Championship”. He also mentions his toughest opponent and claims “That’s a tough one, there are so many, but I think when I did the open weight at the Asian Championship in 2017, it was my first tournament at black belt. I fought Keenan Cornelius and my oh my did he feel heavy.”. It is Keenan Cornelius alongside Marcelo Garcia and Lucas Lepri who he lists as his biggest influences in the sport.
Like many athletes, Monfaradi isn’t without his share of injuries either and states “It’s funny, I’ve had them all, lower back, knee elbow, but I think the most excruciating might be a very bad sprain in my big toe.”
We then asked about the popularity of BJJ in and around the middle east and why it is so loved out there. This was his response: “That’s actually a very good question. I wouldn’t say that it is definitively more popular around here, but the fact of the matter is that the UAE has spent a lot of money and resources into spreading Jiu Jitsu. The fact that all those years ago, Sheikh Tahnoon found the game and took a liking to it, planted a seed, to which we are still branching out from today. One would argue that I would have never started or found out about the game, if it wasn’t for the seed planted back in the 90’s. I think that whether we travel east or west, Jiu Jitsu has a knack for bringing people of all sorts together. When we all put our gi’s on, train under the same rules and system, it kind of magically makes those social barriers disappear.“
He also talks about the potential of BJJ in the Barhain region saying “I believe we are at a very good point in Bahraini Jiu jitsu. There are multiple academies, and that kind of competitive nature in such a small country is sure to create more and more talent. The tools we have at our disposal, and I am not exaggerating here, are perhaps 500% more expansive than they were in 2006, when I first started. So one would say that we have everything we need for the next generation. If you mean are we going to see a second IBJJF World Champion in the near future? I would wager we are going to see much more than that.”
Finally, we asked him about his plans for the future to which he said: “Even though I take a lot of pride in growing the next generation of Bahrainis, as a coach, I refuse to use that as an excuse to stop competing. I’m not quite done yet and I want to make my previous accomplishments pale in comparison to what comes next. That being said, I want to truly contribute and spread the Jiu Jitsu lifestyle to as many people as possible. I want to raise the bar in teaching and academy quality and I want my students to become better than I ever was.” He continues “You don’t have to travel all the way to Bahrain to train with us and enjoy the quality we offer. We actually started the first and only online Jiu Jitsu learning platform in the region. And you can select one of a number of online video courses and start learning immediately. Check out Elements Online, a lot of work went into it and we take a lot of pride in its quality, but more importantly, the quality of our courses.”
His online academy can be found here: https://www.elementsjiujitsuacademy.com/elements-online
His physical gym can be found here: https://www.elementsjiujitsuacademy.com
And you can follow his Instagram here and his gyms Instagram here
