Denny Prokopos is a BJJ athlete who was born in San Francisco, California and still resides there running his own gym SFBJJ. He was introduced to grappling at a very young age by training judo when he was 6. Later on, he became interested in BJJ around age 12 and received his black belt from Eddie Bravo aged 21. This made him Bravo’s very first promotion to black belt.
His 10th Planet lineage is visible as his favorite position is Rubber guard. When talking about submissions Prokopos says “I like all submissions, my philosophy is to first make him [the opponent] take the path I want; then take what he gives me.” This theoretical approach to BJJ is furthered as he mentions he likes the concept of “breaking the table” when trying to sweep an opponent. This means taking away the opponent’s base (table legs) so that they have no other option than to fall down.
No longer affiliated with 10th Planet, he is still a big supporter of their style claiming “Of course 10th Planet has a place in modern competition. I think 10th Planet is one of the best no gi BJJ teams in the world”. On Instagram, he recently spoke about leaving 10th Planet, adding “I’m 10th Planet for life. Too many people got between us (me and Eddie Bravo) and I have a hard time believing that Eddie Bravo would kick me out of 10th Planet.”
During his competition career, Prokopos has competed as light as 143lbs and as heavy as 170lbs. Like most practitioners as they become older and more muscular, Prokopos prefers to stay over 155lbs but mentions he can still make it down to 145lbs if necessary.
As mentioned earlier, he runs his own gym San Francisco Jiu Jitsu but still trains with more experienced and high caliber professors such as Jake Shields, Caio Terra and the legendary Jean Jacques Machado. His gym is based around his own style of NoGi grappling and is supplemented by kettlebell workouts, something Prokopos is a big fan of.
When talking about the San Francisco Jiu Jitsu scene it is well known this is one of the most competitive places on earth to have a gym. The city is literally sprawling with high quality teachers and academies. However, it is not all sunshine and rainbows as Prokopos states “What is very frustrating for me about SF is to see how poorly run the city has become. It is extremely dirty with feces and needles all over the place. I have thought about moving out by my family [is here].”
Prokopos mentions that one of his life goals is to have his own academy in Greece so he can move back and forth between the two countries.
Lastly, we asked about training and sparring with perhaps BJJ’s most famous non-competitor Joe Rogan. When searching online, Rogan is often much debated, criticised or praised depending on who is talking about him. Prokopos only has good things to say about the man “I sparred a decent amount with Joe from when I was 16-24. When we first started rolling he would kill me with head and arm chokes.” He goes on to compliment Rogan further “Joe is a BEAST! I always enjoyed training with him. The last time we trained he gave me a lot of compliments [it] made me really happy. A little known fact is that when Prokopos won the no gi worlds as a brown belt it was Rogan who cornered him. He says “That will always be a very special moment for me”. You can find some of his best moves on DVD here as well as his Rubber guard masterclass here.
