Former B-Team member Izaak Michell joins rivals New Wave

Recently, it was announced that Quintet was returning which is a team-based BJJ tournament. Here, grapplers compete alongside their teammates to decide whose team is the best. And in a shock announcement, Quintet also showed off the New Wave squad. This included the likes of Placido Santos, Giancarlo Bodoni, and others. Included on this roster was Izaak Michell who previously trained under New Wave’s Austin rivals, the B-Team.

This is quite surprising news and shows that his relationship with the aforementioned is now over. Although his exit from the B-Team was never really spoken about precisely, it is believed that he fell out with the likes of Craig Jones over his role within the gym as a teacher, and the financial aspects of teaching.

It didn’t take too long for his old mentor and fellow Aussie Craig Jones to comment. On his personal Reddit account, Jones wrote, “Team new Junior. I hope the man hasn’t abandoned the Tacketts in favor of New Wave…”

In true Jones style, he mockingly referred to the Quintet team as ‘Juniors’ which he claimed New Wave owner John Danaher often referred to in relation to New Wave athletes when they lost a competitive BJJ match. According to Jones’s comment, it also looks as though Michell was previously training with the Tackett brothers in Austin as well. As ever, it looks like BJJ isn’t short of its share of drama.