Team / Academy
Will Machado (affiliation); trained under original coach Seev Se Arino. Founder of the High Performance Unit (HPU), his own coaching brand and platform.
Belt
Black Belt (awarded June 29, 2024)
Belt Progression
White belt (competing from 2020) → blue belt, March 2021 → purple belt, February 2022 → brown belt, June 2022 → black belt, June 2024 — a white-to-black-belt timeline of roughly 3 years and 11 months, notably fast compared to the sport’s typical decade-plus progression.
Weight Class
+99kg (Super Heavyweight)
Full Bio
Josh Saunders came to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from a background in professional rugby league, making the switch in 2020. He has credited fellow Australian grappler Kit Dale’s own rapid rise through the belts as a key inspiration for pursuing an accelerated path in the sport. Training under coach Seev Se Arino, Saunders competed heavily in no-gi tournaments from white belt onward, including through the COVID-19 period, and was sent to interstate competitions early in his development to gain experience against a wider pool of opponents.
Saunders progressed through the belts at an unusually fast pace, reaching black belt in June 2024 — under four years after starting, compared with the decade or more typical for most practitioners. He has since been described in BJJ media as one of the fastest black belt promotions in the sport’s history.
As a brown belt in 2024, Saunders won gold at the ADCC Oceania Open in the +100kg division. He went on to compete at the 2024 ADCC World Championship in the +99kg bracket, where he defeated Damon Ramos by rear-naked choke in two minutes in the quarterfinals, advancing to a semifinal matchup against Felipe Pena. Saunders has also discussed taking a professional grappling match against Gordon Ryan on 11 days’ notice.
Saunders founded the High Performance Unit (HPU), a coaching platform offering structured online training programs, technical breakdowns, and instructional content aimed at accelerating other grapplers’ development. He has released instructional releases including Upper Lower Chains Links and Wrong Way First, the latter built around an unorthodox, wrestling- and judo-integrated system of escapes, transitions, and submissions. He is also active as a content creator, discussing competition mindset, training strategy, and the business side of professional grappling on YouTube and various podcasts.
Achievements
- ADCC World Championship quarterfinalist / semifinalist, +99kg division (2024)
- ADCC Oceania Open Champion, +100kg (2024, as a brown belt)
- Reached black belt in approximately 3 years and 11 months from starting BJJ
- Founder, High Performance Unit (HPU) coaching platform
- Released instructionals: Upper Lower Chains Links, Wrong Way First
Note on Public Statements
Saunders has spoken openly in media interviews about having used performance-enhancing drugs during his competitive career, describing it as a common but rarely-discussed practice in professional grappling. This is included here as a factual, publicly-stated matter rather than an allegation, since it has been widely covered in BJJ media under his own account.