Josh Cisneros is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete from Selma, California. He began training BJJ aged 12 years old and says “My father used to train under Royce Gracie when they [Gracie family] first became popular, he later introduced me and my brothers to it in 2012”. Since then, Cisneros got his black belt aged 20 and trains at Elite Team Visalia under Tom Knox.
We asked Cisneros about his favorite positions in BJJ. He claims spider lasso is his main guard which sets up berimbolos and omoplatas. Whilst on top he prefers the knee slice as his best way of passing the guard. To learn more about his iconic omoplatas, you can find his instructional here.
He is also big on competing and usually drifts between featherweight for open competitions and light feather for the major competitions. Recently, he achieved a major milestone – winning the 2020 pan ams where he beat Paulo Miyao on the way to gold. This was made more impressive as he only received his black belt a few months prior and it was his first major competition at black belt. He claims it is Paulo Miyao who is the hardest opponent that he has fought to date. Elsewhere, he adds Quexinho as having the biggest influence on his game.
Interestingly, Cisneros has quite a humble persona which is different to a lot of modern BJJ practitioners. We asked why this was and why it benefited him, he mentions “I don’t think it is arrogant [self] confidence that athletes believe in themselves that they can win. If they didn’t think they could win then I don’t believe they would sign up in a tournament. When I beat Paulo Miyao I proved to myself that this was the result of the hard work and training I have put in since I started. And I received my black belt in August 26th so my confidence in my ability to compete against the best and win has been boosted.”
Next, we asked if he was primarily a gi player due to his success at the pan ams, unlike a lot of modern BJJ players, he also practices both and believes his no gi skill level is even better than his game in the gi. He responds “I believe I am actually better in Nogi because I come from a wrestling family and I had a great performance at 2019 IBJJF Nogi worlds taking Gold from taking everyone down, passing their guards and taking their backs.”
Lastly, we enquired about the gym he trains at, Elite Team Visalia. Unlike many champions, this isn’t a massively known gym or a huge organization. He claims “Elite Team Visalia is a small team, but big into competition. We are under Cleber Luciano who received his black belt from Royler Gracie. And as of now I have the best results from my gym. But I have 2 younger brothers, one is an 18 year old purple belt who won everything as a kid and a juvenile (IBJJF worlds, Nogi worlds, Pans), and a 11 year old brother who is a yellow belt that took 1st at the most recent Kids Pans.”
With this said, it’s clear that he comes from a family of very talented grapplers and the Cisneros name may be one to look out for in the future.
