Atos jiu-jitsu black belt competitor and coach JT Torres will be leaving the San Diego HQ to relocate to the East Coast of the United States. 

Torres, who hails from New York, has been living in San Diego for the last three years training and coaching at Atos Jiu-Jitsu. 



The black belt revealed the upcoming move in a video posted to Instagram and Facebook, and expanded upon the news in this exclusive interview with FloGrappling. 

“It has always been on my mind. I’ve always dreamed of having my own academy one day,” he said. “I would say the last two years I felt that the time was coming closer and closer. And, you know, I feel confident in my decision, and I think this is the perfect time for me to take the next step, and go on and open my own academy.” 

I’m a person that never shies away from hard work. I feel, in a way, owning my own academy will give me more desire to go out there and train harder, and represent my gym even that much more. I don’t think it’s going to hold me back, I think it’s going to propel me to that next level.

When asked for a timeline on how long before Torres leaves San Diego, he says he will drive cross-country in August. “Right when I get back I’m going to start really locking down a location and getting the ball rolling on that. I’m hoping somewhere around October for a grand opening.”  

Torres says he has a location in mind, but right now the exact city is still being kept under wraps. 

The competitor, who is a World and Pan no-gi champion, and Pan and European gi champion, moved to San Diego to join Atos after leaving Team Lloyd Irvin. About his time working with Atos co-founder Andre Galvao, Torres said: 

“Training under Professor Andre Galvao has helped me tremendously to prepare for that next step and open my academy. For one, I’ve learned how to train properly. For two, I’ve learned the inner and outer works of the academy. I’ve seen how it works at one of the top academies of the world. So I’ve had one of the best teachers, on and off the mats really, Andre Galvao.”  

Torres’s long-term girlfriend is the marketing and sales manager for Atos HQ, and Torres says he feels this will help when he comes to open his new gym. “She’s learned how to really run a gym, and she’s helped it to grow, and she’s learned techniques that work and don’t work. So us combined, I think we’re going to have an amazing gym.”

Additional reporting by Heather Raftery