At athens jiu-jitsu, we offer something that you can not find anywhere else in this area. All of our adult classes are taught by Black Belt instructors. We also have numerous other upper belts that are always willing to help by sharing their knowledge….

Chris Favaloro

Chris started training martial arts in his teens. He joined the United States Army after high school. His military training took place in South Carolina and Florida before being stationed in Texas & Germany. He did a deployment to Bosnia before returning home. Chris then resumed his training in Isshinryu and began training BJJ. He earned his black belt in Isshinryu from Carl & Diane deBlonk. He was also promoted to blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu by Romero Jacare' Cavalcanti in 2000. Chris was promoted to purple belt in BJJ by Helio SONECA Moreira in 2004. He earned his BJJ brown belt in December 2017 and promoted to black belt in December 2019, both by Samuel Braga @ Gracie Barra Knoxville. Samuel promoted him to 1st degree Black Belt in January of 2023.

● U.S. Army Veteran

● 2nd degree Black Belt in Isshinryu Karate

● 1st degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu from Samuel Braga

● BJJ Lineage : Mitsuyo Maeda > C. Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Junior >  Vinicius Magalhães > Samuel Braga > Chris Favaloro

Brad Bradford

Brad started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1998. He began with both Chris and Terry at that time. He was awarded his blue belt while affiliated with Helio SONECA Moreira in 2005. After moving away for a little while due to work and recovering from an injury, he began training under multiple time World Champion, Samuel Braga. He was awarded his purple belt in BJJ from Professor Braga in 2015. He then earned his brown belt in 2017 and his black belt in June of 2019, from Samuel Braga @ GBKNOX. Brad earned his 1st degree Black Belt in July of 2022.

● 1st degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu from Professor Samuel Braga

● BJJ Lineage : Mitsuyo Maeda > C. Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Junior >  Vinicius Magalhães > Samuel Braga > Brad Bradford

Terry Chandler

Terry started in Isshinryu Karate when he was a teenager. He earned his Black belt from Carl & Diane deBlonk in 1994. He started training BJJ in Atlanta under Romero Jacare' Cavalcanti in 1997. During the next couple of years, he earned a black belt in American Karate. He was promoted to blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu by Jacare’ as well. He then started training in Knoxville with Helio SONECA Moreira and was promoted to purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in 2004. Terry began training with Samuel Braga @ GB KNOX in 2016. He was promoted to brown belt in BJJ in December 2017 and then to black belt in December 2019, both by Professor Samuel Braga in Knoxville. He has been 1st degree Black Belt since January of 2023

● 3rd degree Black Belt in Isshinryu Karate

● 2nd degree Black Belt in American Karate

● 1st degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu from Samuel Braga

● BJJ Lineage : Mitsuyo Maeda > C. Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Junior >  Vinicius Magalhães > Samuel Braga > Terry Chandler

Juniors kids' class

Jennifer Jarvis

Jennifer started training BJJ in early 2011. She took a couple of years off while her family expanded. She then trained MMA in 2015 until late 2016. Jennifer began training at athens jiu-jitsu at the end of 2017. She has done a few competitions over the past several years and faired very well. She earned her purple belt in January 2020. In January of 2022, Jennifer was promoted to brown belt.

Dedication...

These ladies give their all to make sure their students in the kids’ classes get what they need to be challenged & excel on the mats and in life. They provide a positive, nurturing and loving environment to help grow confident minds & strong bodies. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu gives kids the experience and skills to cope with difficult situations. Success is born from struggle. These trials will prove to be invaluable as they make their way through life and strive to be successful and productive adults.