Jiu Jitsu in Auckland, New Zealand's Tukaha

I train jiu jitsu around the world, and Auckland, New Zealand’s Tukaha is absolutely one of my favorite studios. I trained at Tukaha for two months and learned a lot, namely, a sweet guard pass, a half-guard sweep, a counter to the loop choke, and a counter to a counter to the darce.

The people are great, the vibe is terrific, they don’t waste precious time on useless warmups, and, like my home gym of SBG, the instruction is highly technical and focuses on fundamentals. You’ll find no silliness (flying arm bars) here. They focus on base, posture, and precision in techniques.

I’m incredibly grateful that I had an opportunity to train with everyone at Tukaha. Here are some photos of my coaches, friends, and training partners.

Here’s Pedro, the owner. He’s a genuinely good guy and a really technical roll. He kept choking me out with his lapel, so I set my goal to not be choked out by his lapel. Then he’d choked me out with my lapel! Ha! Pedro has truly created an extraordinary vibe and training environment at Tukaha.

This is one of the coaches, Steve. He’s a gentle giant. I perennially found myself in his half-guard top, with my sole goal being to avoid his John Wayne sweep. I always failed. After he took top, he’d allow me an escape route and we’d drill from half guard top again. Steve’s very precise in his movements and always succeeds in sweeps from technique as opposed to size. He’s a true gentleman.

This is Anthony. We became friends and would hangout outside BJJ. He’s excellent in gi and no gi. Wanting to take advantage of his no gi expertise, I would try to engage his legs. In spite of my best efforts, I failed to get him in a leg entanglement. When guard passing, Anthony would frequently feign a leg submission and then use my reaction to pass. Sneaky, sneaky. Even when I knew it was coming I couldn’t stop it. He’s a great roll, very technical.

Awesome training partners all around. Young women this is your chance! I believe these two stud muffins are single!

We’re chilling after a hard hour of Friday’s open mat. To the left you can see Pedro and a black belt from Brazil.

This is Belal. He’s the no gi instructor. He’s an extremely dangerous fellow, and if he were ever enraged at you you’d have to shoot him. To all people who accept the universal truth that no gi jiu jitsu is less technical than gi jiu jitsu, I would urge you to take Belal’s class. In this photo, I sneak attack him in a desperate attempt to elicit a tap.

After training, there’s a great sushi place at the top of the street. If you have USD, it’s very affordable at the current exchange rate (1.77).

This was my daily order at the sushi restaurant. The sashimi special with salmon substituted for tuna.

In all, Tukaha receives my highest recommendation. Pedro has created a remarkable environment that stresses technique, fundamentals, and precision. The people are absolutely fantastic and the quality of instruction is among the best in the world. I will truly miss my training here and the relationships we built.