Instructors

World-class training with some awesome people. Everyone there is super friendly and talented. Andre made my traveling group feel like we were training at our home gyms.

Great school, great instructors led by 5x masters world champion, professor Andre Maneco.

So I'd been wanting to start BJJ for years but was always intimidated. I even tried a couple of intro classes at another gym in Chicago but the vibe just wasn't right for me. This is why I'm so happy to have found Double Five Jiu-Jitsu. Such a great gym with top-notch instruction. To me, Andre has found what is the perfect balance of seriousness/intensity in training while maintaining an overall welcoming and relaxed atmosphere. One thing I've found particularly great about the instruction is the attention to detail. Somehow if your foot is not quite in the right place or your hand needs to be rotated Andre can spot this from across the room and will correct you so you're not drilling with mistakes, it's truly impressive. While I don't make it to a ton of evening classes (6:30 am crew checking in!) I'd also like to shout out to both Zito and Andrew's instruction in the fundamentals classes. They're both really great at making the new people feel relaxed and comfortable all while being great at the teaching techniques and concepts. This also brings me to the other students and the overall vibe of this academy. Everyone is there is get better, have fun, and really take the time to help each other. The feeling of camaraderie here is high and is what has allowed me to get over that initial intimidation and end up as a regular student going 2-4 times a week for the last 9 months. Overall I can not recommend Soul Fighters enough if you're interested in BJJ.

We are extremely grateful to Andre and all of his students & families for welcoming our boys and allowing them to continue their studies of jiujitsu in a safe and welcoming environment. We arrived at Double Five Jiu-Jitsu after having survived hurricanes Irma and María on our home island of Puerto Rico. Our boys have been learning BJJ since the age of 4. They are now 8 and 6 yrs old, and we have always believed in the philosophy of trying, not only to be great fighters but to also be great people. Andre has helped us in providing our children with a sense of normality and structure after our home was no longer safe to live in. They now call Double Five Jiu-Jitsu their Jiujitsu home. We are forever grateful!

I went to five different BJJ gyms across Chicago, and find Double Five Jiu-Jitsu to be the most beginner-friendly gym of them all. Andre is a class act, and he actually spends time teaching classes. He is there almost every day. On days he's not, he is most likely traveling around the world to compete. The guy lives and breaths jiujitsu.