Most gym partnerships are forged between elite competitors who have proven themselves on the mats. However, Seth Belisle‘s journey to becoming co-founder and CEO of B Team Jiu-Jitsu represents a unique path that combines business acumen with genuine passion for the sport.
Belisle‘s jiu-jitsu journey began later than most professionals. Starting at age 24 with a background in business rather than competitive grappling, he earned his black belt under the Royler Gracie Association after a 15-year journey.
“I was that off and on hobbyist,” Belisle explains in podcast appearance, noting that his corporate career at Dell Computers, which required traveling 25 weeks a year, slowed his progression. “I didn’t get my black belt till 2020… it took me the 15-year route you know not the route these kids get today.”
The pivotal moment came during COVID when Belisle moved to Puerto Rico for a brief sabbatical. Through a friend who had connected with the Danaher Death Squad members training there, Belisle was invited to train with the elite group.
“They needed bodies right? Because they were just all down there training at that time,” he recalls.
This is where he first met Craig Jones, bonding over their shared sense of humor and similar age compared to the younger athletes.
When Jones decided to leave Puerto Rico and establish himself in Austin, Belisle‘s business background became crucial.
“Craig has great ideas. He’s a marketing genius clearly an elite athlete and I have experience of building teams and a corporate background that enables me to kind of execute some of the ideas that he puts in place,” Belisle explains.
Their partnership represented a perfect complement – Jones as the creative visionary and elite athlete, Belisle as the operational executor.
Belisle had already left his traditional jiu-jitsu association and maintained training space in Austin with aspirations of promoting jiu-jitsu media. When Jones and his teammates needed a facility to prepare for ADCC 2022, the timing aligned perfectly.
“It was originally just let’s do this through ADCC,” Belisle notes about B Team’s formation. “We created the blue belt and up only. It was how do we high-speed a high-level room to give these athletes the best opportunity.”
What started as a temporary arrangement evolved into something permanent. Jones brought his innovative content creation ideas, wanting to “show the world what the room is like and also show that it can be fun.” Belisle provided the business infrastructure to make these visions reality. Their partnership proved that elite jiu-jitsu teams could benefit from having someone focused purely on operations and business development rather than requiring all partners to be competitors.
The B Team model has since influenced the sport significantly from their social media approach to their event production with the Craig Jones Invitational.
However, here lies the likely root cause of the split. As Jones confirmed in a separate interview, it’s hard to profit when there are 6 owners running a single gym even if it’s as popular as theirs was.
