Tight Grips and Tapouts

Attention mixed martial arts fans in Watsonville: there’s a new class in town with a teacher that can really get a hold of you, literally. 

His name is Manuel Diaz, also known as Manny, and he’s no ordinary schoolteacher. Diaz is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor for on East Lake Avenue and uses his grappling skills to educate Santa Cruz County residents.

Diaz fell in love with the sport since the day it was introduced to him three years ago. He wanted to return the favor and introduce the martial art to anyone willing to sacrifice time and show patience, so he opened up Watsonville BJJ six months ago. Diaz now has that opportunity to teach the martial art in his own studio.     

“I do Jiu Jitsu on a competitive level and I have a lot of support from my family.  They encourage me to do it just because I love it so much” Diaz said. “I practice it every day as much as I can every day. They just kind of encouraged me to start it, especially because they wanted to get into it as well.”

But with , it seems as if Diaz has some competition going around town. One Tae Kwon Do studio even sits a couple of doors down from Watsonville BJJ. However, Diaz has a different view on the situation.

“As far as competing with them, I’m not doing it as to try and compete with them. I think most of the people that do martial arts or train or have schools actually I don’t think they do it necessarily for the business part of it. We do it because we love it,” Diaz said.

The disciplines aren't exclusive, either.

“I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do both. I don’t see it as a competition.” added Diaz.

He’s right. The more a fighter learns the better they are in the ring. And since the first time Ultimate Fighting Championship was in shown living rooms across the country in the early 90s, the sport has dramatically changed from the one-punch knockout to the more technical submission moves. These new fight styles even made some boxing fans turn their heads to watch and immediately fell in love with the bloody spectacle.   

People have become more intrigued to this ever-growing popular sport——and are interested to learn the same grappling moves done by some of the more famous fighters like Anderson Silva and Royce Gracie. 

Thanks to Diaz, he has brought the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to Watsonville.

The studio is located at 952 E. Lake Ave. in Watsonville.  Diaz has classes just for kids on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4:30–5:30 p.m. and the adults (co-ed) are from 6–8:30 p.m. A ladies-only session is held on Tuesdays and Thursday nights from 6–7 p.m. There are also a mix sessions for everyone to participate in and those take place on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon at 12–1 p.m. and Saturday morning at 9–11 a.m.

Watsonville BJJ offers affordable rates starting at $85 a month for adults (16+) and $65 a month for children (ages 5-15). 

The great thing about Manny’s studio is students are allowed to come to any class session they feel like; there’s no set schedule on when you have to be there. It’s pretty much like college—one pays for the class but it’s up to them to show up in order to receive that A. In Diaz’s class, success comes to those who show up and want to learn.