Miscellaneous
Brandon Walensky was born on April 5, 1992, in Oceanside, California, United States of America, moving on to neighboring San Marcos at the age of 5 where he grew up. As a child, and into his pre-teens, Brando was involved in football (soccer) and basketball at a competitive level, as he grew older, however, his interest started shifting towards martial arts – much due to his father’s influence. At the age of 13, after some persuasion from his father (who believed martial arts would be beneficial to his son), Brandon signed on to judo classes at a BJJ + Judo gym that had opened in San Marcos. Although tentative at the start, Walensky did end up loving the experience. After two years in judo, Brandon decided to add jiu-jitsu to his weekly schedule, combining both judo and BJJ for a while, before opting to focus solely on the submissions aspect of grappling. Coach Paulo Fernando Augusto was responsible for Brandon’s development up to brown belt, a time when Walensky moved to San Diego’s Clark Gracie Academy (CGA). It was also at CGA that Walensky was introduced to coaching, a trade he picked up as a brown belt, and perfected with the help of his mentor. On December 16, 2016, after a string of outstanding results in his brown belt career, Brandon Walensky was promoted to black belt by Clark Gracie.