Konrad Olaf E. Spillmann

Konrad "Konrado" Spillmann is the founder and head professor of GMA Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Academia Rocian Gracie Jr USA) in Gallatin, Tennessee. He holds an IBJJF third-degree black belt under Rocian Gracie Jr, who awarded it on December 12, 2000, the first black belt Rocian ever promoted. The two met in California in the early 1990s, when Spillmann was running his own Taekwondo and Hapkido school and Rocian began teaching jiu-jitsu out of it; they remain training partners thirty years on. Spillmann started martial arts at four and has been a full-time professional martial arts teacher since 1979. Before Gallatin he ran academies for more than 22 years, growing to twelve branches across California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and India, and he has trained law enforcement and military units in hand-to-hand combat. He moved to Gallatin in 2012 and opened GMA that year; classes are taught by Spillmann, his sons and grandsons.