The final stop of our holiday travels was a couple of days in Dubai. We couldn’t resist the chance of training at every stop so this blog is about my training experience at Atos Dubai.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is massively popular in the Arab Emirates but I was still cautious about training in Dubai plus I wasn’t sure if there would be a class on a Sunday. Luckily for me, one of the great things about BJJ is the ability to meet grapplers from all over the world.

A quick message to one of my female grappling friends and I not only had the details of the Sunday night training session but also a lift to training and an introduction to the team!

Atos Dubai when I visited was based at the World Black Belt Centre (which is only a short taxi ride from Downtown Dubai but near the Business Bay Metro stop). Although literally days after our visit they moved to a purpose-built venue (Entrophy Jiu Jitsu) a short distance away. The new venue is a much larger mat space than the current site and if the photos on social media are anything to go by it will be a great space to train in.

The class itself was taught by the head instructor Black Belt Thabet Altaher. After a thorough warm-up due to an upcoming competition, the class started with some takedown work. Although Morote-seoi-nage isn’t my favorite throw it is always good to do a bit of judo for BJJ! This was followed up with some nice pressure passing and leg drag options. Rolling wise I only managed one (long) round with my friend due to the round timer not being set followed by participating in the man out. I’ll be honest I was a bit disappointed not to fit in more rolls as the mat was full of really friendly guys but also as there

were more women on the mat here than anywhere else on my trip!

Despite my hesitation at training in Dubai, I found Atos Dubai to be a really warm, welcoming and friendly gym both for my husband (as a master grappler) and myself.

If you are ever in town on holiday or on a flight stopover then I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend looking up these guys and enjoying a roll or two!