No-gi and grappling in Podgorica

What grappling is, and what no-gi means

Grappling is the umbrella term for combat sports with no striking: throws and takedowns, control on the ground, and finishing holds such as joint locks and chokes. No-gi is grappling under Brazilian jiu-jitsu rules without the kimono, in a rash guard and shorts, so there are no sleeve or lapel grips. With nothing to hold on to, matches are faster and the game relies on wrestling and movement. Subwrestling (submission wrestling) is the competitive form of the same sport: the aim is to submit your opponent, and if nobody taps the match goes to points for takedowns and positions, or to a referee decision. ADCC events work the same way.

What a no-gi class looks like

A class is 60 minutes: a warm-up built from wrestling and jiu-jitsu movements, the technique of the day drilled in pairs, positional sparring from that technique, and rounds at the end. The club has a wrestling background: head coach Marko Jokmanović holds a 3rd degree BJJ black belt and a 4th dan in judo, and has represented Montenegro in freestyle wrestling. That is why takedowns and the clinch get as much attention as the ground game. Beginners spar only from positions they have learned, with partners the coach picks.

European no-gi championships: silver and two bronzes

At the JJIF European No-Gi Championship in Zadar in 2025 the club had five Montenegrin national team members. Emir Delijić, a black belt, took silver in the seniors under 94 kg, and Mario Marić bronze among the cadets after beating the reigning world champion in the quarter-final. "We earned every medal and placing in full, competitive categories," Marko told Lob Sport. A year earlier, at the same championship, Marić took bronze on his debut while Đorđe Krstajić, Emir Delijić and Uroš Ivanović finished fifth. It was the club's first appearance in national team colours.

ADCC, Grappling Industries, Balkan Open

The competition group travels all year. At the ADCC European, Middle East & African Championship in Belgrade in February 2026 the club took two golds, two silvers and a bronze; at Grappling Industries Serbia in Novi Sad a month later 13 golds with 72 matches won. Nemanja Raščanin took gold at the ADCC Montenegro Open 2025, and at the Balkan Open in Banja Luka in September 2026, with over 1,000 athletes from 24 countries, 11 of our competitors won 12 golds, four silvers and four bronzes. Dobrivoje Janković took three no-gi golds there in six fights without conceding a point. The full record is on the results page.

A coach who competed no-gi himself

Marko Jokmanović won no-gi bronze at the European BJJ Championship in Rome in 2015, gold in the black belt no-gi division at Grappling Industries New York in 2017 after 12 fights in one day, and silver at the IBJJF Munich Open in 2019, where he also sat on the referee team the same weekend. Today he is an IBJJF referee and a coach of Montenegro's national jiu-jitsu team, and was with the team at the 2025 World Championship in Bangkok. His approach, from a Lob Sport interview: "When we focus on process and progress, results follow."

ZR Team and seminars

Since January 2025 the club has been an affiliate and partner of the ZR Team association, which BJJEE ranks among the ten largest jiu-jitsu associations in the world. Marko told Lob Sport at the time that "the main goal is to build world-class BJJ fighters from Montenegro". Membership means seminars and camps with the association's professors: in October 2026 Max Carvalho, one of the leaders of its Euro-Asian division, held a seminar in Podgorica, and the no-gi group with him is in the photo at the top of this page.

Who no-gi is for

For complete beginners, because the Monday and Wednesday 19:30 group was built for them: no kimono and no sparring until you are ready. For MMA athletes, because the ground game in the cage is no-gi. For wrestlers and judoka who want submissions. For competitors, whose Subwrestling class on Monday and Wednesday at 20:30 is the preparation for ADCC and no-gi tournaments. And for visitors to Podgorica: if you only train no-gi, we have a class for you every weekday.