Declan Moody

Declan Moody is an Australian Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and heavyweight no-gi competitor who broke through internationally from the Asia-Oceania scene. Before becoming a regular on major American events, he trained and coached around M16/Beachside Jiu-Jitsu in Brighton, Australia, an academy Smoothcomp lists as being run by Myles Simpson, Lachlan Conway, and Moody. Gold BJJ reports that he earned his black belt in 2019 and later moved to Austin, Texas, after repeated visits to the B-Team, following the Australian pathway opened by athletes such as Craig Jones, Lachlan Giles, and Izaak Michell.

His first major world-stage qualification came at the 2023 ADCC Asia & Oceania Championship in Singapore. ADCC's official results list Moody as the men's -99 kg qualifier, representing B-Team/Austin, while BJJ Heroes' event report described him as a forward-moving grappler who mixed flair with submissions. In that bracket he submitted Jahred Dell by triangle in the quarterfinals, submitted Benjamin Hodgkinson by armbar in the semifinals, and defeated Anton Minenko 4-0 in the final. The run sent him to the 2024 ADCC World Championship, where he won matches against Paul Ardila-Ibarra and Diogo Reis before running into Kaynan Duarte in the quarterfinal stages.

Moody's pro no-gi profile grew quickly through Who's Number One and the Craig Jones Invitational ecosystem. At WNO 24 in Austin, FloGrappling documented his rear naked choke win over fellow ADCC Trials champion Felipe Costa. At WNO 25 he shared the mat with Felipe Pena, losing by guillotine in a high-level heavyweight bout covered by BJJ Heroes. In 2025 he added a WNO 28 heel-hook win over Fellipe Andrew, then won the CJI Australia-Asia Giles Trials by submitting Alibi Orazbek, Kit Dale, and Roberto Dib-Frias in the six-man round robin to secure the -99 kg spot for Team Australasia at CJI 2.

By late 2025 Moody had become one of the most active heavyweights in the no-gi circuit. FloGrappling's live coverage of the 2025 ADCC European, Middle Eastern, and African Trials recorded him winning the -99 kg final over Marcin Maciulewicz with passing, back control, and a choke to qualify for the 2026 ADCC World Championship. One month later at WNO 30, he captured the Open Weight Grand Prix by finishing Justin Michael with an arm-triangle-style choke, taking a judges' decision over Ryan Aitken, and defeating Dante Leon in the final. His public style is built around body-lock pressure, outside passing, pins, back exposure, and a reliable rear naked choke, with opportunistic leg attacks when opponents over-defend the pass.

Moody's team label has changed as his career has moved between Australia and Austin. Public records show B-Team and Simple Man Martial Arts affiliations during his American run, while his Instagram account announced the end of his Simple Man chapter and plans to build M16 Jiu-Jitsu back in Adelaide in early 2027. Because public sources disagree on personal details such as his exact birth date and do not clearly document his black-belt lineage, this profile leaves those fields open rather than guessing.