Izaak Michell

Izaak Michell is an Australian no-gi grappler from Adelaide, South Australia, who built his reputation through ADCC rulesets, submission-only matches, and elite training rooms in Australia and the United States. Born on August 25, 1998, Michell grew up around surfing, skateboarding, gymnastics, Australian rules football, and combat sports before committing to jiu-jitsu in 2016. BJJ Heroes traces his early mat development to Arruda BJJ, where Leo Arruda guided him from white belt through purple belt after Michell initially arrived for Muay Thai and only gradually shifted his focus fully to grappling.

In mid-2019 Michell moved to New York City to train under John Danaher, joining the same high-level room that included fellow Australian Craig Jones. When Jones and other Danaher students later formed the B-Team in Austin, Michell followed, becoming one of the team's young Australian prospects. FloGrappling's athlete page described him during this period as a brown belt training out of Austin with the B-Team, and BJJ Heroes lists Jones among Michell's major instructors. Michell and B-Team parted ways in early 2023, after which he spent periods unaffiliated and later trained around the New Wave / Kingsway orbit.

Michell's competitive breakout came in 2021 and 2022. He won the 2021 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship at adult brown belt, then entered FloGrappling's Who's Next reality tournament in 2022 and won the open-weight final against Kyle Chambers in a no-time-limit match that ran more than two hours before Michell finished an armbar from mount. Weeks earlier he had also won the ADCC Oceania and Asian Trials at -98.9 kg for B-Team, defeating Anton Minenko in the final, then dropped to -88 kg for ADCC Worlds. His opening-round loss to Vagner Rocha still earned ADCC's 2022 Best Fight award, a sign of how quickly Michell had become relevant on the international no-gi circuit.

After leaving B-Team, Michell remained active across WNO, Polaris, AIGA, ONE Championship, BJJ Stars, and ADCC. He defeated Jacob Couch at WNO 18, beat Roberto Jimenez in the Polaris 25 absolute grand prix before losing to Kaynan Duarte in the semifinal, and returned to ADCC qualification by winning the 2023 Asia & Oceania Championship at -88 kg. In 2024 he competed at ONE 167 against Tye Ruotolo and at the ADCC World Championship, where he entered both -88 kg and the absolute division, beating Ryan Aitken in the absolute before losing to Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu.

Michell's style is generally described as well-rounded rather than tied to a single signature position: he pressures forward, wrestles hard, and has finished high-level opponents with rear naked chokes, inside heel hooks, and armbars. In 2025 he moved down to the 77 kg ADCC Trials field and won the Asia & Oceania title by decision over Kenta Iwamoto after a five-match run, adding a third ADCC Trials championship across changing weight classes. Because published team information after his B-Team exit is inconsistent and time-sensitive, this profile lists him as independent while noting the major training influences that shaped his game.