With a resident population of 7.5 million in an area smaller than London, Hong Kong also attracts over 50 million visitors a year. As a major financial, business and retail hub, it is no surprise to find BJJ well established in this tiny locale. What is surprising, however, is just how many academies there are here, including a single mile-long area which may be the densest concentration of BJJ clubs anywhere in the world.
The map below shows all the BJJ clubs in Hong Kong (updated July 2026).
This report discusses the general BJJ scene in Hong Kong and also includes my personal report on the two academies where I trained during my holiday in July 2026.
Hong Kong by Region
Hong Kong is technically made up of three major areas: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. If you’re going to visit as a tourist, chances are that you’ll either be staying on Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. With excellent transport between the two areas (MTR underground or ferries) it is incredibly easy to travel between the two. The New Territories is farthest away but worth a visit for trekking and scenic mountain top views. There are also many smaller, less inhabited islands, that make popular day trips.
As you can see on the map at the top, BJJ clubs tend to be located in the more popular areas of Hong Kong but it’s nice to see a few places in less touristy regions, such as Yuen Long to the north and Sai Kung to the northwest. There are also a couple of places to train on Lantau Island.
Hong Kong Island and the Golden Mile.
There seems to be an abundance of BJJ academies clustered into a tiny area of Hong Kong Island between Central and Sai Ying Pun, a stretch of road less than a mile long that takes just 24 minutes to walk from end to end. Yet along this short section of the island’s western side you’ll find no fewer than 12 BJJ academies. It may well be the densest concentration of BJJ clubs anywhere in the world.
To be fair, not all of the 12 above are full time BJJ academies. Some have smaller timetables as they are part of another martial art system eg boxing, Muay Thai or MMA. One I believe is dedicated only to children’s BJJ (Fitness in Motion). That still leaves a good 8-9 fully dedicated BJJ academies all located within one mile of each other.
With so many clubs packed close together, I was curious whether students cross-trained at neighbouring academies, and I also wanted to know how they chose their club.
Some folk I asked did cross-train, but only on occasion, while most others said they did not. When I asked how students picked their gym, most selected it simply because it was closest to them, or that they already had friends training there. One owner told me that when he mooted the idea of a gym relocation from Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon side (a distance of just a couple of miles), it was met with protest from the majority of his students, so the move did not happen. It seems folks tend to stumble on their nearest BJJ club and stay loyal to it regardless of which other clubs are nearby.
Kowloon
The main road in Kowloon is Nathan Road, which is crammed with shops, restaurants, hotels, businesses and apartment blocks. It is a very densely populated area and offers a much more downtown vibe compared to the more upmarket parts of Hong Kong Island. BJJ academies are fewer and more spread out compared to the island side, and whilst I did not get to train at any of the locations in Kowloon, my feeling is that these gyms tend to attract fewer tourists and short-term members compared to HK island gyms.
Below are my reports from training at two different academies in Hong Kong…
Kylin BJJ, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
I’ve been online friends with head coach Thomas Fan for nearly two decades so my recent holiday to Hong Kong gave me the perfect opportunity to finally meet him in person. Thomas is a super friendly chap (hence why I’ve been mates with him for so long) and has been active for ages! He first began training BJJ in London back in 1997 which makes him one of the very first few people present at the very dawn of UK BJJ’s history. I had a lot of fun listening to his many stories of those early training days.
When he returned to Hong Kong in 2002 he was the first to establish an academy over there. Fast forward 24 years and Thomas is a third degree black belt representing Icon BJJ and runs KYLIN BJJ, which has several branches. My visit was to their Wan chai branch on Hong Kong island.
Wan Chai
When I arrived at the location a beginners class was underway, taught by brown belt Nic Suen. Like a lot of gyms and martial art premises in Hong Kong, it isn’t obvious that there is a BJJ academy when viewed from ground level. But walk through a corridor, past the security guard, and go upstairs and you’ll find a bustling Muay Thai gym.
While the location is actually a dedicated Muay Thai gym, there is ample space on the mats for BJJ sessions to go on at the same time as the Muay Thai training. It works perfectly fine and the two groups never seem to get in each others way.
After the beginners class had finished I was given the honour of teaching a session to the advanced students so I went over my favourite defence, escape and counter attack techniques. Then I had about 7-8 rolls with various students all of whom impressed me with their technique and impeccable fitness (it was really hot!). My roll with Thomas was a lesson in how old school pressure works brilliantly despite my best attempts from guard lol.
Hong Kong itself is incredibly blessed many academies, each with their own feel and atmosphere – and a lot of them crammed into the same small part of the island (mostly the corridor between Sai Ying Pun and Central). Kylin BJJ’s Wanchai branch however, being sited slightly away from the bigger schools in Sheung Wan, felt more like a school for the local community. I noticed in fact that the class before me was taught all in Cantonese and all the students seemed to be Hong Kong residents. It was not a problem communicating in English though.
The atmosphere is laid back with a fair bit of laughter and banter between them, but they also all worked incredibly hard drilling techniques, then sparring continuously. Some of them had already been training a couple of hours by the time my lesson began, so it was really impressive to seem them work so hard.
The gang were so lovely that they insisted on taking me to dinner afterwards and I gorged myself on fabulous Shanghainese cuisine at the nearby 3.6.9 restaurant.
I really enjoyed my visit to Kylin and recommend you check it out if you ever visit Hong Kong.
Further info: kylinbjj.com
SHBJJHK – Shanghai BJJ (Hong Kong)
I’ve been friends with one of the coaches here, Casey Lee, for 12 or more years from back when he was training in London. He and I used to meet up during one of our Chinese BJJ Friend Group open mats. So it was a no-brainer to visit SHBJJHK during my holiday here.
How to find
The academy is just a few minutes walk from Sheung Wan MTR station (exit A2, turn left along Wing Lok street). At no 88 you’ll see a glass fronted building, just walk in and take the elevator to the 3rd floor.
Facilities
When the lift doors open you immediately enter the lobby of the academy. There is a front desk with a member of staff who will want you to sign the waiver. There’s also plenty of seating and a large screen tv.
Instead of a communal changing room, there are I think four or maybe five shower rooms, each of which acts as private changing rooms.
The mat space is huge. Remember, this is Hong Kong where real estate is ridiculously expensive so I’m really impressed that such a large training space can be found so centrally.
Complimentary towels are available for students to use after they’ve showered. And of course drinks and merch can also be purchased from the front desk. The whole gym is incredibly clean and very high quality.
Nogi class
I attended the Tuesday evening 6:30-8:30 Nogi class. Casey taught (in English) a series of duck under standing techniques and then a butterfly guard pass that I really liked.
We then rolled for I think x8 five minute rounds. The two hour class went by very fast and represented a solid chunk of quality training.
I also attended the Friday evening nogi sparring class. It was a small class with 5-6 others and it was a solid hour of five minute rounds with no breaks.
I was curious about the make up of SHBJJHK and Casey told me that most of the students were ex-pats, long term residents or short stay travellers from overseas hence why classes were taught in English. To be honest, after my experience of training in China, where Mandarin was spoken by default, I don’t think it matters what language is used, as long as you follow closely by observing the instructor.
Whats in a name.
Later on, I had a short chat to SHBJJHK owner Alex Lin. I was confused about the naming of the academy in Hong Kong as SHBJJ (Shanghai BJJ) and yet in Shanghai itself, the academies are called DEF Group. He explains:
“I founded DEF Group in 2017 and acquired SHBJJ the same year. DEF Group is the parent entity which holds SHBJJ and the franchisees, and also runs DEF Boxing, DEF Elite (our fitness training program), DEF Muay Thai, and DEF Yoga. SHBJJ continues to be the brand we use to run all of our BJJ Academies in China as well as HK.
In Shanghai, the DEF Group designation is just for directly run academies by the group as opposed to franchisees. We’ve always used SHBJJ as our jiujitsu brand for academies, instruction, and affiliation.”
One of the perks of being a member of the HK branch is that you can train at any of the China branches for free.
Website: https://shbjjhk.com
Address: 3rd Floor, 88 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Final thoughts
Hong Kong is a marvellous place to visit. But keep an eye on the time of year. When we went (end of June through July) the whole region was suffering from the effects of big storms and constant rain. The residents just shrug it off but some days can yield a black rain warning, which means everything shuts down. It didn’t dampen our spirits though, I still managed to train several times, meet up with lovely friends, and eat some of the best food in the world!
