The State of BJJ Instructionals in 2026: A Data Analysis of 3,393 Titles

The COVID Content Explosion Was Real (and It's Over)

The number of new instructionals published per year tells a dramatic story:

In 2019, BJJ Fanatics was averaging about 12 new titles per month. By August 2021, that hit 102 in a single month, an 8x increase. Gyms were closed, instructors pivoted to digital, and the floodgates opened.

But the peak is long gone. Output has dropped to roughly a third of the 2021 peak and is still declining. The post-COVID correction appears to be a structural shift, not a temporary dip.

Instructionals Are Getting More Expensive While Output Declines

Prices have nearly doubled from $78 to $131 average over seven years. During the content flood (2020–2021), runtimes actually dropped. More titles, but shorter and cheaper. Since 2022, prices surged while runtimes stayed flat. You're paying more for roughly the same amount of content.

John Danaher Has Produced 19 Full Days of Instructional Content

Some Danaher stats that blew our minds:

That's 46 seasons of television worth of BJJ content from one person. If you watched every Danaher instructional back-to-back, it would take you 19.2 days of continuous viewing. No sleep. No food. Just New Zealand accents and rash guards.

He accounts for 8% of all runtime content on BJJ Fanatics despite being 1 of 1,228 instructors. His Go Further Faster Bundle alone is 82.5 hours with 638 chapters. And the output never slows down: 6–9 new titles per year, every single year since 2018.

The “Gordon Tax” Is Real

Gordon Ryan is the most expensive instructor on the platform among those with significant catalogs:

Gordon's average price is 3.2x the catalog average. 40 of his 48 titles are $200+. His median price is $349. His total catalog would cost you $16,587.

Meanwhile, Bernardo Faria's cheapest standalone is $47, and Lachlan Giles regularly puts out 10+ hour courses at $79. The value spread between instructors is enormous.

Henry Akins is a weird one: every single one of his 22 instructionals is priced at exactly $279. No variation, no sales, no bundles.

The Best Bang for Your Buck

Which instructionals give you the most minutes per dollar? Here are the standouts:

Garry Tonon's Unifying The Systems is an absurd outlier: 70+ hours for $197. That's a full college semester of instruction for less than a gi.

For a deeper look at value across the entire catalog, see our price-per-hour analysis.

The Leg Lock Revolution Peaked in 2021, but It's Now Permanent

Instructionals tagged with leg-lock-related techniques by year:

Leg lock content quadrupled from 2018 to 2021, driven by the Danaher Death Squad's competition dominance. After the peak, it's settled at ~75–80 per year. Leg locks are now a permanent part of the curriculum, not a passing trend.

The more interesting shift is in what type of leg lock content is being produced. Early on it was all about the submissions (heel hooks, kneebars, toe holds). Now the fastest-growing tags are Leg Entanglements and Ashi Garami, the positional and systems-level concepts. The meta is moving from “learn the finish” to “learn the system.”

Half Guard Is the Most Covered Topic in BJJ. By Far.

Guard types by number of instructionals tagged:

Half guard has nearly 2x the coverage of closed guard. Probably because it's the position everyone ends up in whether they want to or not.

And 50/50 at 269 is worth noting. That's a position that was considered “boring” and “stally” just a few years ago. The leg lock game made it relevant.

Who Dominates Which Topic?

Danaher appears in the top 3 of 7 out of 8 major categories. The only one he doesn't crack is Wrestling, which has its own specialist ecosystem (Vallimont, Esposito, Askren) completely separate from the BJJ competition circuit.

The Old Guard Makes Longer, Pricier Content

We split all instructors into two groups: those who first published before 2020 (“old guard”) and those who entered 2020+ (“new guard”):

The post-2020 wave brought 6.5x more instructors but their content averages 40% shorter and 24% cheaper. The market shifted from a small number of established names producing deep, comprehensive content to a much larger pool producing shorter, more accessible titles.

The $79 Price Point Runs the Market

If you've browsed BJJ Fanatics, you've probably noticed that $79 and $197 come up constantly. Here's the actual distribution:

52% of all titles are priced at exactly $79. It's the anchor price of the entire market. The $197 tier (home of Danaher's Enter The System series and many premium titles) accounts for just 6.5%.

For more on how pricing actually works (and what those “80% off” sales mean), see our BJJ Fanatics price history analysis.

Rapid Fire Stats

• Total catalog value: $348,049 to buy everything
• Total runtime: 5,800+ hours (241 days of continuous viewing)
• 1,228 instructors, but only 19 have 20+ titles. The vast majority are one-offs
• Most prolific year-over-year instructor: Danaher (6–9 titles/year, every year, never misses)
• Most expensive non-bundle instructor: Gordon Ryan at $349 per title
• Longest single instructional: Garry Tonon's Unifying The Systems at 70.3 hours

Explore the Data Yourself

All of this analysis is powered by the GrappleDB database. You can search and filter the full catalog, browse by category or instructor, compare instructionals side by side, and read community reviews to make informed decisions about what to buy.

More from us:

• The Most Prolific BJJ Instructors
• The Longest BJJ Instructionals Ever Made
• Best Value: A Price-Per-Hour Analysis
• BJJ Fanatics Price History
• 6,066 Hours of BJJ Instruction: A Market Analysis