A new school in Wellesley for adults, teens, and kids — run by lifelong martial artists who teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling, Muay Thai and MMA.
Beginners first. No experience, no fitness prerequisite.
Black belt instruction. Under Professor Paul Rosado.
Safety first, literally. Run by a former state athletic commission chairman.
Everything here is taught by someone who has spent decades getting it wrong first.
Our team has decades of experience on the mats — kickboxing, Sanda, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kali, Jeet Kune Do, Wrestling, MMA, and, for the long haul, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We have competed, cornered fighters, and coached at university and college programs. What we kept noticing was the gap: plenty of places in Greater Boston to train hard, fewer where a 45-year-old beginner, a nervous ten-year-old, and a competitor sharpening for the IBJJF all get taught with the same care.
So Wellesley Jiujitsu is built around instruction rather than volume. Fundamentals are taught on a cycle, so whichever week you walk in, you start at a beginning. Positions are explained, why the grip goes there, what happens when it fails, because a technique you understand is a technique you keep.
We also train the way we want our own families to train. Between us there are kids on these mats, so the standards for safety, cleanliness, and how people treat each other are not negotiable. Hard rounds are welcome. Egos are not.
Six programs on the mats, most of them running several times a week. Adults usually start in Fundamentals and add the rest as they go.
Ages 15 and up · Fundamentals through advanced
The core of the school. Monday's Fundamentals class teaches the first six months of your jiu-jitsu in order — escapes, frames, guard retention, the submissions that work on everyone. Friday is a dedicated rolling class.
Mon, Wed, Fri · midday and evening
Ages 15 and up · all levels
Grip-free grappling with the takedowns and top pressure that come out of a wrestling and striking background. Leg entanglements, guard systems, and live rounds. Saturday's session is open to every level.
Every weekday evening · Saturday midday
Ages 15 and up
Boxing and Muay Thai fundamentals with the clinch and takedown defense attached — drawn from decades in kickboxing, sanda, and MMA. Technical work and pad rounds; sparring is optional and controlled.
Tue, Thu · Saturday all-levels class
Ages 15 and up
Where the striking and the grappling meet. MMA runs Tuesday and Thursday nights, starting with a fundamentals class for anyone new to putting the two together. Wednesday adds a dedicated BJJ and wrestling session.
Tue, Wed, Thu · evenings
Ages 5–12 · split by age and size
BJJ, kickboxing, and wrestling across the week, so kids get real breadth rather than one thing repeated. Taught as a game rather than a lecture. They learn to tap and to respect a tap before they learn a single submission.
Weekdays 4:00pm · Saturday mornings
Ages 13–17
A room for teenagers who have outgrown the kids class and are not ready to be thrown in with adults. Gi and no-gi, harder conditioning, competition prep for anyone who wants it.
Mon, Wed, Fri · 5:15pm
Also on the schedule: Women's BJJ Gi on Thursday evenings, Parent & Child BJJ on Saturday mornings, and open mat plus group training on Sundays. Private lessons with either instructor are available by appointment.
Members can train in any class their program covers. Drop-ins from visiting grapplers are welcome — bring a clean gi and a belt. Private lessons are by appointment.
Owner & Lead Instructor
Paul Rosado is a lifelong martial artist, coach, and instructor whose experience runs across Chinese Kickboxing, San-Shou/Sanda, Shuai Jiao, Chin Na, Muay Thai, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and MMA. Few coaches in New England have worked across that many disciplines, and fewer still have taught in all of them.
His coaching career includes years at the Chinese Kickboxing Club and Redline Fight Sports, leading the MIT San-Shou/Sanda program in 2015, and teaching at Massasoit Community College. He is a lifelong competitor and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Professor John Connors, and he took IBJJF gold in 2026.
At Wellesley Jiujitsu he teaches the way he was taught — traditional martial arts as the foundation, practical modern combat training as the test. Expect detail, expect to be asked why a technique works, and expect to be corrected.
Owner & Instructor
Paul Karger has been training in martial arts for more than thirty-five years. He started in Karate and kept going: Boxing, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Kali, and for the past stretch of his life, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for which he holds a brown belt under Professor Paul Rosado.
He has also seen combat sports from the sides most coaches never do. For close to a decade he was an owner and board director of Glory Kickboxing, running the promotion's US operation. From 2016 to 2022 he served as Chairman of the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission, appointed under Governor Charlie Baker, where the job was writing and enforcing the rules that protect fighters across the Commonwealth including medical clearances, weight cutting, matchmaking oversight, and when to stop a fight.
He trains around a full professional schedule and a family. All three of his children train as well.
He teaches beginners, fundamentals, and the striking and self-defense curriculum, and he is the person to talk to about getting started.
Women's Program
MK runs the women's program at Wellesley Jiujitsu. She brings extensive athletic and professional expertise as well as lots of energy to the mats.
An accomplished grappler, MK has been training for over 8 years and currently holds the rank of Brown Belt under Ruben Coronado. She has medaled at multiple major IBJJF tournaments and competes regularly.
Her coaching and teaching style is deeply informed by her background in elite athletics; she is a former All-American runner who went on to represent the USA on multiple national teams post-college.
Beyond her athletic accomplishments, MK has over 10 years of working in mental health and related fields. Her unique clinical background inspires her to foster a supportive, trauma-informed training environment. She is passionate about empowering women mentally, emotionally, and physically through the confidence and community that jiu jitsu offers.
Whether you are stepping onto the mats for the first time or training for a gold medal, MK is dedicated to helping you discover your strength and have a good time doing so :)
Boxing Coach
Amir Ali began his intensive martial arts training in 2023 under the direct instruction of Coach Paul Rosado. During that time, Amir has trained in Boxing, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, while specializing in developing his skill set as a boxer. Amir has become adept and has studied the several styles of boxing, with a focus on high technical proficiency and ability across all styles.
In addition to developing his personal growth as a boxer, Amir also has experience in coaching and developing athletes with an emphasis on strategizing and executing programs fit for all fitness and martial arts goals. Amir also has experience coaching ringside, and during training camps using his knowledge of fight readiness and preparation.
At Wellesley Jiujitsu, Amir will continue to develop athletes of all backgrounds, levels, and styles, to help them achieve their goals.
BJJ Coach
Coach Korey Tillman is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Africana Studies at Northeastern University. His research sits at the nexus of race, policing, and empire.
Coach Korey started his journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 2019 and has been a student of Head Coach Paul Rosado since 2024. Coach Korey has competed in IBJJF, Grappling Industries, and Jiu-Jitsu World League.
He loves to train while traveling and has trained in places like South Africa, Cuba, Canada, Colombia, and across the U.S.
It's free, it's normal to be nervous, and nobody is going to try to submit you on day one.
Send a message or call. Tell us your age, any injuries, and whether you have trained before. We'll tell you which class to come to.
Arrive fifteen minutes ahead. Wear shorts and a t-shirt — we'll lend you a gi if the class needs one. Bare feet on the mat, shoes off the mat.
Warm-up, technique, drilling with a partner we choose for you. You'll sit out the live rounds and watch, or roll lightly with a coach if you want to.
We'll talk through options at the end. No paperwork on the mat, no pressure, no annual contract required to start.
No. This is the most common reason people put off starting, and it is backwards — jiu-jitsu is how you get in shape. Classes are structured so you can pace yourself, and stopping to breathe is expected, not embarrassing.
Nothing to start. A gi and a mouthguard eventually; we'll point you at options that aren't overpriced. Loaner gis are available for trial classes.
Kids classes have no striking, and children are matched by size and age rather than thrown in together. They learn to tap and to respect a tap before they learn a single submission.
Bring your belt and your gi. Rank earned elsewhere is respected here; we'll want to see you move before we talk about promotions, which is what any honest school would say.
We have students starting in their forties, fifties, and later. Technique beats athleticism over a long enough time horizon, and we'll adjust drilling around whatever your body currently allows.
Yes. Programs can be taken separately, though most people end up doing more than they planned.
Book a free class, or just stop in and watch one. Either is fine — most people want to see the mats before they commit.
Book a free class