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Deddy Wigraha: bringing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to Indonesia’s martial arts scene
Martial artist I Made “Deddy” Hadi Wigraha has made it his personal mission to introduce the gentle yet deadly effective art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) to a wider audience in Indonesia.
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Off-balance: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) black belt Deddy Wigraha shows a technique known as “the guard” during one of his classes at the Fit Force gym in Kemang, South Jakarta. (JP/Donny Fernando)
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bout 100 years ago, two Brazilian brothers – Carlos Gracie and Helio Gracie – developed a ground-based self-defense system called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). Today, it is one of the world’s fastest growing martial arts.
In Indonesia, BJJ was introduced by Indonesian students in the United States and Australia and has gradually grown in popularity with the emergence of several institutions dedicated to teaching and developing the art.
One of the early student adopters, I Made “Deddy” Hadi Wigraha, has made his name in the Indonesian BJJ community as one of only eight Indonesians who have a red-bar black belt in the martial art and the only one who holds a second-degree black belt.
It took years for Deddy to get where he is now. From what was initially only a hobby, Deddy gradually fell in love with the sport that has now become his passion. He wants to introduce it to an even wider community in Indonesia.
“It [BJJ] reaches various levels of society with its rape prevention training for women, bullying prevention training for children and training for competitions and for the military,” Deddy told The Jakarta Post during a recent interview.
Deddy’s journey in BJJ started in 1993 when he went to Los Angeles, California, for university. He ended up at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event and saw for the first time how BJJ, with its choking and joint-lock submission techniques, could be utilized perfectly in no-holds-barred fighting situations.
