Our Team

Owner, Instructor-Black Belt

orlando sanchez

ADCC World Champion
2x ADCC World Champion Finalist
Coach on UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter
IBJJF World Champion
IBJJF Brazilian National Champino (Brasileiro)
- Weight and Absolute Division
3x IBJJF Pan American Champion
3x IBJJF North American Champion
2x Abu-Dhabi Trials Champion
Abu-Dhabi World Pro Championship Silver Medalist
- Weight and Absolute Division
Abu-Dhabi World Pro Championship Bronze Medalist
American National Championship Silver Medalist
Abu-Dhabi Trials Bronze Medalist
No-Gi World Championship Bronze Medalist
Gracie Nationals Champion

Orlando Sanchez was born in La Canada, California in 1982. He played sports in his youth, getting though college on a football scholarship. After his sporting career finished, he struggled to find his place in the world. At the age of 26 and through the incentive of a good friend, Orlando turned his focus to martial arts. Muay Thai eventually led him to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he started competing regularly, reaching the level of brown belt in an astounding 3 years. After a great competitive year as a brown belt, where Orlando won several important tournaments such as the Pan American Championships and the Brazilian Nationals, he was awarded his black belt by Professor Romulo Barral in September of 2012. Through his years of competing, Orlando has had the chance to train with many of Gracie Barra’s exquisite coaches and competitors eventually becoming the regional director for the Los Angeles area.

Several years ago Orlando built Gracie Barra Pasadena from the ground up and it has quickly become one of the largest Brazilian jiu jitsu schools in the area. He then took his blueprint for success and started Gracie Barra La Canada another successful school that continues to grow and serve the community. From there he went on to purchase Gracie Barra West Covina where he plans to use that same successful blueprint to continue to learn, grow, and share this amazing martial art with the world.

Head Instructor-Black Belt

Omar Colin

IBJJF San Diego Open, Champion
IBJJF Las Vegas Open, Champion
IBJJF Mexico City Open, Absolute Champion
2x Gracie Barra Compnet, Champion
IBJJF American National, Silver Medalist (Gi)
IBJJF American National, Silver Medalist (No-Gi)
NABJJF Los Angeles Open, Silver Medalist
Abu Dhabi Los Angeles Grand Slam, Silver Medalist
IBJJF San Jose Open, Bronze Medalist
IBJJF Las Vegas Open, Absolute Bronze Medalist

Professor Omar was born in September of 1982 in Monterey Park California. Growing up he spent most of his time listening to music, playing hockey and watching a good amount Pro Wrestling. Being such a huge wrestling fan, he naturally stumbled across some of the early UFC videos and was instantly drawn to the sport. Fascinated by the more open rule set as compared to traditional combat sports, his interest in martial arts grew. Hitting a peak in the early to mid-2000s when the Japanese MMA promotion, Pride, was at its peak. He became an instant fan and watched every event.

After graduating high school, Omar had stopped being active and slowly started gaining lots of unwanted weight. The combination of poor diet, inactivity, and drinking eventually saw him tipping the scales at close to 230 lbs. Fast forward to late 2009 early 2010, Omar was at his heaviest and fed up with his countless attempts at getting into shape. It was at this point he decided to try Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In early 2010 he attended his first class at Gracie Barra Pasadena where he instantly fell in love with the sport. As a white belt he began training consistently and he stuck with it, always finding a way to train regardless of what life had in store for him. Eventually he earned his Black Belt in September of 2017 under World Champion, Professor Orlando Sanchez. Professor Orlando took extra pride in promoting Omar to the level of black belt, as he is the first student to go from white to black entirely under Professor Orlando’s instruction.

Training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gave Omar a new life. It allowed him to be physically fit, more mentally focused, and to travel the world in order to compete. He now looks forward to spreading his knowledge and giving his students a great experience at Gracie Barra West Covina.