Yuta Shimada

Yuta Shimada was born on September 25, 1992, in the Ibaraki prefecture, a suburb of Tokyo – Japan.

As a 5-year-old Shimada was enrolled in judo classes, a sport/martial art he played until he graduated from junior high school (age 15), being a first-degree black belt at the time of his exit from the judo mats. During his mid teens, Yuta had become increasingly interested in mixed martial arts (MMA), and given that he had stopped judo training he decided to enroll in a combat gym.

Mitsuteru Yasumura was Yuta Shimada’s first jiu-jitsu instructor when he started at the age of 16. Later Satoshi Koutani took control of the training and it was he who graded the young athlete in both his blue and purple belts.

Shimada became a member of the NEXUSENSE academy as a purple belt, with his tuition being handed to Naoya Uematsu (the head coach) and Takehiro Mori. Under the guidance of these two instructors, Yuta became one of the top competitors in the Japanese grappling scene, going on to achieve great results in the world scene also.

In 2015 Yuta started making regular trips to his favorite grappler’s gym, Marcelo Garcia in New York City. The visits to Garcia had a big impact on Shimada’s game, him being the Japanese competitor’s biggest stylistic influence.

Yuta Shimada’s repeated success in the top tournaments of Jiu-Jitsu during his lower belt run – which included medals in the World, Asian, Brasileiro, and Pans Championships earned Yuta Shimada his black belt from the hands of Naoya Uematsu on August 2016.