Saeed Dunkaev
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Grozny, Chechnya, Rasia
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About Us
Saeed Dunkaev was born on April 7, 1988, in Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya – a federal republic of the Russian Federation.
After the First Chechen War started in December 1994, the Dunkaev family moved to Moscow, fearing for their safety. In an interview given to BJJ Heroes back in March 2019, Saeed relived the experience:
“I still remember very clearly. We were on a bus full of civilian people who were trying to escape the city. In front of the bus, there was a white flag hanging so that Russian soldiers wouldn’t shoot at the civilians. (…) at one point we were on a road and on the left were some Russian soldier checkpoints, and on the right was the deep forest. Out of nowhere, the soldiers started shooting at the bus. This was an old bus and had small windows, which helped us take cover while we were all escaping. The bus ran towards the forest (…) we got to a safe place eventually and luckily both of my parents and my aunt survived.”
Saeed was 6, going on 7 years old at the time, and it was in the Russian capital that the young Chechen spent his formative years, during which time Dunkaev practiced a number of sporting activities including karate, soccer and even breakdancing. Later, in his late teens, Saeed turned to boxing, wrestling, and combat sambo. Although he competed in all three combat styles, he did so mainly for recreational purposes, and it wasn’t until he found jiu-jitsu, years later, that Saeed truly committed to a sport for an extended period of time.
After graduating from university in Russia, Saeed decided to take his life’s direction into his own hands. With his future all laid out for him – a regular, steady job with a regular family, Dunkaev decided to snub his nose at common sense and, in the wise words of Trainspotting’s “Rent Boy” Rentton, “choose life”, moving to the United States on July 2010.
While in the USA, Saeed went through a variety of jobs in the hospitality industry before settling as a semi long-distance truck driver.
In 2013 Dunkaev decided to start training mixed martial arts (MMA), finding a gym at walking distance from his house. Although he enjoyed MMA, this academy was limited to 2 MMA classes per week, with the remaining schedule being more geared towards BJJ. After a few grappling classes, Saeed discovered he enjoyed it more than he did cage-fighting and decided to pursue it.
Saeed started training BJJ at Gracie Barra Costa Mesa with coach Scott Carr, but he soon decided he wanted to pursue jiu-jitsu competition seriously and ended up moving towards the neighboring Art Of Jiu-Jitsu Academy (AOJ) with Rafael and Guilherme Mendes – who promoted Dunkaev to blue belt.
For 3 years Saeed trained at AOJ, but with time he felt a lack of chemistry with the team: “I didn’t like where the environment was going” Dunkaev explained. “I felt like each year it was becoming a cold, arrogant environment. (…) no real bond of friendship between competitors.”. In Saeed’s mindset, “training for competitors should be like we all train smashing each other but in the end, we are all team, all friends. At AOJ, as a competitor I felt like a lot of favoritism was involved,” and for those reasons, he made the hard decision of leaving the team.
While browsing for his “forever home” in BJJ, thinking about teams such as Atos HQ or GB Northridge, Saeed talked to one of his friends, Max Ruvinsky, who had also left AOJ some time ago, having since joined Checkmat Headquarters. Dunkaev was not terribly familiar with Checkmat as the team as the academy lacked a social media presence, but after speaking with Max decided to try it out and was immediately impressed with the atmosphere and toughness of training, deciding to join.
It was under the instruction of coach Leonardo Vieira that Saeed became one of the most prolific athletes on the American circuit, earning medals in the top tournaments in his category. His wins on the maps earned him his purple, brown and black belts from coach Vieira, the latter in a ceremony that took place in January 2020.
In 2020 Saeed Dunkaev launched his own school, Neezam Jiu-Jitsu – the name representing the word “discipline” in the Chechen language.
