Roll Call No. 29 — Baret Yoshida: The No-Gi Pioneer

Roll Call · The 30 Greatest · No. 29

A small man from Hawaii who became a no-gi legend — an ADCC mainstay and Hall of Famer who helped define submission grappling before it was cool.

Long before submission grappling had rankings, sponsors, and streaming deals, Baret Yoshida was quietly becoming one of its defining figures. A small, unassuming competitor from Hawaii who earned his black belt under Egan Inoue, Baret built his legend not on a mountain of gi world titles but on something rarer: he was a no-gi specialist when almost no one specialized, an ADCC mainstay across an astonishing span of years, and a genuine pioneer of the submission-first style that now dominates the sport.

His ADCC record tells the story. Yoshida holds the record for the most matches ever contested in the -66 kg division, a testament to a longevity and consistency at the world’s toughest no-gi event that few can match. He reached the podium repeatedly, including multiple silver medals, and racked up more submissions in his division than anyone — a finisher through and through, famous for his crucifix, his back attacks, and a chokes-first approach that made him dangerous against much larger men.

What makes Baret important beyond the medals is what he represented. In an era when the gi was king and no-gi was treated as an afterthought, he showed that a dedicated submission grappler could compete with, and beat, the best in the world on the biggest stage. He was, in a real sense, a forerunner of the entire modern professional no-gi movement — the Danaher-era leg-lockers and the pro-grappling stars of today are walking a road that people like Yoshida and Dean Lister helped build.

He became a beloved teacher and a fixture of the American grappling scene, respected by generations of competitors for both his skill and his humility. In 2022 he was recognized where it counts, inducted into the inaugural class of the ADCC Hall of Fame — formal acknowledgment that his contribution to the sport was foundational, not incidental.

He is the most “insider” pick on this list, the name casual fans are least likely to know, and that is precisely why he belongs. Greatness is not only about the biggest medal count; it is also about being early, being influential, and being excellent for a very long time in a discipline you helped legitimize. Baret Yoshida was all three. The no-gi era everyone loves today had pioneers, and he was one of the very best of them.

Roll Call is The Jiu Jitsu Mindset’s 30-part series on the greatest to ever play the game. Records per ADCC and public grappling databases.