Biography

  WELCOME TO THE 
MAT LAB.

 TRAVIS HAYNES

Born & raised in Indianapolis, Indiana on Jan 22, 1976, BJJ 4th Degree Black Belt, Judo black belt, Hayastan Grappling Black Belt, & traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu brown belt, Travis Haynes began training Martial Arts as a young boy in Judo and karate, around 1984 before stopping due to a serious injury. It wouldn't be until the age of 16 that he would find himself back on the mats, training in a traditional form of Japanese Jiu Jitsu as well as Judo. This was before the very first UFC, when most of the world was still believing that high flying kicks & punches were the way to go. 

Once the UFC 1 occurred, and everyone, including Travis, became aware of the Brazilian style of Jiu Jitsu, after Royce Gracie destroyed everyone in the original "no rounds, no gloves, no weight classes" format of the UFC, many people flocked to any school offering legitimate instruction. This was the "Dark Ages" of BJJ. At that time there was only 1 person teaching BJJ within 100 miles of Travis, who happened to only be a blue belt! But Travis sought him out and began intense training. 

Being obsessed with gaining more knowledge, a trait that would later earn him the nickname "BJJ Encyclopedia" from other black belts, Travis began road trips all over to anywhere he could find black belt instruction, driving as far as St Louis, Missouri from Indianapolis weekly just to take a private lesson and a group class with a black belt! 


Travis also began trips to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to learn from the best. It was there he met with and trained with legends of the art, such as Roberto "Roleta" Magalhaes, Anibal Braga, and later Ricardo De La Riva, a legend of the Carlson Gracie Team. It was during this time he met Master Carlson Gracie Jr. who Travis invited to his academy to teach a seminar and set off a sequence of events over 20 years in the making. During the time that Master Carlson, (or simply "Jr." as he is sometimes referred to) was living in Cincinnati, Travis jumped at the chance to train with him, making the road trip from Indianapolis to Cincinnati two to three times a week to learn from the "Prince of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu" as well as to train at his home academy in Indianapolis.


As the years passed, Travis learned from many different sources having moved to different cities along the way. He would earn his Black Belt in BJJ under the BJJ Revolution Team (a Carlson Gracie Lineage team), his black belt in Judo, and a black belt in Hayastan Grappling under grappling living legend, Gokor Chivichyan, a Judo grandmaster, Sambo Master of Sport, & a BJJ black belt Masters Pan & World Champion. Travis would again run into Master Carlson over the years and always maintained a great relationship with the grappling legend.


Travis would go on to found Mat Lab BJJ in Reynoldsburg Ohio, and would become an official member and affiliate academy of the Carlson Gracie Team, while maintaining his close ties to Hayastan Grappling, and continued learning with Masters Anibal Braga, Rey Diogo, and the head of the Carlson Gracie Team, Master Carlson Gracie Jr.


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