About The Author - Miha Perhavec
Miha Perhavec is a Slovenian judo and jiu-jitsu black belt with over two decades of combined grappling experience. He has trained and competed at the highest levels of the sport before co-founding Legion AJJ in San Diego with Keenan Cornelius.
The beginnings in judo
Miha Perhavec was born in Kranj, Slovenia where he started training judo at the age of ten. It was the first sport that truly interested him and he pursued it all the way to black belt 1. dan. During this part of his grappling journey, he participated in several high-level judo camps as Slovenia is a European judo powerhouse. He admits that he never truly excelled at judo with his best results being 2nd and 3rd place in the National Championship at the junior and cadet levels respectively.
In 2010 Miha made the difficult decision to quit judo. The reason could be found in the increasingly restrictive rule changes, which made him question how he would do in a fight.
MMA and the transition
Having watched copious amounts of UFC and Pride FC, Miha walked into the local Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) academy. Despite classes being held in the back of a fitness studio with puzzle mats having to be assembled and disassembled every class, this club was part of a global BJJ association. Thus Miha started learning jiu-jitsu from his blue belt coach.
For the next three years learning striking and competing in MMA was the priority and Miha went 11-1 on the regional scene. After that initial success, it was time to make a decision. Professional MMA or going all-in on jiu-jitsu, which at the time wasn't even considered as a career path.
Leaving Slovenia in search of tougher training
One of the reasons why Miha Perhavec decided to pursue jiu-jitsu to the fullest was the fact that he was still in school finishing his Bachelor's in International Relations, which meant he needed and wanted to use his mind to achieve things. That meant that a sport where getting a shin to the head is an accident and not a highlight reel finish was the safer choice.
In 2013 Miha used a European student exchange program to relocate to Warsaw, Poland for a year where he got to train with higher-level training partners under the guidance of ADCC World Championship veterans. By this point, competitive training partners in Slovenia were hard to come by. After a brief return to Slovenia and a stint training in Oslo, Norway it was time to relocate again.
The Emerald Isle, followed by the world trip
From 2015 to 2017 Miha lived in Dublin, Ireland training at East Coast Jiu Jitsu Academy where he earned his brown belt under Darragh O’Conaill, as well as a Master’s degree from Dublin City University, but the brown belt meant 10x more.
By this time opportunities to compete in professional events like Polaris Pro were starting to materialize, as well as the chance to train abroad, specifically in the United States, which were previously out of reach.
To take advantage of those opportunities Miha and his wife embarked on a two-year trip, which took the around the world twice.
This path took him through large part of the US, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Japan, Singapore, several European countries before the journey came to and end in San Diego.
Creating Legion American Jiu-Jitsu
Miha's long-time business partner and American jiu-jitsu superstar Keenan Cornelius called on Miha to settle in San Diego and help him launch a disruptive professional academy in the middle of the most jiu-jitsu-saturated city in the Northern Hemisphere. Not shying away from a challenge Miha accepted and in November of 2019 the first class was held.
Nothing bad would happen in the next few months and no one was stressed about having a 10,000sqf social closening facility unable to operate during a global pandemic.
Want to learn more about Miha's story?
There is no better place to learn more than Jocko Podcast #451