Lachlan Giles
Australian grappler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lachlan Sven McDonald Giles (born 17 June 1986) is an Australian grappler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt competitor and coach. He is a bronze medalist in both the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship and World No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
| Lachlan Giles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Lachlan Sven McDonald Giles[1] 17 June 1986[2] Melbourne, Australia[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Velachiraptor | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82.3 kg (181 lb; 12 st 13 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Division | Middleweight | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Absolute MMA | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trainer | John Simon | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | BJJ black belt (under John Simon) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life and education
Lachlan Giles was born on 17 June 1986, in Victoria, Australia.[1][2]
Growing up he was a huge fan of Jet Li's martial arts movies and trained in Kung Fu initially.[1][2][3] One year into his training he saw a tape of UFC 1 which was won by Royce Gracie.[1][2][4] After watching the event, he was convinced that BJJ was the best form of self defense and shortly afterwards joined a BJJ academy to focus on it.[1][2][4]
Giles’ first BJJ instructor was Tyrone Crosse who trained Giles from white to purple belt.[1][2][3] However Giles suffered from a severe knee injury and was forced to stop his training for a year.[1][2][3] When he returned, the academy had a new coach, John Simon.[1][2] Simon promoted Giles to brown belt and in 2012 promoted him to black belt.[1][2][3]
Giles attended La Trobe University where he earned a Bachelor of Physiotherapy in 2008 and a PhD in Physiotherapy in 2016.[1][3][4][5]
Grappling career
In 2015, Giles competing at Eddie Bravo Invitational 5 where he came third place after defeating Nathan Orchard and Rani Yahya before losing to Garry Tonon by Armbar.[1][4][6]
In 2017, Giles competed at the World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship where he came third place after being defeated by AJ Agazarm by points in the semi-finals.[1][7]
In the 2019 ADCC World Championship, Giles defeated Kaynan Duarte and Patrick Gaudio before being submitted by Gordon Ryan.[1][8][9] Giles defeated Mahamed Aly by leglock to earn a bronze medal in the absolute category.[1][8][9] Giles' achievement was considered notable as he was much smaller than his opponents who came mainly from the Heavyweight divisions and outweighed him by around 20 kg.[1][8][9]
In 2020, Giles made a post on Instagram stating those who have won medals while using PEDs should relinquish those titles.[10] Gordon Ryan made a response accusing Giles of using PEDs.[10] After some back and forth, Giles challenged Ryan that he would bet $500,000 of his own money against just $5,000 of Ryan's that he would pass a drug test right now.[10] Ryan did not respond to the challenge.[10]
Giles teaches BJJ as well.[1] He was the coach of fellow Australian grappler, Craig Jones whom he awarded a black belt in 2016.[1][4] He served as the head coach for Team Australasia at the Craig Jones Invitational 2 in 2025.[11]
Grappling competition achievements
- 3rd place ADCC World Championship (2019)[1]
- 3rd place World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship (2019)[1]
- 3rd place Eddie Bravo Invitational 5 (2015)[1]
- 2nd place UAEJJF Grand Slam Abu Dhabi (2018)[1]
Instructor lineage
Carlos Gracie → Helio Gracie → Carlos Gracie Jr → Jean Jacques Machado / Rigan Machado → John Will → John Simon → Lachlan Giles[1]
