Rodney Ellis was born on the 28th of April, 1978 in Cornulla, Australia. He was always a very “sporty” child, a characteristic widely supported by his parent, practicing Rugby, Cricket, “Nippers” amongst other thins.

By the time Ellis turned 11 he started getting interested in martial arts, joining a gym where he started practicing Goshin Ryu Ju-Jutsu under Gordon Griffiths. He practiced the traditional Japanese martial art for years, and when he was 17 he started training more often with Larry Papadopoulos (who was a student of Griffiths), it was Larry that introduced Rodney Ellis to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

After his first steps in BJJ, Rodney saw potential in the sport and started taking trips to Brazil to further broaden his knowledge. His first coach in Brazil was Assed Haddad (who now teaches in Florida) at the Osvaldo Alves academy in Rio de Janeiro. Assed graded Ellis with his blue belt, and in 1999 decided to take young Ellis to André Pederneiras’s headquarters to train at the famous Nova União Academy. It was Pederneiras who graded Rodney Ellis on his purple and brown always in the presence of Assed Haddad. On the 16th of November, 2005 André Pederneiras graded Rodney as a black belt in a ceremony at Rio de Janeiro, Assed Haddad could not be present as he was in Florida, US at the time.