Underworld BJJ Gym Announces Grand Opening on H St. NE

Underworld BJJ is thrilled to announce the grand opening of its Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym located at 810 H St. NE, on January 11, 2026, bringing family-friendly fitness, fun, and competitive sports to the H St community. With classes 7 days/ week, Underworld offers an action-packed schedule full of beginner-friendly classes, kids classes, women’s-only classes, competition training, and so much more. 

Just three weeks after becoming the 2025 Purple belt Jiu Jitsu World Champion, Danielle Gallo and her fiancé Aidan Oates, have opened Underworld BJJ, with the goal of transforming the H St community with the sport that changed their lives. 

“BJJ is an incredibly powerful tool for building an active lifestyle and learning real-world skills, but its real superpower is the sport’s lasting impact: confidence, resilience, discipline, and a place to call home,” says Gallo. “When I first began jiu jitsu, I was in the darkest place mentally and physically I had ever been. I weighed 82 lbs of skin and bones, and felt so isolated and hopeless. Jiu jitsu was the thing that entirely rebuilt my life. Today, just five years later, I am a World Champion. I am a business owner. I met my entire friend group and even my fiancé, Aidan, on these mats. Jiu jitsu, in its sweaty and humbling way, taught me how to pick myself up again after I fall, and has become the vehicle I use to teach people how to do the same in their own lives.” 

Gallo and Oates are creating this gym with the vision that Underworld BJJ can serve as a crucial community rooted in human-to-human connection, where families and friends can be physically together, learn a tangible skill, sweat in each other's faces, and laugh until their ribs hurt. Especially in the last year, where federal layoffs divided and disconnected the DC community, this gym remained a cornerstone in people’s lives. While families made budget cuts and forgoed vacations, coaches Danielle and Aidan starting offering free memberships and self defense workshops, began throwing free kids movie nights and picnics at the gym, and gathered families from all over DC for BJJ tournaments, all in an effort to bring people together and show them that a community can be built around a group of people who are committed to showing up and working hard.

The grand opening open mat will feature games, sparring, and a ribbon-cutting for kids from 11am to 12pm, and a second ribbon-cutting with open sparring and refreshments for adults from 12pm onwards, inviting the public to experience what makes Underworld BJJ so special. 

Event Details:

• What: Underworld Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) Grand Opening Celebration

• When: Sunday, January 11, 11am – 12pm (Kids) and 12pm onwards (Adults)

• Where: 810 H St NE, Washington DC 20002

• Highlights: Martial arts, fitness for the entire family, beginners welcome!