A great way to study for grappling is find athletes within your weight class or with a similar game to you at the top of the sport and try to replicate and implement parts of their game in yours.
If you compete or train No Gi at 66kg (or close to it) here's a good list of 5 athletes for you to watch to improve your grappling game.
Diogo "Baby Shark" Reis
Reis is the definition of an all-rounder. No glaring weakness to hunt for, which is exactly why he's worth studying — he wins by not giving opponents any obvious holes to attack.
What stands out most is his fight IQ. He reads scrambles a beat ahead of most competitors and rarely gets caught out of position. His ADCC 2022 run is required viewing — watch how he adjusts his gameplan match to match instead of forcing the same game on every opponent. We have lots of clips from this run available within grapplex.
Dorian Olivarez
Olivarez's base is elite wrestling, and it shows everywhere in his game — especially in his passing. His outside passing is exceptional, using wrestling-style pressure and angles to get around the legs rather than through them.
The other thing that jumps out: his cardio looks unlimited. He pushes pace for the full match without visibly fading, which lets him win rounds late that a lot of competitors lose. If your gas tank is a weak point, his matches are a good benchmark for what "never slowing down" actually looks like and if you are fortunate enough to have superhuman cardio then replicating this style may be very effective for you.
Diego "Pato"
Pato is a leg lock specialist at a world-class level, paired with an offensive guard that constantly threatens entries. He doesn't play a defensive, guard-retention game — he's hunting for the submission at all times.
Study how he uses guard offense specifically to manufacture leg lock positions, rather than treating guard and leg locks as separate skills. That combination is the blueprint if you want to build a real leg lock system instead of just hitting entries off scrambles.
Fabricio Andrey
Andrey mixes wrestling with judo to build one of the most dangerous standing games in the division — trips, throws, and takedowns that actually land at the highest level. He doesn't stall once the match hits the mat, either. He's an elite passer, so the stand-up is the start of a full top-control system rather than a separate skill.
If you're most comfortable on top, he's the athlete on this list to study. Pay attention to how he handles larger opponents for example his match at polaris with Owen Livesey is very entertaining.
Owen Jones
Jones rounds out the list with world-class guard work, standout leg locks, and a genuinely unusual detail: a reverse closed guard. That's not a common tool in most competitors' arsenal, and it's worth studying specifically for how he uses it to create leg lock and sweep opportunities that a standard other guards doesn't offer. Even if its not your cup of tea, its still worth watching in case anyone else tries it on you.
If you're stuck running the same two or three guards, Jones is a good reminder that there's more room to innovate at the position than most people use.
How to Actually Use This List
I would start by picking one athlete thats game resonates with you, pick one specific thing they do (Olivarez's outside passing angles, Pato's guard-to-leg-lock entries, Jones's reverse closed guard), a good way to do this could be via our explore feature in grapplex that allows you to refine your search to specific clips where the athlete performs the move or is in the position you are working on instead of getting lost in the endless clips on youtube or have to watch a full match just to find a 10 second sequence.