About Us
Daimyo Jiujitsu opened its doors in 2010 and is the vision of head instructors and owners Manuel Flores and Brenda Soto. We take pride in the dedication and knowledge every single one of our instructors brings to every class and interaction with our students.
Coach Manuel and coach Brenda believe in helping people achieve their goals on and off the mats. We understand how challenging Jiujitsu can be, but we believe that through our programs and unique approach to Jiujitsu we can help you accomplish something special in the art we love
Meet your instructors
Manuel Flores
Manuel Flores was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. His family relocated to the US when he was 14 years old. After moving to the US Manuel started to train and compete in both wrestling and Kickboxing, winning the grand championship at the age of 16 in kickboxing. Professor Flores dedicated majority of his life to the service of his community by working both for the Department of Corrections and later for the Tucson Police Department. Prof. Flores was part of many special details while working for the Police Department, his most proud achievement there was promoting to Sergeant where he could help mold the officers of the future. Prof. Flores managed to keep a busy schedule with competition while raising a family and continuing with his public service. He competed and won his bouts in both MMA (RITC) and Boxing (police olympics). In BJJ Prof. Flores loved competing in the AZ circuit, achieving multiple gold medals. At the international level Prof. Flores has competing at the Masters worlds, US Nationals and Pan Ams, winning silver and bronze multiple times. Prof. Flores continues to compete but his main focus is the growth of his students. You can find Prof. Flores on the mats rolling and teaching 6 days per week, helping and guiding his students to achieve their goals
Brenda Soto
Brenda Soto was born and raised in Nogales, Mexico. Her family relocated to the US when she was 15 years old. Prof. Soto has won both her division and the absolute at the IBJJF Pan Ams both as a brown belt and as a black belt. When Prof. Soto started training she noticed the BJJ community needed to be more welcoming to women wanting to train and offer more options for them. When she and her husband opened their academy in 2010 Prof. Soto started the first women only program in the state of Arizona. As her program grew this inspired other academies to to the same and offer a safe environment for women to start training. Prof. Soto continued her education while leading her academy and later achieved her certification in RTT (Hypnosis lead therapy) Prof. Soto now works with individuals, athletes and companies of all sizes to help them achieve personal development and success. You can find Prof. Soto on the mats 6 days per week, helping and guiding her students to achieve their goals
Chris Rivera
Crisantos Rivera started his BJJ journey in 2005 as a way to better prepare himself for the challenges his job presented. To his day Prof. Rivera serves his community as a CBP agent. After a successful career as a bodybuilder and powerlifter Prof Rivera switched his focus to BJJ full time. As he progressed he began competing and medaled in several competitions including Pan Ams, Vegas Open and AZ State Championships. "I truly enjoy watching the progression of the Daimyo students as they evolve, from learning to shrimp to the perfect application of an arm bar" You can find Prof. Rivera coaching his students along with his assistant instructors throughout the week at our academy. Prof. Rivera does an incredible job at teaching our fundamental classes along with Kickboxing classes on Wednesday.