**Professor Gay Cobham** was born in 1961 and is a retired New York State Trooper with 20 years of law enforcement experience. During his career, he served as a full-time Defensive Tactics Instructor at the New York State Police Academy in Albany, NY, and was also a member of the elite Mobile Response Team.
In addition to his law enforcement career, he served in the United States Army, later becoming a U.S. Army Ranger assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.
His martial arts journey began at age 7 and includes Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Japanese Jiu Jitsu, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which he began at age 40.
Professor Cobham’s BJJ journey started under Professors Gene Dunn and Brian Glick of Team Renzo Gracie, along with John Danaher, at Brooklyn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He trained there from white belt through brown belt. While a blue belt, he traveled extensively to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for work and began training at the De La Riva Academy HQ under Master Ricardo De La Riva. He continued training with Master De La Riva in Brazil and through his affiliates in the United States, eventually receiving his black belt from Master De La Riva in Brazil.
Since beginning BJJ at age 40, Professor Cobham has remained an active Masters competitor. After earning numerous titles at the lower belt levels, he continued his success at black belt, becoming a **3-time Masters World Champion, 2-time No-Gi World Champion, and 2-time European Champion**.
When he is not training or teaching at **Danger Room Athletics / De La Riva NY**, he continues to travel domestically and internationally for work, training, teaching, and competition.