#throwbackthursday – Sensei Jeff wins IBJJF Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) Championship

“#throwbackthursday – Recently got a new tattoo with a bunch of memorable dates from my martial arts career. Here’s one of them.

Back in 2002 I won Gold at the IBJJF Pan American Championship. Only a handful of us Canadians were competing back then internationally –Mark Bocek and I were at purple– and the experience of these huge tournaments was so valuable for us all during a time when BJJ was still developing in Canada.

Cool looking back now and seeing many future big BJJ names at the purple belt ranks that year – Cyborg, Braulio Estima, Wilson Reis and others.

Months after this tourney, I had my first MMA fight and set a goal to fight in the UFC one day. Winning these Pan-Ams definitely gave me a lot of confidence in my ground game going forward.”

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