Members of Forged Fitness recently traveled west to Irvine, California to compete in the world’s largest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, the Pan-Ams. Hosted by the IBJJF, this event consistently draws over 3,000 competitors and some of the top talent from all over the globe. Forged Fitness members joined up with other local Team ROC schools to compete under one flag as Team Royce Gracie. The competition was fierce, and, as always happens when you test yourself at the international level, we experienced some wins and losses. Those who made the trip got to experience the highest level of the sport and came away with an increased understanding, along with added fire to return even stronger next year.
Some highlights of the tournament for our team included Mary Holmes bringing home a silver medal, Larry Hughes and Brian Mingia taking third place in their divisions, as well as Ned coming from behind in the last 30 seconds to win his first two matches, and of course, Mazi Heydary and Drew Culbreth demonstrating true cunning and tactical superiority to take gold in their divisions. Having Team ROC black belts Billy Dowey, Jason Culbreth, Brian Mingia, Mazi Heydary, and Jay Palacios coaching and providing their knowledge was invaluable to all of the competitors, and their example set the tone for the entire team.
Our BJJ program and training is second to none, and we will always measure ourselves against the best of the best and constantly seek to improve daily. Take advantage of all the experience gained by these competitors by asking them about their time in California. Also, stay tuned, the No-Gi Pan Ams in New York will be October 27th, and we will be take another medal hungry group to look for more successes.