Congratulations to IC Athletes Dave, James, and Newton, who all took home medals this weekend from arguably one of the world’s most competitive sporting events: The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s Pan American Championships.
Dave (left) won the GOLD in the super heavy weight division and the SILVER in the open weight class Black Belt Division.
James (middle) won the GOLD in the heavy weight Brown Belt Division.
Newton (right) won the BRONZE in the light weight Blue Belt Division.
Here are some interesting facts about our guys: 1) Dave successfully defends his gold medal performance in his weight class from 2003 and goes on to take the silver medal in the open weight class 2) This is James’ first competition as a Brown Belt and he competes despite having a nasty upper respiratory infection (walking pneumonia) 3) This is Newton’s first BJJ competition ever.
To say that these guys did great is an understatement. Newton confessed that when it was all said and done, it came down to strength and conditioning. In fact, all of his opponents were highly skilled technically, but Newton’s physical training gave him an edge and allowed him to push through when the others gassed.
Based on how hard they had been training for the past three months, there was little chance they would not win. 
Congrats guys! Way to go! By the way like the picture…looks very modelish like you are posing for some sort of sport magazine. Yes I know modelish is not a word, but hey you know what I mean. : )
CONGRATS!!!! I am really thrilled for you guys, watching you train has been inspiring. maybe perspiring?
Huge congrats to Dave and James for the GOLD! These guys have a ridiculous work ethic and are BJJ veterans so I was not expecting anything less than stellar from them. That being said, you have to hear about Newton. Now, if you’ll remember, Newton has less than 6 months of BJJ experience, never entered a tournament in his life, and decides to compete in the toughest BJJ event out there.
There were 76 blue belts in his bracket, which meant he would have to fight seven six-minute matches to win gold. That’s the equivalent of a 42 minute IC workout at level 10! Well, as fate would have it, Newton ended up fighting five times. He taps the first opponent with a lapel choke from the back, dominates the second one by points, DQ’s the third one for bad behavior (refusing to continue to fight), and taps the fourth with a clock choke variation. He moves to the semi-finals and faces a national wrestling champion from Florida and dominates the first 4 minutes. At this point Newton was up 6-0. However, I’m not sure if you all know this but, “national wrestling champions” are as tough as they get. His opponent comes back in the last two minutes with 2 take downs and 1 guard pass, which gave him a 1 point advantage over Newton. In the end, Newton lost by 1 POINT (7-6)! Newton said that he lost his concentration. It was the biggest lesson he learned in years.
Wow guys! Amazing. James, you must have lungs of steel! …and Dave, after that surgery, don’t you have an elbow of steel?
my jaw dropped reading Steve’s description. Congrats to all!
Congratulations guys!! There’s nothing more inspiring than being able to watch super athletes in action…you guys rock!
Wow! Congratulations guys! That is incredible!
Of course. But you need three per team. Partneratas: 5:5:5: Sit, Lay, Pose.