04/21/2025
Two tournaments. Two weekends. Two gold medals. Four submissions.
Last weekend, I competed at the Del Mar tournament and was able to take home gold with two submissions, without giving up a single point. I secured my fastest submission to date — around a minute — and it felt incredible to go out there and send it exactly how I visualized it.
Right before that tournament, my coach texted me something that stuck with me: “Be grateful for the opportunity to compete. You get to feel a little more alive than most people today.” That couldn’t be more true. And that’s definitely how it felt — pure gratitude. Grateful for the opportunity to compete. Grateful to have found this amazing sport. Grateful for every moment I get to feel alive out there.
This Saturday, I stepped out of my comfort zone again and competed at the Orange County Open — different league, different rules, higher competition. I finished again with two submissions, including a hard-fought comeback against a tough opponent who had won the last two Orange County Opens.
I was down 2-0 early after getting taken down, but fought my way back to an 11-2 lead before securing the submission to win.
Back-to-back weekends. Back-to-back golds. Four submissions.
An amazing experience that I’ll never take for granted.
Huge thank you to for the preparation, visualization, and guidance that made these moments possible. Thank you to & for making that San Diego trip epic. Thank you to .s.perez and my son Liam for being there in Del Mar, and for the support this weekend in Orange County. And thank you always to my 5:30am crew at - I’m feeling the results of all those tough mornings together.
I’m coming up on one year into this Jiu-Jitsu journey in June, with six competitions in the books — and somehow, five gold medals. It’s been unreal, and I’m just getting started.
Grateful, hungry, and time to get ready for Long Beach in 5 weeks!