Last Saturday several members of the KnuckleUp Brazilian Jiu Jitsu team competed in the American Grappling Federation 2015 Atlanta BJJ Open, resulting a night of exciting highlights.

·  Fresh from a strong showing as a White Belt in the World Championships, Ultra Heavyweight Ryan Raleigh won his first tournament as a Blue Belt.

·   Kyle Propes took second in his first tournament as a Brown Belt.

·   Parker Graham won all his fights by submission.

·   Blue Belt Alex Enriquez won the women’s no gi Absolute Division when she scored a huge victory over UFC fighter Angela Hill in the finals.

·   Foster Kennedy scored the move of the tournament when he landed a sensational flying armbar in his first match (see video below).

Overall, the KnuckleUp Team placed second in the competition. Unfortunately a scheduling issue caused the tournament to cancel the final slate of Open Gi matches, which cost KnuckleUp the chance to compete for enough points to finish in the lead.

Lead Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor for KnuckleUp, Ricardo Murgel, was encouraged by the performance of the team and is already looking forward to the next big event.

“This competition was a warm-up for the big one, which will be the Atlanta Open at the end of August.  I am very excited about the future of KnuckeUp’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program. We have a golden opportunity for tremendous success with this team, especially with some of the teenage competitors.”

To find out about how KnuckleUp uses the power of world  class martial arts instruction to make our fitness classes fun, exciting, and effective contact us here.