Local mixed martial arts instructor Ted Osburn is spreading his mission to the Verde Valley masses.
The eight-year teacher and First Degree Black Belt not only won a gold medal June 29 at the state Brazilian jiu-jitsu championships, “my three nieces as well as my brother all won gold medals this year” in the sport, he said.
“Elijah Osburn is a Blue Belt,” Osburn said of his brother, “winning three gold medals and five silver all within the last two years.”
Persais Osburn and her cousins, Trinity and Katrina Melgoza, all won gold at a February kids tournament for the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, in which their uncle Ted is a fighter.
“My three nieces are all Yellow Belts now and have each competed twice,” Osburn said.
With 30 seconds left in his gold medal match, Osburn was able to tap out a Phoenix professor of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Joao Vieira.
“Joao Vieira was super tough and very strategic,” Osburn said. “It was a good battle, [but] I was able to obtain the submission.”
Osburn earned his initial black belt four years ago in the full-contact sport, which combines elements of wrestling, judo and ground fighting to help smaller and weaker fighters gain leverage, in Austin, Texas, before deciding to move to Cottonwood and open an academy.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, July 30, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
