BJJ Kumite Week: Lloyd Irvin & Co.

For those who don't know, after a long saga of brown belt debating and what not, Lloyd Irvin's got a bunch of top notch brown belts out at Camp Springs Maryland in a week of training then doing a submission only style tournament with the last man standing of the pack facing Keenan Cornelius.

So rather than read rumors on internet forums and even comments from those who would rather speculate than confirm the truth, here it is from the source:

"To add further to the excitement, Master Lloyd asked the group “so which one of you thinks you’re the best brown belt in the world?” Everyone in the confident group raised their hand. However one guy is more accomplished than the rest, Master Lloyd called Luke Costello down from the bleachers to the mat. “Luke you are the most accomplished brown belt here. You get to choose your first opponent.” Luke shifted back and forth on his feet and turned bright red. “Well I suppose I should’ve done some due diligence.” “I don’t know, I’ll pick the smallest guy here (points to Victor Silverio).” Victor Silverio took to the mat. Master Lloyd asked Victor, “do you want this match to be gi or no gi?” Victor quickly answers, “no gi.” Victor later explained that Luke beat him in a previous no gi match so he was anxious to get his revenge. Everyone in the room was a bit surprised – “why didn’t he choose Keenan?” one competitor whispered to another. Then Master Lloyd asked, “who’s the second most accomplished brown belt in the room?” Garry Tonon quickly stepped up the plate. Garry, in true warrior form, chose Keenan for his first match. Keenan chose to face Garry in the gi. In interviews, Garry explained that he picked Keenan because he’s the man to beat. Garry lost a close match to Keenan at NAGA and is anxious to exact revenge. When asked, Keenan revealed his strategy, “to choke Garry from the back.”
The matches officially start Tuesday, December 11:
Luke Costello vs. Victor Silverio
Garry Tonon vs. Keenan Cornelius
AJ Sousa vs. Thomas Oyarzun
Darragh O’Conaill vs. Eduardo Salazar
Sean Roberts vs. Ilke Bulut
Luca Anacoreta will get a bye in the first round. AJ Agazarm will join the tournament on Wednesday, December 12."