Keenan Cornelius made it to brown belt on fire, beating Roberto Tussa in the under-92kg division. Personal archive photo.
Last weekend marked the latest round of US-based tryouts for the Abu Dhabi WPJJC. This time around it was Flushing, New York’s Queens College gymnasium that got treated to the action. And the gentle art’s new generation provided plenty to talk about, with one of the aces with the biggest buzz, brown belt Keenan Cornelius of team Lloyd Irvin, winning the under-92 kg division and taking bronze in the absolute.
In the semifinal, Cornelius came up against Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu in a riveting encounter where the young up-and-comer more than held his own. Cyborg won the over-92 kg division and was runner-up in the absolute, blocked from taking gold by Keenan’s teammate DJ Jackson.
In the following video, check out how Cyborg dealt with one of Keenan’s most dazzling positions. What about you, what do you make of the young grappling wizard’s style?
