Hi, I’m Keenan Cornelius.
When I started Jiu Jitsu in 2006,
I was immediately hooked.
I became absolutely obsessed with the competitive side of Jiu Jitsu and spent a lot of time studying as many positions and techniques as I could.
And, like a lot of people, I gravitated towards Sensei YouTube to supplement what I wasn’t learning in class.
Don’t get me wrong…
I got a lot from drilling and rolling in class. But, there was always a limit to what I was learning.
There ware a ton of people training with us, so it was impossible for our instructors to accommodate everyone.
You know how it goes…
We were just kind of given what we were given: and what we were given usually wasn’t specific to our individual games or our individual goals.
A rocky start…
When it came to competing at the lower belt levels, I had a rocky start and I lost a ton of matches.
But, eventually, as my training and my focus improved, so did my results and I was able to win the IBJJF Grand Slam as a purple belt.
I had a great run from here and won many championships, but, when I got to the black belt level…
…things got a lot harder.
I changed my approach
I decided to switch my focus from training simply to win to focusing more on figuring out new positions that no one else was doing.
And a weird thing happened…
The more time I spent working on developing my own specific techniques and my own specific style, the greater the improvements I saw in my game and the better I started doing in competition.
I quickly became known as the guy who created positions such as the Worm Guard, Squid Guard, Gubber Guard and more…
My mission is to give you the tools I had to figure out on my own, so that you start progressing faster
“But on the streets…” 🤮
However, this newfound success at the black belt level wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns.
The more success I was having, the more I began to see people throwing shade at my style online.
People were saying, “That’s not real Jiu-Jitsu” and “Keenan’s stuff only works for sports Jiu Jitsu, it wouldn’t work in the streets”.
I mean, who’d of thunk it. A guy that competes in sports Jiu Jitsu creates techniques to help him win tournaments in sports Jiu Jitsu? Crazy, right?!
Sadly, I began hearing rumors of instructors banning the use of my techniques in their gyms because of these beliefs.
I love to win, but for real fulfillment, I need to teach
But, just like any polarizing event in life, the harder people swing one way with their opinion, there are an equal amount of people swinging equally as hard in the opposite direction.
And what happened?
I began seeing more and more people using my style of Jiu Jitsu to win tournaments.
Eventually, the same people who banned my techniques from their classes were now teaching them!
To me, this is real-world proof that the legitimacy of my unique style is undeniable….
…and I couldn’t be happier.
Now, with the advent of social media, I’m being tagged in more and more videos of people using my moves to dominate in competition.
And honestly…
…that feels better than winning, myself.
Now, helping others improve their Jiu Jitsu, with Keenan Online and the Lapel Encyclopedia, has become a major part of my life.
Knowing I’m helping others, no matter their age, body type or level, get better at Jiu Jitsu motivates me every day to keep doing what I’m doing.
Who is Keenan, the Competitor?
IBJJF European Champion
Weight & Absolute
2018
IBJJF Pan Ams Champion
2018 / 2015 / 2014
IBJJF American National Champion
Weight & Absolute
2017
Main Gi Achievements
IBJJF Asian Open Champion
Weight & Absolute
2018
IBJJF Boston Summer Open Champion
Weight & Absolute
2017
IBJJF World Championship
Bronze
2018
IBJJF Pan Championship
Bronze (Absolute)
2018
Third Coast Grappling Houston, TX
Superfight Winner
2019
5 Super League San Diego, CA
Superfight Winner
2017
