Yup you heard right. There’s a new BJJ blue belt in town. His name is Holden Murphy, or as I like to call him “Kitty Soft Paws” haha.
He was promoted during the Monday night CAP BJJ class by me (Danny Ives) in front of all his teammates, family and friends.
Holden’s been a longtime member of our training programs since way back in the day. He started with us in March of 2010, when he was just 12 years old.
Since then he’s done it all, everything from Muay Thai to Wrestling to Judo to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). He takes this MMA thing very seriously as you can tell.
He’s also the 2011 Pan Kids Championships Silver Medal winner. That and many times NAGA champion. Along the way he received his BJJ yellow belt from me. That was in 2012 (I think).
Holden also makes history at IL by becoming the first child to go from our youth program all the way into the adult classes and earn his adult BJJ Blue Belt. That’s a pretty big accomplishment if I do say so myself 🙂
So to see this fine young man go from a kids yellow belt to now the adult ranks is something really special to me and I’m sure many others.
Holden isn’t the only family member that takes classes with us. His old man, Mike “Cadillac” Murphy is also a blue belt in BJJ. Mom Laura takes our fitness boot camp and Kickboxing classes and even younger brother Alex trains in our JR’s youth martial arts classes.
Congrats again kiddo. Job well done. Stay the course and fellow your dreams. Black Belt shouldn’t be too far off the radar.
