Photo by Kinya Hashimoto

  American Jiu-Jitsu phenom Keenan Cornelius continues his trailblazing career with a silver medal (close out with Guto Campos) at the Pan, his first major BJJ event at black belt.

He didn’t have an easy time as he fought in both the open weight and his regular weight class of medium heavy. In the absolute he beat the very game Luiz Panza and lost the quarter final to the Danish powerhouse Alexander Trans. In his weight class, he beat Rodrigo Fajardo in the semis before closing out with Atos team mate Guto Campos.

In a facebook statement he anounced that he wants to take his training up a notch and is planning to move one weight class up to heavyweight.

Keenan had been competing as a middle weight during his glorious purple belt run and moved up to medium heavy as a brown belt. Now as a black belt he has many team mates such as Guto Campos Vitor Toledo and of course his instructor Andre Galvao.

Keenan being still in his early twenties and being tall for his weight class, it is highly probable that the move up will not negatively affect his game.

We look forward to watching his Metamoris 3 superfight against Vinny Magalhaes.

From Keenan’s facebook:

Pan Ams was a blast, Guto and I closed out the middle heavy division and left as champions while the big man professor Andre Galvao took home double gold and a team title. This was my first major tournament as a black belt in the gi and it was craazay… Black belts are tough. Time to buckle down and get serious(er) for Abu Dhabi pro and worlds! Also I want to fight heavyweight soon. See y’all next time.

Some of his Pan Am matches: