MARKUS SCHREIBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Travis Stevens will be competing again in a BJJ superfight and this time against a BJJ world and ADCC champion: Yuri Simoes.
FloGrappling broke the news first:
2016 silver medalist judoka Travis Stevens, who’s also a Renzo Gracie black belt in jiu-jitsu, will make his submission-only debut on August 12.
The match will feature as the main event of Fight To Win Pro 44, and will take place in Stevens’ back yard of Boston, Massachusetts.
His opponent for the 10-minute bout will be none other than Yuri Simoes, the 2015 ADCC champion and two-time double-gold No-Gi World Champion (2014 & 2016 weight and absolute).
Travis Stevens aka ‘The Judo Silencer’ is a Olympic silver medalist judoka from the United States who competed in 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympcs. Travis has defeated Judo legend and Ne Waza king Flavio Canto. Travis also holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under John Danaher. Danaher rewarded Stevens his black belt on November 19, 2013.
Travis Stevens went through all the BJJ Belts under John Danaher in an incredible 18 Months! He held the rank of Brown for a year and competed at Copa Podio, and BJJ expo tournament. White-blue in weeks, then blue-purple in a month then purple-brown in a few months!
Stevens recently answered some serious questions in an interview with Sirious XM’s Rush.
He exclusively revealed to The Luke Thomas Show why he stopped competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments.
“IJF put a ban on me personally doing any other jiu-jitsu competitions that’s why after Copa Podio 2 years ago February I stopped.
Because the IJF said , we’re not banning athletes but you have to ask us for permission to go. So I wrote for a permission to go to Worlds and compete as a brown belt and they said no.
I got offered a 10,000$ card so I wrote another appeal to them and said hey you guys are preventing me from making a living because I don’t make that much money in Judo and I have an opportunity to make 10,000$ and build my name up in this country for both judo and jiu-jitsu and they said no.
And then they sent a 3rd letter saying don’t ask us anymore because any further request will also be denied “
When asked what does that mean for his future career Stevens answered:
“I remember sitting down with John Danaher after one of the training sessions and I said John I have a serious question to ask you and I wanna let you know something: one of my goals is to win the Olympic games one year, win the IBJJF Worlds 8 months later and then 6 months after that I wanna win ADCC.Then he looked at me and said that sounds like mission impossible. But I honestly feel if I had the backing and support I could do it. No questions asked. Because I can outwork any One in any sport because I love training, I love being in the gym I love that feeling of getting ready to do the grind and surviving. “
Olympic Silver Medalist Travis Stevens’s Training Week: 6 Sessions/Day!
