Keenan Cornelius

Keenan Cornelius is the creator of the worm guard, which uses the lapel of the opponent’s gi to lock up the leg and posture, and one of the people who most shook up the gi game in the 2010s. As a black belt he took bronze at the IBJJF Worlds four times, twice in the open class, and was a two-time ADCC runner-up.

Born in Hilo, Hawaii, on February 25, 1992, he trained at the academies of Cassio Werneck, BJ Penn and Lloyd Irvin before his black belt. In 2012, still a purple belt, he won his weight class and the open class at the Worlds, the Pans, the Europeans and the Brazilian Nationals, the full grand slam for the season.

In 2013 he moved to Atos, in San Diego. That year he won the Worlds at medium-heavyweight and was runner-up in the open class as a brown belt, received his black belt from André Galvão on September 14 and, a month later, took two bronze medals at ADCC, at 88 kg and in the open class, where he lost the semifinal to Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. As a black belt he took Worlds bronze in 2014, in the open class, in 2016, at medium-heavyweight, in 2018, at heavyweight, and in 2019, again in the open class. At ADCC he reached the 88 kg final in 2015 and 2017 and lost to Yuri Simões and Gordon Ryan. He also won the Pans in 2015, at medium-heavyweight, and in 2018, at super-heavyweight, the Europeans in 2018 and 2020, at heavyweight, and the No-Gi Worlds in 2014 and 2017, at medium-heavyweight.

In 2019 he left Atos and opened his own gym in San Diego, Legion American Jiu-Jitsu. At that year’s Worlds, the last one where he made the podium, he is already listed in the results under a different team. He now spends most of his time on classes, seminars and technique content.