The Berimbolo Kid's Match of the Week - Week 2 - Keenan Cornelius vs. AJ Agazarm - Pan Ams 2011

(Last week’s edition can be found HERE)

Before I get into this week’s match, I would first like to say thank you for all the support I received on last week’s match. I'm glad many of you enjoyed it and hopefully I introduced you guys to something new and to fighters who perhaps you never seen or heard of before.

Now that's out of the way, we can now get onto today's match.

Today's match is Keenan Cornelius vs. AJ Agazarm from 2011 Pan-American Championships. This match is the first round of the lightweight purple belt division. I'm pretty sure not many of you have seen this.

I mentioned previously that would I try and stay away from big names as much as possible, but this match I thought not a lot of you guys have ever seen so I thought I would share it with you guys. This match is very memorable in my mind only for the reason that Keenan loses this match, and you don't see that happening very often. This was before he started his unbeatable streak in 2012 but you can clearly see his skills on display in this match against AJ Agazarm who is an excellent competitor in his own right. 

If you follow Jiu-Jitsu and you don't know who Keenan Cornelius is, you have probably been living in a cave for three years. Keenan is without a doubt the best American grappler ever, and is considered the favourite to become the first non-Brazilian black belt absolute world champion. In 2012, Keenan achieved the double grand slam, meaning he took gold in his weight division and the absolute division in the four major IBJJF tournaments those being the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, Pan-American Championship, European Open Championship, and Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship - at his given belt rank, a feat never before accomplished in IBJJF history. Keenan is perhaps a man who requires no introduction. 

Keenan Cornelius

I first heard of AJ Agazarm when he took part in Lloyd Irvin's BJJ Kumite, which featured some of the best brown belts compete against each other in a no time limit, submission only rule set. AJ has a strong wrestling background and is a very game competitor. He is a multiple time Pan-American and American National champion, and has also taken medals at numerous mundial tournaments. Currently, AJ is the number one black belt in the world for both his weight division and absolute in nogi. I have actually have had the opportunity of interviewing AJ and if any of you guys are interested you can find it HERE.

AJ Agazarm

The match between the two is very exciting. Keenan uses his excellent guard to his advantage and tries to set up some lovely triangle and kimura attempts. He is very aggressive with his guard and is constantly hunting for the submission throughout the course of the match. He even hits a nice sweep from 50/50 guard around the midway point of the match. 

AJ is an extremely good top player, and you would come to expect this from someone with a very good wrestling background. Throughout the match, AJ remains aggressive and tries to keep the pace of the match high. He is extremely good at passing the guard but has a tough time trying to pass the Cornelius' active guard. 

The video of this match can be found below. I hope you guys enjoy! 

See you next week!

(If you are viewing on a mobile device, please click HERE)