Golden Grappler
Brandon Ruiz persevered to earn Grappling World title
By Gary Abbott Many champions will tell you that their quest for success is
more about the journey than the destination. Such is the story of Brandon Ruiz, one of America’s newest
World Champions. Ruiz captured the gold medal at 110 kg in the No-Gi discipline at the 2011 World Grappling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, after winning two previous World silver medals. Brandon was a national-caliber Greco-Roman wrestler for
many years. His younger brother is 2005 Greco-Roman World bronze medalist Justin Ruiz, who remains a top Olympic hope- ful.
Ruiz went out for wrestling at his high school in Utah after
being cut from basketball. He entered the sport with no expecta- tions. “A guy in my class said I should try wrestling. I tried it out and
have been there ever since. We didn’t come from a wrestling family. It was just experimental. Justin joined after I did it,” said Brandon. He placed twice in the Utah high school state. As a senior, he entered the post-season unbeaten but was upset at state and finished third. His scholarship to Ricks College went away after his loss at the states, so he decided to walk on at Brigham Young. He made the team there and competed for Olympic and World champion Mark Schultz. Along the way, he also wrestled the international styles and
took a strong liking to Greco-Roman. “Freestyle and Greco-Roman was the most fun for me. When
I got to do age-group competition, I had fun. I liked throwing guys. I did Greco through both high school and college. I want- ed to get better. I started training with more and better coaches, and I went to age-group nations. I wanted to see how far I could take it,” he said. After his senior year in college, BYU decided to drop its wrestling program. He went on a two-year Mormon mission after that, and had knee surgery. “I didn’t see a whole lot of opportunity to wrestle, and that was
when I started with Grappling,” said Ruiz. “However, I talked to (National Coach) Steve Fraser at one of the national tourna- ments, and he said I could still come out and wrestle Greco- Roman.” Brandon got married and moved to Colorado Springs to pur-
sue his Olympic dream in Greco-Roman. Because he was also working a job on the side, he had to be creative in getting in suf- ficient workout time. “I still did Grappling on the side. I had to work to support
myself. There were times I would go with the local jiu-jitsu, Grappling and MMA guys to get in a workout. I had to piece it all together,” said Ruiz. He was carrying a BYU wrestling bag in the Denver airport
when he met Sheldon Marr, coach of the Grappler’s Edge Club. Marr competed in judo, but has become one of the nation’s best
14 USA Wrestler
Brandon Ruiz wins a gold medal at the Grappling World Championships in Serbia. Robbert Wijtman photo.
Grappling coaches. “He said he knew Mark Schultz from the 2000 U.S. Pankration Team. He invited me up to his gym. That next spring, there was a Pankration Submission Tournament up in Denver. Sheldon called and said he needed a heavyweight. I was a little hesitant, but he said if I felt uncomfortable in a position, I could just tap out. I went there, had a good experience, won the tour- nament and have been hooked,” said Ruiz. After three years at the USOTC, Ruiz and his wife Brynne
were having their first child and they decided to move back to Utah for financial reasons in the fall of 2006. He continued to train in Greco-Roman but also remained active in martial arts. He placed fourth in the 2006 and 2007 U.S. Nationals and fin- ished eighth at the 2008 U.S. Nationals. “It was tough. I wanted to make it to the Olympic Trials. I was
seeing the writing on the wall. I had to decide whether to do Greco-Roman, or to embrace my Grappling. I was doing more Grappling and Jiu-Jitsu, and I earned my black belt in 2008,” he said.
When Ruiz placed third in the Gi division at the BJJ World Championships in 2008, he realized that his future was in Grappling and Jiu-Jitsu. He continued to wrestle at many events with Coach Marr and Grapplers Edge, and also trained with Team Machado in Utah. Ruiz started to take a wider look at the many disciplines of mar-
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