Dillan Tatum

On March 9, 2013, at the age of 13, I competed in the teens division at the Gracie Grappling Cup in San Antonio, Texas. My weigh-in weight was 144.8 lbs. I submitted a 14 year old, 3 stripe green belt to win the gold medal for my gi division. I was up 9 points to 0 when I submitted him with a Bow and Arrow Choke. This was my first submission with a Bow and Arrow Choke at a tournament. He was my only opponent in the gi division. In my nogi division I beat the same 14 year old on points 3 to 2 and then I submitted a 15 year old with an Armbar to win the gold medal. Armando Castaneda and his girlfriend Sara rode with my dad and me to the tournament. Armando won the silver medal in both his gi and nogi divisions. Joe Manuel Vela, also from Harlingen Jiu-Jitsu Club competed in the tournament. Unfortunately, Joe dislocated his right shoulder shortly into his first match and had to go to the Emergency Room to have it put back into place. Joe coached me in all three of my matches and I could not have done it without him in my corner. Click on “Continue Reading” to see some videos and pictures from this tournament. Continue reading »

On May 12 and 13th 2012 the NAGA Dallas Grappling Championship was held. CHARLIE CLARK NISSAN sponsored me for this tournamet. I want to think them for sponsoring me. Without their sponsorship, I would not have been able to go to this tournament. The adults and teens competed on Saturday May 12 and the kids competed on Sunday May 13. My weigh-in weight was 129.8 lbs. I competed in the kids expert skill level which was for kids with 2 years or more experience. I had about 1 1/2 years experience but I wanted to compete against the best kids so I registered for the expert skill level. Before the tournament started, I had the chance to talk to some of the kids in my bracket and one who weighed in at 145 lbs so was in the bracket above mine.  I won the bronze medal in the gi division. Continue reading »

The 2nd Annual Rio Grande Valley Jui-Jitsu Open was held on April 28, 2012 at the Marine Military Academy in the King Gym in Harlingen Texas. This was my 5th Jiu-Jitsu tournament. My weigh-in weight was 133.0 lbs I competed as an orange belt in the 127 – 139 lb heavy weight kid’s gi division. There were not other competitors registered for my weight class in the nogi division so I competed in the 140 lb and above super heavy weight nogi division. I won the gold medal in both gi and nogi. HJJC, Cinco MMA, Harlingen Sports Center and the competitors from the Marine Military Acadamey did great! I met some nice people from Gracie-barra Rgv and they also did great. The tournament was a lot of fun.

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More pictures from 2nd Annual Rio Grande Valley Jiu-Jitsu Open.

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On March 17, 2012 I competed in my 4th jiu-jitsu tournament, the NAGA Houston Grappling Championship. I competed as an orange belt in the 115 – 130 lbs kids intermediate class. My weigh in weight was 130 lbs. I won first place in the gi and nogi divisions. It was announced during the pre-fight instructions that there were over 600 kid competitors.  Six kids from HJJC competed in the tournament. We won a lot of medals and had a lot of fun! Most of us  stayed at Craig Comisky’s (Josh’s father) sister’s home – Patty and Victor. They are super nice people and we really appreciated them feeding us and letting us stay at their home in Houston. We ate some really good spaghetti there!

I want to thank Steve Van Looy for going to Houston and coaching all the kids at this tournament!   I want to thank my jiu-jitsu brothers Gabriel Ambriz and Joe Vela and also China Star Restaurant and my dentist Dr. Mackie with Rio Vista Dentistry for sponsoring me! I thank my Jiu-Jitsu instructor Jake Montalvo and his assistant instructors Steve Van Looy and Patrick Chancey and all my Jiu-Jitsu training partners/friends for helping me. I also thank Robert Defranco for all I have learned from him in his seminars at HJJC.

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