2ND DEGREE BLACK BELT - BJJ INSTRUCTOR

Mr. Taufmann started his Jiu Jitsu journey in the Marine Corps while stationed in Japan, fellow Marine wanted to practice and needed a training partner. His sparring partner beat him up pretty good and taught him a few simple moves which sparked his interest in the sport. The simple moves his friend showed him got him out of more than one sticky situation, with relatively no real harm done to the assailants.

After being stationed in Maryland at the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) where another Marine in the same unit informed Mr. Taufmann that he was going to Lloyd Irvins MMA academy to check it out. After tagging along, Mr. Taufmann paid for a year on the spot and drove 45 mins to class everyday after work. He started with striking and no-gi classes until he finally decided to purchase a gi and go out for the competition team.

After finishing his duty with the Marine Corps a year later, he went back to his home in Colorado and found Mike Nickels with Colorado BJJ. About a year later he left to work in Afghanistan as a firefighter, but would teach every night after work - to contractors, the US Army, Special Forces, Seal Teams 5 and 10, Lithuanian Special Forces, and some Romanian military. For two and a half years Jiu Jitsu kept him happy in a desert that should have driven him crazy. After coming home again, he trained with Curtis Hill at Megaton black belt. Eventually moved back to Denver and bought a house right across the street from the CBJJ Denver academy. When he's not doing or thinking about Jiu Jitsu, he's usually with family and friends, snowboarding or riding dirtbikes.

A personal note from Mr. Taufmann: "I learned so much from each gym I was apart of and continue to train with old training partners from all over. I have competed in several tournaments at each belt level and initially I struggled to find success. Most people think that you are either naturally good or you are not, but that is not true in Jiu Jitsu. Everyone is terrible when they start. Dedication is the one thing that puts most people ahead of the rest."