Recruiter takes gold medal in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Chance Babin
  • Air Force Recruiting Service Public Affairs

DALLAS – An Air Force recruiter won the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation’s American Nationals tournament here in the medium heavy weight class Dec. 6, 2020.

“I beat the No. 2 ranked guy in the world in my weight class for the gold medal match,” said Master Sgt. Kyle Atkinson, an enlisted accessions recruiter with the 341st Recruiting Squadron, Katy, Texas. “I placed silver in the open weight division.”

Atkinson was able to successfully juggle his full-time recruiting job with training to compete in this tournament.

“My training camp started in October, so I had around two months of hard training for this event,” he said. “I cut from 195 pounds to 186 pounds over the course of the camp. It is definitely noticeably harder to cut weight the older I get. I trained around six hours a day, six days a week.”

Unlike many competitors in martial arts who begin training at a young age, Atkinson did not pick up the sport until he was in the Air Force.

“A friend invited me to a grappling club he established at the base gym in Ramstein, Germany,” he said. “I went with him and was hooked ever since.”

Atkinson said he was always an athlete growing up and played football from age 6 until he graduated high school.

“After enlisting, I felt like something was missing and wanted to compete,” he said. “After getting introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I can attribute most of my desire to wanting to fight to my older brother beating me up as a kid.”

He actually picked up training in Muay Thai when he was stationed at Osan Air Base, Korea.

“I knew I needed to develop striking skills if I ever wanted to fight in MMA (mixed martial arts),” Atkinson said. “I learned how to kick, knee, punch and elbow effectively from Master Kim (his instructor in Osan). Additionally, while training with Master Kim we would frequently spar strikers from other martial arts, which gave me a realistic look at what the standup game would entail in MMA.”

He also found a group of Army guys when he was at Osan and started training with them under their combatives program.

“As the only Air Force guy in there I felt like they were all trying to take me out. I took pride in knowing this, so I always went 100% to make sure they could never talk bad about us Air Force guys,” he said. “They took notice and invited me to compete in a combatives tournament at Camp Humphries. I ended up winning the whole competition, which didn’t make the instructors too happy.”

He began formally training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2008 under Professor Mica Cipilli in Las Vegas.

“I am currently a brown belt under Professor Chris Mango of Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu,” he said. “I think I will get my black belt next year sometime, however, with a PCS (permanent change of station) happening in February, it could take longer as I will be moving schools again.”

He had his first professional MMA fight in Nov 2008 in Las Vegas.

“I won that within five-seconds on a head kick in the first round,” he said. “I honestly didn’t like how much anxiety I had leading up to fights. I thought it would go away, but it never did. I only did five professional fights, ending with a record of 2-3. My last professional fight was in 2013 and I went out on a high note, knocking my opponent out in the first round.”

Atkinson said he really doesn’t have to cut weight anymore, only using a diet to lose the weight in order to compete in his weight class.

“When I was fighting in MMA, I would cut around 14 pounds the day of the weigh-ins. For jiu jitsu most of the time the weigh-ins are the same day of the competition, so cutting this much weight is detrimental to performance,” he said. “Therefore, I prefer to walk around at or close to my competition weight of 188 pounds. The lightest I ever competed at was 145 pounds. After that weight cut, I was determined to never cut weight like that again.”

Finding the time to work out while serving as a full-time Airman requires some dedication and time management skills.

“When I was working as an aerial porter, I sacrificed sleep and lunch breaks for lifting and cardio,” he said. “For example; during my lunch break I would get a quick high intensity workout then shower and go back to work. I would go to the shop gym whenever we had downtown and hit a quick workout as well. I was always blessed with a great supervisor who would accommodate when possible so that made life much easier.”

 Once Atkinson became a recruiter, it was an adjustment finding the time to work out and learn a different job.

“As a recruiter, I struggled for the first year to find time to work out, and when I did have time I was so mentally exhausted I would choose to stay home instead,” Atkinson said. “After that first year I figured out how to manage my time better and use my passion of jiu jitsu as a recruiting tool. For example, I have recruited two of my teammates into the Air Force. I’ve held delayed entry program commanders calls at my school, and often talk about the Air Force with potential leads and various open mat events and tournaments.”

He also uses his martial arts as an ice breaker where he talks to many young potential applicants at various events for jiu jitsu.

“One good example is wrestling Coach Mark Balser at Morton Ranch High School,” he said. “He invited me to do a presentation at a wrestling meet. They distinguished me as the ‘honored guest’ and I talked about the world class athlete program and how I went to the Air Force wrestling camp trails in 2015.”   

For Atkinson and his wife, with each PCS there is an ongoing struggle for where to live based on each of their priorities.

“This has been the status quo for our last three PCS’s,” he said with a laugh. “If we find an area that is perfect by her parameters, but it doesn’t have a jiu jitsu school, it’s off the list. Now that my son is doing jiu jitsu we have her outnumbered on the jiu jitsu school requirement.”

Atkinson hopes to stay involved in jiu jitsu even after his military career is over.

“The five-year plan is to retire from the Air Force and open up my own jiu jitsu school. I started researching and planning this around three years ago,” he said. “I originally thought about becoming an ROTC instructor or teacher when I got out since I enjoy teaching. The more I thought about it I decided that I can teach and do something I love every day if I open a jiu jitsu school.”