A former high school and collegiate basketball player In Florida, Bryant Anthony has been, for his entire life, an athlete. But somewhere down the line back in college, Bryant became disenfranchised with sports. “It became more of a job in college and I didn’t enjoy it anymore,” he says. That story is more common than one would expect. Athletes burn out all the time. But sometimes the rekindling of the flame can come from an unlikely source or an entirely different area.
“After I left the basketball team in college I met a friend of mine Don Williams who had been training kung fu and Jiu Jitsu for years and he introduced me to both forms back in 2008.”
First a spark, then a flame.”
After finding martial arts through Mr. Williams, Bryant began his Jiu Jitsu journey. Moving over to Edgard Dutra’s BTT academy in Florida, Bryant started training in earnest. He has since moved from Florida to Arizona and though his job offers him an irregular training schedule (all over the place), he still finds time to both train and teach at Inverse Jiu Jitsu in Tucson while also crosstraining at Undisputed.
Now a husband and a father, Jiu Jitsu is his main respite from work when he’s not relaxing with his family and friends at home, “having some beers and grilling out listening to music.”
As for his time on he mats, Bryant sums it up this way: “The humbling experiences are the best.”
Looking ahead to his match at Fight 2 Win 93, Bryant says though he’s never fought in the format, he loves to fight for the submission.
“I feel good! I feel prepared and ready to get out there and compete in this martial art that I love. This is big card and it’s an honor to be a part of it! I have actually competed against Aaron before a few years back and he caught me in an armbar so I am excited to get out there and compete against him again. The plan for this one is to get to my strong game and continue to hunt for a submission. After this I will continue to focus on our team and growing it and look for more competitions to jump in on. I just hope everyone enjoys the show and thank you guys for the support.”
