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Story Archives: 62 career wins, all by age 13


62 career wins, all by age 13
by Cody Futrell - posted Thursday, June 25th, 2009 @ 11:34 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
John Bennet Blunschi of West Monroe has compiled a 62-4 record in the last few years on the Jiu Jitsu fighting circuit.

Bluschi has forced people well into their 20s and 30s into submission. He has won multiple regional and national championships in the past three years against some of the best fighters in the world.

What sets Bluschi a part? He is about to begin the seventh-grade at Good Hope Middle School in West Monroe.

J.B., as he is called by family and friends, has already had 62 career Jiu Jitsu wins at the age of 13.

"J.B. lost at the world championships in California, just his fourth loss," His father and Jiu Jitsu master John Blunschi said. "He was facing a kid two years older and about 40 pounds heavier."

It was one of just a short list of setbacks in the last three years for Bluschi. Bluschi won his first national championship in the spring of 2005. 

He next won his age division of the 2006 Naga Championships. Bluschi faced many older competitors and beat all the odds in winning the 2007 Winter War Championship.

This year has not slowed down the accomplishment bandwagon for the local fighting prodigy. 

Bluschi won the Louisiana and Mississippi State tournaments before claiming the 2009 Budweiser World Cup.

John has raised J.B. as a single father since 2002. He operates Gracie Jui Jitsu in West Monroe which is owned by the famed fighting Gracie family.

The Gracie family began the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993. The UFC has become the most famous and best marketed Martial Arts circuit in the world to date.

"He was raised in the gym basically," John Bluschi said. "The remarkable thing to me is who he has gotten to train with. The Gracie family as well as John Hopkins owns and operates this gym now. He and Dr. Andrew Sauer have trained J.B. and they both have a black belt in Jui Jitsu."

One thing that anyone watching the young Bluschi will notice is he does not just understand how to do the moves in the ring, he also understands the concepts of them.

"Jui Jitsu teaches people moves but J.B. is different because he understands the idea of the move and he can do other things with the move," Bluschi said.  "That's how he is beating people that are twice his age."

While the Good Hope student who also plays football at the school looks like a normal pre-teen, he has accomplished more today than most adults may do in athletics their entire life.

The young Bluschi helps teach classes with young kids at the gym on Tuesday and Thursday nights and loves every minute of it.

"I love teaching the kids," Bluschi said. "I really love traveling and going to the different tournaments."

"I don't ever consider myself the best," Bluschi said. "But I do want to walk among the best."
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