By Dan Marshall

Nanaimo Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor wins ‘superfight’ in Vancouver

Nov 27, 2018 | 9:26 AM

NANAIMO — The man who spends many hours coaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Island Top Team took to the mat himself over the weekend.
 
Rob Biernacki won a ‘superfight’ at the Last Warrior tournament at Capilano College over the weekend.
 
A superfight is a match between two opponents which takes place outside a typical tournament bracket.
 
The organizers put it together as an added attraction, and to kick off the competition in the adult division .
 
Biernacki was up against Piers Roberts who is a black belt from Alliance Vancouver.
 
He won the match on points 8-0, scoring with four sweeps.
 
Biernacki said it was one of his toughest matches.
 
“It was my first superfight and first time competing in BC, so having so much focus at the event on my match was a fair bit of extra pressure. Adding to the pressure was the fact that I have an instructional series coming out soon on a particular guard position and my plan was to use techniques from the instructional in my match, luckily I was able to score with exactly the techniques I had planned on using,” explained Biernacki.
 
He was quick to praise his opponent calling Roberts an excellent grappler who he’d never seen scored on before.
 
Biernacki was happy to show his Island Top Team students first hand the rewards of putting yourself on the line and rising to a challenge. 
 
One of the athletes who’s part of the Island Top Team visiting student program and studies on through Biernacki’s online academy, took an unusual path to a gold medal at the Last Warrior tournament.
 
Jonathan Tsang trains out of Richmond and won the brown belt division fighting out of his weight class.
 
He fought an opponent with a 50 pound weight advantage but took the match with a late kneebar.
 
 
dan@nanaimonewsnow.com
 
On twitter: @danmarshall77