Since 2004, John has been training very aggresively; rarely going longer than five days without training. He has trained under Saulo and Xande Ribeiro since 2005 and was promoted to purple belt by Saulo in late 2006. Recently John has had the privilege to train extensively with his friends Ricardo and Phil Migliarese in Philiadelphia, and in New York City with his friend Josh Griffith. In October John spent some time in Japan to train with Shinya Aoki and Yuki Nakai at Paraestra Dojo. While there, he also cornered Tony Hervey to a 5 round, near victory against Takanori Gomi at Vale Tudo Japan 09'. Back in March, John was in California to compete and trained at Team Quest for two weeks. There he was able to further develop his game under Bryan Harper, Ricardo Feliciano, and Thierry Sokodjou.
Although still a purple belt (4 stripes), John's victories in tournaments speak much more about his ability. He is currently the only professional grappler in Michigan. He won the Grappler's Quest All-Star Pro Challenge in 2008 and came in third in 2009. He has competed in many other pro tournaments since he made his pro debut in 2008. Although unable to attend, he was recently invited to participate in the World Series of Pro Grappling in Las Vegas. John has beaten numerous elite level black belts, UFC veterans, and ADCC veterans in competition.
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