Fighting his way to the top: School wrestling career gave South Hadley’s Leon Davis a leg up on winning International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grand slam

 Tri-Force MMA coach Pete Jeffery, left, Leon Davis and TriForce coach Percy Smith, representing the nonprofit Get Your Teach On.

 Tri-Force MMA coach Pete Jeffery, left, Leon Davis and TriForce coach Percy Smith, representing the nonprofit Get Your Teach On. CONTRIBUTED/LEON DAVIS

 Leon Davis took first in the middle weight class at World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2024 in Las Vegas.

 Leon Davis took first in the middle weight class at World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2024 in Las Vegas. CONTRIBUTED/LEON DAVIS

Leon Davis, left, during one of his jiu-jitsu matches.

Leon Davis, left, during one of his jiu-jitsu matches. CONTRIBUTED/LEON DAVIS

By EMILEE KLEIN

Staff Writer

Published: 12-31-2024 1:39 PM

SOUTH HADLEY — As Leon Davis walked up to the podium to accept the first place medal at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s World Tournament on Dec. 13, he hadn’t yet realized that the victory made him one of just 17 Grand Slam Tournament Champions in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, one of the most prestigious accomplishments in the sport.

The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation hosts four major jiu-jitsu tournaments throughout the year: the Pam Tournament, Brazilian Tournament, European Tournament and World Tournament. If a fighter wins their class in all four competitions within the calender year, they “grand slam” the season.

Davis, a South Hadley native, almost accomplished the feat previously as a purple belt, according to Pete Jeffery, head coach of Rhode Island’s Tri-Force Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When he moved up to brown belt, Davis thought it would be a great way to finish out the division before finally receiving his black belt.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Jeffery said. “He’s actually in the running to be in the Hall of Fame for the (Jiu-Jitsu Federation) which is one of the biggest jiu-jitsu competitions on the planet, kind of like the Olympics.”

But Davis refuses to let the win fuel his ego.

“Jiu-jitsu is just fun for me,” Davis said. “I don’t like to get caught up in titles because it’s so easy to stop working hard. I see a lot of people get caught up in achievements and they fall off because that’s all they care about.”

Rather than celebrating his year’s worth of victories and his new black belt, Davis is working out his strategies for his next match on Jan. 4, gathering techniques and wisdom from his robust team of coaches, mentors and friends. It’s the enjoyment of the sport, and the community built around it, that motivates Davis to continue all the hours of traveling and training required to be the newest Jiu-Jitsu Federation Grand Slam Tournament champion.

“There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team,’ and I know it’s an individual sport but I wouldn’t be here without all my training partners,” Davis said. “It’s cool that I help them get better and they can help me get better, and everyone improves together instead of one person just caring about themselves.”

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Before he was a jiu-jitsu champion, Davis had a long wrestling career that began at the age of 3. As a South Hadley High School student, Davis won the Western Massachusetts Championship twice. He’d go on to earn the title of All American in the National Junior College Athletic Association while wrestling for Springfield Technical Community College. Yet after college, Davis’s competitive wrestling ended, and his career in the sport came to a sudden halt.

“It’s kinda what everyone was doing at the that time,” Jeffery said. “Once you get through high level college wrestling and you’re figuring out what’s going next, people get into MMA because there’s a future.”

Looking for a way to keep his body in shape, Davis picked up mixed martial arts in 2012, earning the name Leon “Dynamite” Davis with a 12-3 record over eight years. Despite his success, Davis said he didn’t enjoy the sport as much as he did wrestling, and the constant training took a toll on his body. After a four-year break, Davis came back to competitive fighting in 2020, trading mixed martial arts for Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

One of those three MMA losses sparked Davis’s partnership with Jeffery. After losing to Tri-Force fighter Nate Andrews in 2012, Jeffery invited Davis to train with him in Rhode Island, impressed by the skill he saw in the fight. Davis took Jeffery’s offer, and soon gained a new home gym.

“We started training together, kind of like if you can’t beat them, join them,” Jeffery said. “You would imagine that (MMA fighting) would be a little bit more like WWE Pro Wrestling, where everybody just walks around with the chip on their shoulder and talks crap. That’s the furthest thing from the truth.”

Jeffery said that Davis’ previous experience in wrestling and MMA shine through in his jiu-jitsu style. With years of competitive experience, Jeffery observes that Davis won’t freeze when he’s caught in a bad situation, but rather he pulls from his rich wrestling experience to help him out of a hold. Wrestling is only the base of Davis’ style, a foundation that he’s built upon by strengthening his guard and drilling his skills while on his back. His versatility keeps his opponents guessing, Jeffery said, forcing them to change their tactics during the match.

“It’s like a chess match because to get the submission you kinda have to checkmate the guy,” Davis said. “It takes a lot of thinking. You have to start off with your pawns and get your knights and all that stuff, and once you’re ready for the checkmate, you put all your pieces in the correct spot and you can go in for the checkmate.”

Davis trains with mixed martial arts and jiu-jitsu gyms all over the country: He drives 90 minutes three times a week to Tri-Force, takes trips to West Hartford, Connecticut to train at Underdog MMA, visits famed gym American Top Team in Florida, and ends every training season at Super Fly Jiu-Jitsu in Alabama. The diverse selection of coaches and training partners — from casual competitors to Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters — refines not only Davis’ physical strength, but also his fighting knowledge.

“I have so many good training partners that if someone throws something at me, I’ve probably been in that situation,” Davis said. “For example, when people try to go for a leg locks on me, I’ve trained with guys that were at the (ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship) and all they do are leg locks.”

Between Davis’s past success at International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournaments and his varied training, Jeffery wasn’t surprised that Davis grand-slammed the season. After all, he was first seed in his tournaments, has been putting black belt fighters on their backs for a couple years now, and almost grand-slammed the all-around division in addition to the middle weight class.

“For me, as his coach, to see he’s grown over the last four or five years has been tremendous, not even just growing into the competitor that he is, but also how he coaches and how he views the sport,” Jeffery said.