Good Article on Bloddy Elbow about Tom DeBlass

If you are a student of BJJ and love learning new things about the art, one of the best follows on social media is Tom DeBlass. He is not only a beast on the mats, he is constantly showing techniques, workout ideas, and his opinions on BJJ and life. He is a great follow for sure! Check out this link and learn a little bit more about him! This interview was done by Roy Billington on Bloodyelbow.com

When it comes to grappling, there are few people more influential than Tom DeBlass. DeBlass, a former World No-Gi champion, two-time ADCC trials winner, and a two-weight Ring of Combat champion, has been at the forefront in popularizing jiu jitsu in the New Jersey area. And after an illustrious competitive career, he is about to try his hand at promoting.

DeBlass' martial arts journey began through pain. Following a highly successful high school athletic career as a long jumper, he was recruited to compete at a collegiate level. DeBlass' dreams of achieving greatness in the long jump were pulled from beneath him when he suffered a devastating ankle ligament injury, which forced him to retire from the sport. While recovering from injury, De Blass' competitive fire still continued to burn and it was at that point that he decided to give submission grappling a try.

Following a stint training under Eric Colon, DeBlass, then a white belt, elected to join UFC veteran Ricardo Almeida's academy. Under the tutelage of Almeida, DeBlass began to rapidly ascend through the jiu jitsu ranks. On the surface everything seemed to be going well for DeBlass - he had a good job and was a college graduate, but he wanted more from life:

"I was 23 years old, I was a school teacher. I thought to myself, I love teaching but I'm teaching the wrong subject. Jiu-jitsu is the subject i need to teach."

At that moment DeBlass decided to dedicate his life to jiu jitsu, leaving behind his comfortable job as a teacher to embark on a journey of passion. In 2006, DeBlass, then a 24-year-old brown belt, opened up his own academy in Ocean County, New Jersey.

The following few years were very successful for DeBlass. As a brown belt, DeBlass won the Pan Ams and the No- Gi worlds. Once the New Jersey native earned his black belt, he began to have success at the highest level, earning medals at a number of illustrious events - most notably winning the ADCC North American trials in 2009. The ADCC trials acted as a litmus test for DeBlass, and while he didn't take home a medal, he showed he could hang with the best after putting on a very competitive match with Andre Galvao.

After ADCC 2009, DeBlass chose to follow in the footsteps of his grappling fathers, Ricardo Almeida and Renzo Gracie. In 2010 DeBlass choose to swap the gi for the gloves and began a career mixed martial arts.

"Fighting felt like the natural next step for me. I wanted to face my fears and fight to prove to my students that it was it is imperative to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations."

DeBlass' aptitude for MMA was natural. Over the course of 18 months, Tom DeBlass would rack up seven straight wins inside the cage, winning the Ring of Combat title in both the light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. DeBlass' winning streak didn't go unnoticed - he was pegged as a highly-touted prospect and following an injury pull-out, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva offered him the opportunity to take on Cyrille Diabate in Sweden on 10 days notice.

DeBlass would taste defeat for the first time on that night in Stockholm, but despite being injured he saw the fight as an important lesson:

"I don't regret taking the fight against Diabate. I learned so much about myself in that fight. Most people don't know this, but I had a broken ankle when I took that fight. Despite the defeat, that fight was a great learning experience for me."

DeBlass would go on to make the move to middleweight to fight Riki Fukuda, in the UFC's inaugural trip to China, but following a 30lbs weight cut he again came up short. His loss to Fukuda signaled the end of his UFC tenure, but in the background his academy was growing from strength-to-strength.

Back at Ocean County Jiu Jitsu, the future of grappling was taking its first steps. Alongside top women's competitor Jen Russell, a young Garry Tonon was learning his trade. While juggling his MMA career, DeBlass was ushering on the next generation of grapplers.

Months removed from his UFC stint, DeBlass signed with Bellator in a bid to continue on with his MMA career, but unbeknownst to him, he was soon to become disillusioned with the sport he once loved. After a stoppage victory against Carlos Brooks, DeBlass took on UFC vet Jason Lambert in what would be a one-sided domination. In the first round DeBlass knocked out Lambert and it was that fight that made him reconsider his fighting career:

"In my heart I always missed jiu jitsu. I wanted martial arts to be fun again. I didn't find pleasure after knocking out Lambert or stopping Carlos. To me jiu jitsu is always so much fun and I couldn't find joy in MMA anymore."

Despite being given the opportunity for big-name fights in the Bellator cage, DeBlass hung up his gloves for the final time in 2013 and made his return to grappling. Just weeks into his return to grappling, DeBlass won the No-Gi Pan Ams in the Ultra Heavyweight division, which would act as a springboard into a successful 2014 for the Ocean County Jiu Jitsu family.

2014 is the year that jiu jitsu began to permeate its typical niche and this was partly due to the success of DeBlass' first black belt. Garry Tonon would illuminate the world of grappling in 2014 with his victory at the inaugural Eddie Bravo Invitational, while his professor would begin to reassert himself as one of the most impressive heavyweight grapplers in America. 2014 would see DeBlass defeat Babalu Sobral, win the Professional Grappling League's super-fight and most importantly, win the ADCC North American trials for a second time, booking himself a place at ADCC 2015.

2015 would bring DeBlass mixed results; while he failed to medal at ADCC, DeBlass took home gold in the Masters absolute at the No-Gi World Championships, without dropping a single point. On-mat successes aside, 2015 would be the year that acted as a springboard for DeBlass to move to the promotional side of the sport.

After becoming somewhat of an online celebrity within the jiu jitsu world for his Facebook videos, which receive hundreds of thousands views per month, the team behind the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission World Champions approached DeBlass to be the promoter of their North American trials. DeBlass, a two-time trials winner, duly accepted and sees the trials as an opportunity to move his career to the next step:

"It's a huge honor to work with ADCC. I won the trials two times and I always thought of ADCC as the pinnacle of grappling. I take the responsibility very seriously and hope to bring the competitors a smoothly-run amazing tournament. They already have registration open seven months early and I am looking forward to a good tournament."

As DeBlass moves into his grappling prime, his goals remain simple:

"My primary goal is to continue to inspire as many people as possible and of course win every competition I compete in. I have been very lucky and blessed to have achieved all that I have at 33 years old."