I am an entrepreneur and BJJ coach, and I developed Kimono 2 Go with my wife Tawnya in 2018. We invented Kimono 2 Go for athletes to transport their uniforms in a more sanitary, space-saving, and fashionable way.
I was born in Turkey and I moved to the United States in 1998. I began training Brazilian Jiujitsu in 2006 in San Diego at City Boxing. There, I trained with Brandon Vera, Dean Lister, Mike Fowler and Carlos Baruch Ferreira. I also trained at Throwdown Elite, now known as Victory MMA. I had the opportunity to train with Dean Lister, James Nilsen, Greg McIntyre and Jocko Willink.
After that, I moved to Clark Gracie Jiujitsu Academy, where I also began teaching classes. Then, I was diagnosed with cancer in 2012. While going through chemotherapy, my friends, teammates and jiujitsu family were all there for me. I watched a lot of youtube BJJ videos, until I finally beat cancer and was able to return to the mat.
Four years ago, I went to Seattle for two weeks for a job training, where I met my beautiful wife. Soon after, I moved to Seattle, Washington, to be with her. I now train and teach classes with UFC veteran Ivan Salaverry. I have three amazing kids.
.