The martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has always prided itself on being able to defeat the largest and most aggressive of adversaries with correct technique and leverage even if the user has any physical disadvantages. One prime example is BJJ legend Jean-Jacques Machado, who despite only having one fully functioning hand went on to win the ADCC tournament in 1999.

Meet Russell Redenbaugh. In his twenties, he was conducting a rocket fuel experiment in his garage which went horribly wrong. The result was him losing his eyesight as well as several of his fingers.

Russell would then meet 5th degree BJJ black belt Phil Migliarese who went out of his way to foster Russell in his martial arts journey.

“I’ve been working with Russell for nearly 20 years. Russell was my first blind student, so I saw it as an opportunity to teach differently, to learn how to teach someone with different abilities.”

After earning his black belt in the art, Russell went on to win three gold medals in the world championships of BJJ against opponents who could see. Along with that, he is also a millionaire capital adviser having been featured in the likes of Forbes as well as TedX.

Check out the footage below.

“>

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sports system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. BJJ promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger, heavier assailant by using proper technique, leverage, and most notably, taking the fight to the ground, and then applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat the opponent. BJJ training can be used for sport grappling tournaments, mixed martial arts competition and self-defense situations.[Source: Wiki]

Author: Nic is a designer and illustrator alongside being a martial arts enthusiast. You can find some of his illustrative work for purchase here.