Page 60 - ISSUE 2
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KARI ON







                                                                                                                                      A ROLL














                                                                                                                                      KARI
                                                                                                                                      GUNNARSSON




                                                                                                                                        Kari Gunnarsson is ready for a new challenge. He
                                                                                                                                      recently moved to Hong Kong from Denmark, where he’d
                                                                                                                                      been  training  with  Christian Graugart  for  over a  decade.
                                                                                                                                      Gunnarsson is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but views
                                                                                                                                      martial arts as more of a hobby than  a career. He is  also
                                                                                                                                      openly gay.


                                                                                                                                        We asked Gunnarsson what his experience has been like
                                                                                                                                      as a gay male in grappling, and if he has any advice for other
                                                                                                                                      members of the LGBTQ community, whether they train or
                                                                                                                                      not.

                                                                                                                                      GrapplerMag:  How long have you been training Jiu-Jitsu,
                                                                                                                                      and how did you get started?

                                                                                                                                      Kari Gunnarsson: I’ve been training since 2002 [Black Belt
                                                                                                                                      in 2009]. As a kid I was  into MMA  and Taekwondo, but I
                                                                                                                                      happened upon Choke, the Rickson Gracie documentary.
                                                                                                                                      Something just clicked with me when I saw it. There was
                                                                                                                                      no Jiu-Jitsu in Iceland at that point, so I Googled around,
                                                                                                                                      and everybody [on the forums] said that (“The Westside
                                                                                                                                      Strangler”) Chris Brennan down in California had a live-in
                                                                                                                                      program. So I went there when I was 18, spent the summer
                                                                                                                                      there, three months, and paid like $300. I could stay at the
                                                                                                                                      gym with eight other guys and that was it. Training Jiu-Jitsu
                                                                                                                                      two, three times a day, just got me started.




                                                                                                                                      Written By:
                                                                                                                                      BRANDON IBARRA



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