A single dad from Plymouth is celebrating after placing highly in an international Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu championship, despite only learning the sport seven-months-ago.

Jacob Mcleman, a 36-year-old single parent and ceiling fixer from Stoke, recently competed in the 2025 European Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

He impressively finished second in his belt and age division. This achievement is all the more impressive considering just how little time Jacob had to train for the tournament. He only started Jiu-Jitsu a mere seven months ago after bringing his daughter to a work friend’s training school.

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After winning a multitude of local competitions, he decided to take on the challenge of competing internationally. He was able to beat every opponent he faced up until the final, where a Brazilian competitor narrowly took the victory via a submission.

When asked about the competition, he commented: “The whole experience was surreal. The venue was huge and the fighters were all incredibly tough. I wanted to get gold but I am really happy with a silver medal.

"My coach Jamie Horsman and training partner Adam Crabtree also came out to compete but both lost in the quarter finals.

"We all have things we need to work on for our next competitions and we're all eager to get back training.”

Indeed, this second-place finish seems to have only driven Jacob to push himself further, as he currently plans to take part in competitions in London, Barcelona, and Rome before the year is up.

He is also planning to travel to Las Vegas in 2026 for the next world championships. Jacob is incredibly thankful for the help he received on his journey to the championships.

In particular, he thanked his coaches Jamie Horseman, Jamie Carr, James Anderson and Matthew James for their support, Dean Dark of Dark performance gyms for allowing him to use his facilities, his strength and conditioning coach Augusto Baronio, and his company NBC for helping him juggle being a single parent with his other commitments.

He highly recommends the sport for any prospective competitors: “If anyone is thinking of training but isn't sure, just go for it. We have kids’ classes and adults’ classes and the atmosphere is fantastic.”