Marcus Beddor is a Minnesota-based professional grappler and a jiu-jitsu black belt under Ishmael Bentley, as well as a member of the M-Theory Martial Arts Academy. Beddor broke through as one of the sport’s top light-featherweights while competing in the upper echelon of the sport, the pro-division, where he beat big jiu-jitsu names such as Richar Nogueira, Emilio Hernandez, Brian Mahecha, to name a few, while earning gold medals in numerous tournaments of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s circuit.Marcus Beddor was born on November 1st, 1996, in Buffalo, Minnesota, USA, growing up just outside Minneapolis.Although not particularly athletically gifted, by his own admission, sports were always an integral part of Beddor’s upbringing with soccer (football) being his preferred competitive activity, playing it at the varsity level throughout high school up until jiu-jitsu became his passion.While playing sports such as the aforementioned soccer and baseball, Marcus also grew increasingly interested in martial arts. The first combat-related activity practiced by Beddor was tae kwon do, which he started as an 8-year-old. That ended up being a short-lived experience as the young Minnesotan quickly grew bored of the lengthy poomsay work (the Korean equivalent of the Japanese kata).Although the tae kwon do experience was not a success, Marcus remained a fan of combat sports, particularly boxing. His love for the ring led him towards mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. From there, while hearing the UFC commentary, he learned about jiu-jitsu.Fueled by Joe Rogan’s enthusiastic descriptions of the ground game, Marcus decided to join a jiu-jitsu school. He was 13 years old when he signed, with his father, to the M-Theory Martial Arts Academy, a Pedro Sauer team affiliate led by Ishmael Bentley.By the time he was 14-15, Beddor knew jiu-jitsu was an activity he wanted to pursue as a profession. His dedication led him to become a coach himself, teaching at both M-Theory Martial Arts and Minnesota Top Team.“I made a decision to compete at black belt, and if I failed, I would fail upwards. This has freed me from a few shackles, meaning that I have been improving at a crazy rate. I believe in myself, and I just want to get better, not only for me and competing, but for my students.” Marcus said of his excellent performances during his early days of competing as a black belt. His new competitive frame of mind reaped dividends as Marcus Beddor caused quite an impression in the months that followed, particularly in the IBJJF circuit.