Coach Braeden Cifers

Rank: Purple belt
Experience: 7 years

Career summary

Started at Embrace in 2019, at the original location, training both Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai and always more drawn to Jiu Jitsu.
Came to a first class after a cousin who fought in the UFC invited the family, and fell in love with Jiu Jitsu.
Began coaching as a three stripe white belt, helping with the Saturday competition class. Six years later, runs that class.
Promoted to blue belt in March 2021 and purple belt in September 2022, both by Professor Joel.
2nd at the IBJJF Charlotte Open at purple belt, and 2nd at a NewBreed No Gi tournament after beating a brown belt to reach the final.
Favorite technique: the bow and arrow choke.
Focuses the kids competition class on hard drilling and hard rolls for upcoming tournaments, with cardio at the end.

About

Braeden has trained at Embrace Martial Arts since 2019, back at the original location, starting in both Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai before focusing on Jiu Jitsu. He is a purple belt with three stripes under Professor Joel Garcia.

He started coaching as a three stripe white belt, helping with the Saturday competition class, and now runs it. He has also covered adult No Gi and white belt classes.

His Saturday class gets kids ready for tournaments: hard drilling, hard rolls and cardio to finish.

Why I teach

I love being able to share my knowledge, and teaching helps me think and understand positions better because I have to put it into details.

What to expect in my class

Since I coach the comp and open mat class for the kids, I focus on a lot of hard drilling and hard rolls as we get ready for upcoming tournaments, and we work on our cardio at the end of class.

Outside the gym

I love playing guitar and going on walks.

Classes and times

Tap for directions

Teaches at

Wake Forest

1021 Forestville Rd · Wake Forest, NC 27587 · (919) 777-3649

Class	Days	Time
Kids Competition and Open Mat, Levels 2 and 3Wake Forest or Youngsville	Sat	9:00am
Level 2 Kids BJJ, helping	Mon, Fri	5:30pm

See the full schedule Get directions

My story

2019his first class at Embrace, at the original gym

6years from helping out as a white belt to running the Saturday competition class

My cousin was a UFC fighter, and my dad really wanted me to try it out. She invited us to one of the classes at Embrace, and I fell in love with BJJ.

I started training a little over 7 years ago. Embrace Martial Arts has been my gym since I started back in 2019, when we were still at the original gym location, not too far from the facility we are at now. When I first started, I did both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, but I was always more interested in and focused on BJJ.

There have been plenty of times when I was hitting rock bottom in my life, but being at Embrace really helped me. The people around me encouraged me and made me a better and stronger man than I was.

I started coaching as a 3 stripe white belt, helping with the competition class on Saturday mornings. 6 years later I am now the one running the class, and I enjoy every bit of it. I have also covered multiple adult classes, such as No Gi classes and a few white belt classes.

I got promoted to blue belt in March of 2021 and to purple belt in September of 2022. Professor Joel promoted me to both belts, and I am very grateful. Over the years I have gotten to learn from many black belts, such as Professor Joel, Tiago, Roger, Chad and Raquel, and many others. Each of them has a different style and different strengths, so it has been very helpful to learn from all of them.

I have dealt with a few injuries during this journey. I dislocated my elbow a couple of times. I was very upset, because I really wanted to train but my body couldn't. Once I was able to get back to training, I had to change my game and how I rolled to protect myself. When I was fully recovered, I was better than before, because I had to go for things I usually didn't go for.