Marine veteran from Ohio becomes world jiu-jitsu champion
Former machine gunner who served in Iraq and Afghanistan wins 2025 title
CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A former Marine machine gunner who served in some of the bloodiest fighting in Afghanistan has become a world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
John Leonard, an infantry squad leader who deployed to Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2010, won the 2025 world championship in the purple belt division.
“I’m a world champion in jiu-jitsu, purple belt,” Leonard said. “I had three matches, three quick submissions. My longest match was like two minutes.”
Leonard enlisted straight out of high school in Jackson, Ohio. His sister, also a Marine, pushed him to sign up.
“Young guys should definitely serve. I don’t regret it at all,” Leonard said.
His 2010 deployment came during one of the deadliest periods of the war.
“2010 was like one of the bloodiest years of the entire war,” Leonard said. “We got a lot of firefights, a lot of IEDs, things like that.”
Leonard said his most frightening moment came not in combat, but during transport.
“I think the most scared I was in the entire deployment was flying over Afghanistan — not of the situation, but just the heights and being in the back of the helicopter,” he said.
Leonard credits his time on the battlefield and his exposure to martial arts in the Marines for inspiring his transition to competitive jiu-jitsu.
When he is not managing his team at Lincare in Evendale, he trains at Limitless Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Walnut Hills.
“It’s grappling, essentially — chokes, arm bars. Everything but punching and kicking,” Leonard said.
Leonard is already training for his next world title match in December.
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