It's a Lloyd thing

In the past couple days I have been following the social media output of a Mr Lloyd Irvin Jr. For those who do not know much about Lloyd (including myself up until a few months ago), he is a BJJ black belt instructor based in USA. You will almost certainly have come across something that he has had a hand in if you follow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu online.

For a start, Lloyd is a dominant force in the world of online media marketing. If you visit his website - http://www.lloydirvin.com - or sign up to his emails, there is no escaping the very direct manner of selling. Numerous renowned instructors also follow his marketing 'template'. Some have criticised the way Lloyd sells his BJJ program, but there is no denying, his methods have been extremely successful. 

Lloyd regularly makes public claims about his career rise from pauper to millionaire all based on his BJJ programs. Team Lloyd Irvin boasts numerous champion stars such as JT Torres,  DJ Jackson and Keenan Cornelius, plus his very exciting female back belt Nyjah Easton, there is no doubt that Lloyd's stable of successful BJJ fighters and students are a major force in the world of BJJ.

The topic of Lloyd and his many claims to fame is worthy of a deeper look but for now, I'm really only focused on his current project - The Next World Champion. This is a tournament being held right now in his academy where 12 of the most highly regarded brown belts fight each other, in gi and nogi. They can win money and a claim to be the best of the best. The tournament is also dubbed the Brown Belt Kumite. There is UK interest in the form of the exciting young Luke Costello (who I interviewed in May 2010.)

Typical of Lloyd, he is keeping a tight lid on what has been happening. Instead he is feeding the masses on his Facebook page with dozens of teasing statements alluding to amazing submissions he has just witnessed or shock victories for an unnamed competitor. It's all incredibly frustrating not knowing what is happening, which of course is exactly how Lloyd wants it. He currently has a very captive audience baying for news of winners and losers. Lloyd is playing this campaign masterfully.

He has offered a snippet however. Here is a very short video of one of the earlier nogi fights, enjoy:

(Photo at top and video here taken from Lloyd Irvin's Facebook page)



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