History
Citadel BJJ, owned and coached by Matt Leighton and James Kelly, opened its doors in Iowa City on January 1st, 2019, to great reception, as Matt Leighton and James Kelly have both been coaching and working with Jiu Jitsu fighters and wrestlers for years. Since its opening, the Citadel BJJ competition team has won the adult division of the 2019 Fuji BJJ Iowa City Open. There are a lot of successful competitors training at Citadel BJJ, however, there are also lots of people with no interest in competition. All kinds of people train at Citadel, from kids, to parents, doctors, lawyers, college students, teachers, writers, construction workers, corporate professions, business owners, you name it! Matt Leighton and James Kelly have built a stronghold of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Iowa City and the midwest, and they have big plans for Citadel BJJ. The school is growing, the students keep improving, everyone is having fun and learning and being challenged, and the world has been spreading!
Specialties
Citadel Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Iowa City provides world class training, coaching, and instruction for anyone who wants to learn one of the most effective and proven martial arts on the planet: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). What makes Citadel BJJ stand out from its competitors is the quality of instruction, attention to detail, coaches who actually train alongside their students, not only coaching them and helping them along their journey but training WITH them as well. Citadel BJJ has coaches that compete, and has lots of students that do well in competition, but there are also lots of people in the Iowa City area training at Citadel BJJ who don't compete and just train so they can experience all the benefits of learning BJJ. Students at Citadel BJJ love the challenging training, the team atmosphere and positive environment, having coaches that push them to keep improving, and they love the RESULTS!