Colorado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Satori has a new World Champion! Stephanie Burke is your 2023 IBJJF No-Gi Worlds Champ! What an amazing accomplishment! Way to go Stephanie! Way to go Colorado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Satori! Brilliant!
WORLD CHAMPION – STEPHANIE BURKE
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT – STEPHANIE BURKE – 2023 IBJJF NO-GI WORLDS CHAMP
This is what Stephanie had to say on Facebook about earning the IBJJF 2023 No-Gi Worlds Gold:
“Today I became an IBJJF NoGi World Champion 
Something I spent most of the last 10 years believing isn’t possible. Turns out, when you have the right people in your corner, teaching, guiding, supporting and believing in you, anything is possible. Professor Sean Stewart and Professor Teri Stewart – words can never describe my gratitude to you and the beautiful community you’ve built. My success is a direct reflection of your skill as jiu jitsu fighters and instructors. I notice and appreciate every single thing you do to make me a better fighter and human. Being your student is the honor of a lifetime. Shaun– you believe in me long past when I give up on myself and I’ll love you forever for all you do. I love sharing this journey with you!”
This is what Professor Sean had to say on Facebook about Stephanie becoming the World Champ:
“As a coach, as a Jiu Jitsu Professor, there are few occurrences more joyous, more gratifying, more validating than witnessing your athlete achieve the pinnacle of their practice: Victory – Gold – at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation Worlds! Today I witnessed Stephanie Burke achieve that ever elusive goal by winning Gold at the 2023 IBJJF World Jiu Jitsu No-Gi Championship! Champion! Way to go Steph! Throughout their Jiu Jitsu journey many athletes will attempt to achieve such a rarified victory, and most never will. I am honored and amazed by your achievement, your victory. You are a World Champion! Thank you for being a Colorado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Satori athlete and lifting our banner so high! Brilliant! You are a 10 (literally the 10th CBJJS World Champion) and I could not be more proud! Amazing!”
SILVER MEDALIST – PROFESSOR SEAN STEWART
Professor Sean Stewart made the podium at the 2023 IBJJF No-Gi Worlds as well, earning Silver. Way to go Professor!
VIDEO HIGHTLIGHT – SEAN STEWART – 2023 IBJJF NO-GI WORLDS SILVER
This is what Professor Sean had to say on Facebook about the experience:
“Silver!
Thank you Colorado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Satori for the preparation.
I came up short, but so close…not a point scored on me the entire tourney. Lost by advantage in the finals.
More work to be done. Thank you to all the game athletes for the highly competitive matches. Blessed to be able to play on the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World stage! 2023 World Jiu Jitsu No-Gi Championship in the books. Way to go Colorado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Satori!
Thank you Professor Teri Stewart for the able coaching from the Black Belt benches. Thank you Steve Haddock, World Champion Stephanie Burke, and Shaun Parris for making the 2023 IBJJF World Jiu Jitsu No-Gi Championship CBJJS Traveling Combat Crew trip to Vegas for the proceedings (it’s always best to have your crew). And thank you to Professor David Ruiz for Jiu Jitsu!”
No victories for Professor Sean would have been available without the expertise to Tonya Fuller of Dynamic Mobility & Balance Center. This is what Professor Sean posted on Facebook:
“Tonya Fuller,
I cannot express how grateful I am to have found you, through no skill, proficiency, or insight of my own, at a time when I was, without question, in the most dire need I have ever experienced. You provided me with care, competence, professionalism, and true compassion when I was at my worst and lowest point; when the neurologist selected by my medical insurance provided neither explanation of, insight into, or prognosis regarding my probability of recovery from the condition I suffered.
When I came to you I could not walk in a straight line, let alone find a sense of balance or equilibrium necessary to practice and teach Jiu Jitsu, which had provided my livelihood for over the past 14 years. Before suffering from the symptoms described by Clayton Vandergriff, MD, Neuroradiology, as resulting from “Moderate to severe white matter disease in a pattern highly suggestive of multiple sclerosis…Several of the white matter lesions are enhancing consistent with active demyelination,” I had been a world class athlete, previously placing as high as the Silver medalist, in second place, and often enough on the podium as a Bronze medalist at the highest levels of Jiu Jitsu competition (e.g., IBJJF Worlds, IBJJF Pan Jiu Jitsu Championships) dating as far back as 2011. When I first encountered you I despaired that I would not be able to continue in my chosen profession, let alone provide for my family, with a daughter in college, or pay for my continued existence.
The symptomatic results of active demyelination are akin to the results of traumatic brain injury – unpredictable, diverse, affecting each individual in different and various debilitating ways. Due to the demyelination caused by the autoimmune deficiency from which I suffer, the demyelination lesions on my brain and spine mean the axons and neurons located in and around the lesions often do not properly transmit information. In my case, the obvious symptoms were conspicuously reduced mobility, reduced balance and equilibrium, numbness in my feet, and vision problems in my right eye; the less obvious symptoms were with respect to my cognitive capabilities and my emotional range.
It is only through your skill and compassion that I was able to overcome some of this diminishment, these deficiencies, these unpredictable disabilities. When I say it is your true compassion that assisted most in aid of my recovery, I mean to highlight your insistence, informed by first hand experience, that improvement was both likely and possible with consistent work, but not promised or assured. You gave me hope while most others in the medical field offered none. Your expert, yet compassionate, guidance led me to consistent improvement in my objective ability to move with improved balance and equilibrium without the empty promise of a “full recovery,” but by providing a functional path of improvement which offered sustained hope. The work you gave me was difficult, frustrating, and at times seemed to include hurdles that were nearly insurmountable. But over time (it’s been more than a year of nearly daily practice) the drills and exercises you assigned led to marked improvements. That you continued to provide such expert and excellent care, even when I presented as a less than agreeable or likable patient, is extraordinary (I remember the time I walked out – likely unbalanced physically and mentally – mid treatment one session, yet you allowed me to return at the next and provided the same compassionate expert assistance). You provided care while most others I encountered provided only treatment. Thank you for working with and through my wife Teri Stewart, who has been equally necessary and invaluable in connection with my recovery, when my cognitive and emotional state presented challenges. Your care and extraordinary expertise assisted immeasurably.
Thank you. Thank you for lifting me back to the level of a world class competitor. Because of you, I can once again claim to be a world class Jiu Jitsu athlete, as with your care I was able to win Silver, second place, at the 2023 IBJJF World Jiu Jitsu No-Gi Championship. More importantly, I have been able to continue in my chosen profession of Jiu Jitsu Instructor and as a result continue to provide for my family. While I am not the current world’s best Jiu Jitsu athlete in my division, having lost the championship match by advantage, after not having a point scored against me throughout the competition, being the world’s second best in my division is none too shabby. I am diminished, but with your expert assistance, I continue to rise. Thank you.
I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to my primary care physician, Dr. Bianca Greenwood, who quickly and accurately recognized the symptoms from which I suffered when I stumbled into her office, even though her correct diagnosis met resistance from “expert” neurologists, delaying treatment by no less than two months. Without your firm advocacy I would likely have suffered further disability, as prompt treatment is the best way to slow active demyelination. Thank you.”
What an amazing experience for the CBJJS 2023 No-Gi Worlds Crew!
PHOTOS OF THE 2023 IBJJF JIU JITSU NO-GI CHAMPIONSHIP
WORLD CHAMP – STEPHANIE BURKE
SILVER MEDALIST – PROFESSOR SEAN STEWART
Colorado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Satori – CBJJS – Excellent Instruction – BJJ – Martial Arts – Self Defense – Fitness – Community – Fun – Central Park – Denver – Aurora – Jiu Jitsu Colorado
