The man who presented Gundrum with the belt, renowned jiu-jitsu guru Eddie Bravo, called her “pound for pound probably our most technical competitor” as she progresses exponentially under his affiliate gym, 10th Planet Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania.
The pressure is intense, but you could never tell that with Gundrum’s stoic demeanour on and off the mat.
“I’m usually relatively nervous, but the way I deal with it is to stay pretty quiet and focus on what I’m doing so I don’t focus on the nerves. Like even with interviews, I’m super scared because I’m not really good at talking,” she told the Post.
Gundrum was speaking alongside coach Zach Maslany, who alongside JM Holland has helped hone her outside-the-box abilities since childhood.
“There are a lot of people who come in with physical talent or ability to pick the game up quick, but not many would train as long as her with that consistency. The type of mind and smarts she has, developing the physical along the way – it was a perfect storm,” said Maslany, a competitor-turned-instructor.
“A lot of kids don’t stick with it or have the ability to stay insanely consistently like how she was. It kept compounding – more training and competing – and now we’re here. It’s pretty awesome.
“Any guy or girl who goes out to compete for the schools means a lot to me, but her especially being able to bring us to a certain level of the game that I myself would never have got to, we’re super grateful.”
The levels he speaks of refers to Gundrum’s tier of opponents faced. In 2019, she drew with four-time IBJJF black belt world champion Rikako Yuasa in her native Japan, leaving local commentators in awe.
Last October, she submitted three-time world champion Pati Fontes to become the Fight2Win strawweight champion.
“I sometimes think back like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool’ [to be facing such high-level opponents] but I try to not stay stuck on people who others talk about a ton. When I compete against them I try to focus on the action,” said Gundrum, who switched karate for jiu-jitsu aged 10 and still competes in wrestling.
Adopted and brought to the US at a very young age, she considers herself “mainly American” and has returned to China just the once.
“I don’t really know much because I wasn’t in China for that long – maybe a few months old. They don’t know exactly where I was born but they did the paperwork and adopted me from Beijing and we went back to the US from there,” she recalled.
“I never learned Chinese or was with a Chinese family or anything. Most of my family is from America. My younger sister is also adopted from China so I did go back when I was four or five for a week to adopt her.”
Several mat sessions under Bravo’s 10th Planet system; the perfecting of her favourite dead orchard armbar submission; and a near-photographic memory for new moves, Gundrum’s devotion to jiu-jitsu is clearly paying off.
The black belt may still be raw but future opposition will be very much in their prime. Contrast a bout between a crafty vet or elite technician with college-bound Gundrum, who was only received her purple and brown promotions in the last two years.
“Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of pressure getting the black belt – it’s added a lot to it. I never thought I’d get this far but I can’t really take it back. I just have to keep going and represent it well,” she said.
Gundrum said she will be prioritising her education after being accepted into Lehigh University majoring in computer science and engineering.
“I’d like to try to do both. If I compete again, I’ll be doing college at the same time.”
