Pantoja finds passion in Jiu-jitsu

Habersham Central senior Jose Pantoja and Carder King both working on their craft at CrossFit Change in Cornelia on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. King is a wrestling coach.

Jiu-jitsu is something not heard much around Habersham County, but Habersham Central senior Jose Pantoja has found a passion for it that has changed his life.

Pantoja first started watching mixed martial arts, then he started boxing for fun with his friends, but did not take it too seriously; he also wrestled for Habersham Central in his junior year. One day, when he was watching MMA, his mom’s friend Jennifer Hinson was over at his house and saw how into it he was. She told him about Jino Ciprius, who coaches Jiu-jitsu at CrossFit Change in Cornelia. He started training in Jiu-jitsu and did not turn back, which he has been doing for two years.

“Next should be three years that I’ve had this gym running, and I would do CrossFit once in a while,” Ciprius said. “But I knew all the members there, and Jennifer and I would just have some small talk. One day, she just mentioned Jose, and she was telling me, ‘Hey, I know this kid who’s really into martial arts. Would you be open to, like, teaching them?’ And I was like, of course, we’re always open to having anyone here to come and train. And sure enough, she brought him, and then he started training, and now we’re here.”

When he first came in, he was around 280 pounds, and now he competes around 165 to 175 pounds. Jiu-jitsu has helped Pantoja build his confidence and build connections. It was never in Pantoja originally planned and found the love for the art organically.

“Well, a lot, really,” Pantoja said. “Before I first started, I used to not be able to talk, like, at all. Like I would just be like mute for a long, long time, talk to no one. I was very insecure about social anxiety and stuff like that. And then I came here, I started being more social with everyone here. I learned how to be able to speak better, I guess, and stuff like that, build good habits at home.”

He has done about four Jiu-jitsu events and racked up some medals.

“Maybe one day, I want to compete on a bigger stage,” Pantoja said. “But it’s just been one day at a time.”

Ciprius has enjoyed being part of Pantoja’s journey and being able to relate to him when he got into martial arts when he was 13 years old.

“He found martial arts, and he used it as a tool to be positive, to grow, to be disciplined,” Ciprius said. “It’s really cool to see him growing here. Dude, he’s doing really well. Just watching him improve, watching him just become more comfortable in himself, hitting these techniques and just consistency. Jose is one of my students. He trains just about every day. I don’t have a whole bunch of students that come five, six days a week, and he does. He’s always in the gym. And to me, it shows like he’s willing to learn. He’s wanted to grow, and he’s wanting to just keep evolving.”

Ciprius moved from Florida to start martial arts in the Habersham area. He has been in Habersham for about two years, which is as long as the gym has been running.

He said Jiu-jitsu is not as big here in the Habersham community compared to other areas he has been to.

“It’s starting to gain, I think, more traction as time goes on,” Ciprius said. “Us being open, we have these two garage doors, and like the summertime, like spring, when the weather is good, we always have the doors open. Several times, people kind of just walk by, and they get to see what we’re doing. I think it’s still growing in this area.”