Crofton's remarkable seven-year-old combat sports star Ren Bradley adds European crown to impressive list of titles

​Seven-year-old Ren was crowned Elite Junior World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion in July on the back of an impressive streak of wins in his 27kg division and 10 gold medals in a row.

Since that point he has simply gone from strength to strength and passed all the tests put in front of him in whatever martial art he has taken on.

Ren took part in his second Muay Thai fight, which he won to go 2-0 and remain undefeated, and has continued his impressive winning streak in BJJ, extending to 31 wins in a row.

His biggest recent success came last month when he won the Elite Junior European BJJ title to complete an incredible triple crown, also consisting of the British title and World title won earlier in 2024.

And not only has he done this all within the same year, but he has done it in his first ever year of competing and at just seven years of age.

Proud father Marc said: “Ren set this goal literally one year ago in an interview he had with Martial Sports, an American based martial arts magazine and before he'd even won one gold medal, which seemed to most, incredibly ambitious, even unrealistic.

"But he's now on a streak of 18 gold medals in a row, rounded off with the European title and the last piece of the exclusive triple crown BJJ jigsaw.

"In that same interview he also stated that he would make his MMA debut within the same year – something else that he did in September on the Progress Check Fighting Championship PPV event against an incredibly tough and well experienced opponent yet Ren won with a unanimous decision to start his MMA career with a win.

“He also competed under the biggest global BJJ governing body in the world, the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation at the London Fall International Open 2024 championship and not only did he once again exceed all expectations by taking the gold medal in such a prestigious event and against some of the best competitors in the world, he did it submitting all his opponents in a combined time of just 90 seconds.”

Ren’s winning streak continued despite a move up to the 30kg division and to the 8-9 division to compete against older boys and challenge himself more.

He decided to move up to the 8-9 age division at the All Stars BJJ competition in Sheffield not long after winning the world title to again really test himself and he submitted all his opponents again in quick succession to win double gold in the same event for both gi and no gi.

He then then travelled to Sunderland the very next day to compete in the Empire Grappling: Tyne & Wear Open where he returned back to his normal age group and division and submitted all of his opponents in a combined time of less than one minute to claim the gold.

A double success followed in the gi and no gi events at the Empire Grappling South Yorkshire Barnsley Open.

Ren competed again this month when winning the Lancashire Open, making it his 18th gold medal in a row.

Marc added: “He has had amazing support from his local community who have really got behind Ren and followed his journey from literally a new competitor barely achieving silver medals to going on one of the best streaks unknown in this sport and claiming just about every title possible.

"All within his first competitive year and across multiple combat sports.”