Jeff Allen returns with silver from Las Vegas

Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame recipient Jeff Allen returned with a silver medal from his final bout against 36-year-old Brazilian Rubens Filho at the Las Vegas World Judo Championships, Veterans, 2024, held this month.

In a series of strenuous, competitive matches on November 07, 2024, Allen progressed through his final four fights with increasing advantage. After a quick, decisive game against Mark Adams, three-time Great Britain champion and a World and European medalist, Jeff was paired with Brazilian Olympian Rubens Filho.   

“Entering into the match, we were the last fight on the last day, so the whole Rio Arena was very loud and excited to see Canada vs Brazil in the Heavyweight final. The match was very high paced, very hard grip fighting and fighting for position, and I was caught and lost against a very tough opponent,” wrote Allen when summing up the games. 

Allen, who is 39 years old, has garnered 80 wins over his career in International Judo, accumulating 63 gold medals in Canadian and US National championships, 28 silver medals, 10 bronze medals, and three outstanding athlete awards. His success is surprising, given his late start at the age of 25. 

In 2022, Allen won the silver medal in the men’s over-100 kg division, aged 35-39, at the Veteran World Championships in Kraków, Poland.

He also competes in Jiu-Jitsu at a very high level. This past year, he won the national championships in two divisions and the world championships in New Jersey.

“I’m always preparing; I’m always staying in fight shape because I compete in tournaments all through the year. So, it’s not like this is just a one-off. Every day I’m in the gym, weight training, and recovery. I got our own home gym that’s almost a thousand square feet with Hunter commercial Strongman and Strongwoman equipment. For my division, being the hundred plus kilos you need to be strong because there’s no cap on the sizes. I weigh about 260, but [some of]my opponents in my division at the world [could]be over 400 pounds—just enormous, right?”

Allen also does a lot of cross-training since he practices Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. Both martial arts are forms of grappling with the self- defense goal of subduing an attacker. Judo is focused on standing techniques, while Jiu-Jitsu is on ground techniques or defending your ground with maneuvers designed to survive or escape the aggressive attack. 

In 2019, Jeff was awarded his Batsugan Black Belt by Judo Canada, a rare honor, for his achievements in tournament games in Canada and internationally.

“I made it through a 32-man bracket to get down to the final gold medal fight,” Allen said, “And at the end, I ended up losing to an Olympian from Brazil.” But for Allen, that’s all part of his over-arching goal to continue to be the very best in his age group and chosen Martial Arts style. Over the coming year, Jeff has several matches planned, with focus on his new passion for Jiu-Jitsu being his priority.

From left, Jeff Allen(Canada) silver, Rubens Filho(Brazil) gold, Dimitri Vukotic(Montenegro) bronze#1, Janchivdorj Bundorj (Mongolia) bronze #2.

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