Sloan Clymer is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete who hails from Anderson, Indiana and began grappling aged 15 after training alongside his father who was big on BJJ, wrestling and boxing. Since then, he achieved his brown belt aged 25 and has currently held the rank for the past two years. It seems that BJJ has had a positive impact on Clymer who adds that his biggest achievement was “Leaving my toxic lifestyle for jiujitsu and martial arts”. Currently, Clymer trains under Keenan Cornelius at the Legion AJJ gym and lists Rafael Lovato, Cyborg and Jean Jacques Machado as his biggest influences in grappling.
We asked him about his favourite positions in BJJ to which he replied, Z guard and Lockdown are his best guards, where as the Sumi Gaeshi shoulder crush sweep and Lockdown to dogfight kneepick are his favourite sweeps. When playing the top game, he uses flyover chinstrap passes and knee cuts, his main submission is the rear naked choke. He also lists his typical competition weight between 185-205lbs and says Dan Martinez was his toughest opponent. Like many competitors, he’s had a few injuries but claims breaking his hand from punching a wall when he was 18 was the most significant.
Clymer’s backstory is quite an interesting one. As mentioned he got into BJJ through his father who had built a gym inside a barn in his back yard. Clymer mentions: “The barn was in my backyard. My dad had it built and put in weights, mats, a heavy bag, etc. We called the gym Caveman Combat because it was so rugged. My dad and his training partners competed often in jiujitsu and MMA and that’s the gym name they put down when signing up. My dad asked me to draw a caveman for him when I was 8-9 years old because I loved drawing pictures, and he had t-shirts made that said Caveman Combat with my drawing on the front of the shirts. I still have a few of those t-shirts in my closet and wear them from time to time”. For those wondering, this is where his nickname ‘The Caveman’ comes from.
He is also interested in MMA which isn’t too unsurprising giving his upbringing and wrestling style – he claims “I love MMA and plan to compete in it again. Right now, I’m just focusing on building my career in jiujitsu. But punching people in the face was my first love.”
We also asked him about his past time at 10th Planet San Diego where he trained under Richie Martinez. This situation ended negatively for Clymer who then moved to Legion as a result. Here he puts it into his own words “I was thrown out of 10th Planet San Diego for no reason by the owner who doesn’t even train Jiu Jjitsu. He was very egotistical and threw temper tantrums every day, and after freaking out on one of my coworkers, I decided to stand up for us politely, but he didn’t like that. So, he told me I’m not allowed in the gym anymore. I was an instructor and desk worker there for three years. Leaving there extremely was heartbreaking and depressing but there was nothing I could do about it. I thought Richie Boogeyman Martinez would stand up for me but unfortunately he didn’t. I hold no hard feelings. Everything happens for a reason. Overall, I don’t use very many 10th Planet techniques other than the Lockdown. Other than that, I have a heavy top pressure style which is very different than the conventional 10th Planet style. Training with Keenan has been great and complimented my game in many ways.”
With that being said Clymer looks back on his 10th Planet experience fondly and is very grateful for the time he has spent there, claiming he has learnt a lot from their system and has made some real life long friends.
Next, he spoke about his recent achievements at various superfights and breaking into the upper levels of BJJ. He says “I think I definitely made a breakthrough in the past year with my skill level. Leaving 10th Planet San Diego ended up being a blessing in disguise because I began training at gyms all over San Diego which forced me to evolve my game and see different styles across the board. I also believe the opportunities to compete for Legion have helped my name, and also teaching the NoGi program at Legion. Things are definitely just falling into place. I feel I’m in the right place at the right time. I’m extremely excited for the future.”
It seems things are going really well for Clymer who is developing further under Legion. He ends by saying his future plans are to have his own Caveman clothing brand alongside his own BJJ school. He would like to shout out Legionsandiego.com. You can follow him on Instagram here.
