Mark Reding’s recent world championship in the sport of Brazilian jiu-jitsu is almost a decade in the making.

That’s how long the Denton martial arts instructor has been competing in the discipline. Reding, a purple belt, capped those years of training with a world title in the no gi lightweight masters division, the sport’s most prestigious tournament, last month in Los Angeles.

DRC/Gary Payne

Mark Reding won the world title in the no gi lightweight masters division, the sport’s most prestigious tournament, last month in Los Angeles

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For Reding, the championship was especially fulfilling after he finished as the runner-up at worlds a year ago.

“I had been training really hard because last year I didn’t have the result I wanted,” Reding said. “Every fight is hard and every guy is good. It was special for me to go out and win this tournament.”

Reding defeated fighters from California and Brazil in the single-elimination event. Along the way, he gained revenge on a Brazilian fighter who defeated Reding at the Pan American Games in May.

The 31-year-old Denton native has been operating his Elm Street school, Reding Martial Arts, for the past 12 years with his brother, Nick. Besides jiu-jitsu, the duo also teaches karate and other forms of martial arts.

But jiu-jitsu has been the primary avenue of competition for Reding since he began training in it nine years ago.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a combat-based form of martial arts that primarily consists of ground grappling. It has become one of the most common types of fighting used in the burgeoning sport of mixed martial arts.

Reding has maintained a busy tournament schedule, competing in events throughout the United States, and as far away as Japan, Brazil and Portugal. He has eight tournaments total on his 2008 calendar, including an event in November in Tokyo.

Although he reached the pinnacle of his division this summer, Reding still has more goals to achieve. He would like to work his way up to becoming a brown belt and eventually as black belt, which would offer even tougher competition.

While Reding spends most of his time training students for tournaments, he maintains an appetite for competition himself. He plans to continue fighting in tournaments for the foreseeable future.

“I’m really passionate about what I do,” he said. “Even if we didn’t have any students, I would still be doing this.”

TODD JORGENSON can be reached at 940-566-6871. His e-mail address is tjorgenson@dentonrc.com .