Benjamin "Ben" Kunzle is an American grappler who trained under Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu at Fight Sports. As a high-level brown belt he competed on the Fight Sports team and was preparing for the IBJJF World Championship when, in May 2022, he sustained a C5-C6 spinal cord injury in a training accident. According to interviews he has given, the injury left him with paralysis affecting his upper and lower extremities; sources describe the accident as a freak occurrence during a routine training round, and Kunzle himself has publicly framed it as an accident.
Despite no longer competing, Kunzle was promoted to black belt by Abreu during his recovery. Coverage of the promotion differs on the exact date: bjj-world.com and Grappling Insider report December 18, 2022, while other outlets place it in December 2023, with the promotion publicly announced on Instagram in early January 2024. As is standard for informal belt promotions, no governing body issues a black belt certificate, so all reporting derives from Abreu's academy and the announcement itself rather than a federation record.
Since his injury, Kunzle has become a public advocate within and beyond the sport. He founded the Push On Foundation, which works to get people with spinal cord injuries back into sport, and he has spoken publicly through podcasts, interviews and social media about his rehabilitation and his continued involvement in grappling. He has also remained connected to the competitive scene, including work with grappling promotions.
Kunzle has no documented competition titles catalogued in this encyclopedia; his notability rests on his black belt promotion at Fight Sports and his role as a prominent para-BJJ and adaptive-grappling advocate.