PACS Origin Story

Pennsylvania Combat Sports officially opened it’s doors in 2010, however the PACS story actually started back in 2000.

In 1999 our founder, Casey Leonard, had returned back to Pennsylvania after serving in the Marine Corps. During his time at Camp Pendleton, Ca. he trained and competed in BJJ, earning a Blue Belt in the process.

A year later Casey was introduced to Mac Danzig (future TUF 6 winner, and UFC fighter), who expressed interest in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Arrangements were made at a local karate school in Youngwood, to use their 10 x 10 folding mat for a couple of sessions a week. This training situation would become the catalyst for the first BJJ and MMA focused martial arts school in Westmoreland County.

After several months the decision was made to establish a dedicated location for training in Greensburg. This would be were Combative Grappling Systems (Team CGS) began as Westmoreland County’s first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts school. Many other success stories would begin in those early years as the sport continued to grow.

Over those ten years, many people would eventually learn about CGS and join in on the classes. After years of success as a small, grass roots training and competition team, the dream of something bigger was conceived. That dream lead to the grand opening of Pennsylvania Combat Sports in 2010.

1st Place Team TATU BJJ Tournment, Scranton Pa 2002
TEAM CGS, Greensburg 2003
Casey MMA win, Cleveland 2005

PACS is centrally located in downtown Greensburg.