(Ep 15) Adapt and Overcome: The RJ Nealon Story

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Welcome back to Fighters Drinking Coffee. Today, we are here with RJ Nealon.

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He is the world silver medalist for AGP for Jiu-Jitsu, and he is also a sports

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journalist with Special Olympics North America.

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I've known him for almost a decade at this point.

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RJ, tell us about how you got into Jiu-Jitsu. Yeah, Jiu-Jitsu.

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Let's start there. Remix.

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Remix. Nothing like starting out with a tongue twister. Yeah.

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I got into jiu-jitsu just from watching the UFC growing up.

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I grew up watching Uriah Faber, Matt Brown, Jose Aldo, and I wanted to be a fighter.

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Like, that's what I wanted to do. So I started training jiu-jitsu,

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kickboxing, anything I really could.

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And then when I tried to fight, obviously the commission wouldn't let me because of my cerebral palsy.

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But that didn't mean I couldn't compete at jiu-jitsu at the highest level.

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Um but i'm like the typical like

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blue belt like you get your blue belt and then quit and

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then get come back to it i quit when i went to school you're

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a bad boy when did you start were you doing jujitsu back in high school or was

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this it was a break in between i started like right after we graduated okay

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like that summer i started with big ones um oh but uh his place was sherman uh No,

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back then it was complete jiu-jitsu behind Big Bad on Kent Island.

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That was where actually a bunch of guys who went to high school trained there,

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if I remember correctly.

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This is out in Kent Island. Kent Island. So right when you get across the Bay

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Bridge. The Eastern Shore of Maryland, for those who don't know.

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For a lot of people, they might know it as the place that you get across the

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bridge and you're just trying to keep driving on Route 50.

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There's probably a good group of people that that's their knowledge of the area.

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That's about 30 minutes in like two hours.

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I'm going to drive right by Cat Island. I think on my way to Delaware.

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Oh, you will. All right, nice. You'll be driving right through.

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Unless you go up and around. I don't know, man. I just want to- That would take

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you like- The most direct path. Yeah.

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Yeah, don't go up and I'm out. No, no, no, no. That's how I was telling him

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to go last weekend when we were looking at it.

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Do I get on that bridge?

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The big one? The big one. Oh, yeah. All right, sweet.

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And that's also where like it bottlenecks. That's where everyone tries to get

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on that bridge, if I'm not mistaken. It's a little better now than it used to

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be. All right. All right.

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There's no longer a toll plaza, so there's not people, like, stopping. Yeah. Okay.

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So that helps, but it's still a thing. So anyways, despite Scott's...

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The traffic patterns in and out of Maryland.

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Quick little insight into... Yeah, we'll give that back. Yeah,

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I mean, shout out to Shane Marshall. Shane Marshall's been on the show.

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He's fighting tonight, Stellar Fights.

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Yeah. He made 195, skinny guy. He's a big unit, dude. He usually trains with us on Saturdays.

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Come back through some time, you'll see this huge, like, all-American looking like G.I. Joe, dude.

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That's what he looks like. Jack as hell, dude. Like, clean-cut haircut.

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But he's fighting tonight.

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He's going to go smash some dude and then, like, take a get-the-strapped championship

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fight. Oh, that's right. Cruiserweight.

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Cruiserweight. Yeah. If it's the guy that's fighting, Nazeem Bell.

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I'll tell you the dude's name. Out of Delaware. Probably some.

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Definitely a Delaware bro.

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Let's see, guys. I think that sounds right. I think, yeah, I think his opponent is Nazeem Bell.

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Is he a friend of yours? No. He's got to go. I know him. He's got to go.

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I know him through the martial arts community.

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It is. Yeah, it says Bell, so that's the guy. Yeah, yeah, that's a zine Bell.

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Zine Bell. Yeah, so that'll be. Well, I hate to say it.

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The results will already be in by the time this comes out, so maybe I'll put

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a little post script on here with the results.

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Maybe. We'll see. Maybe we'll see. See how deep I get into editing it after

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the rest of the recordings for the weekend. Okay.

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Yeah, so you were training over at Complete Jiu-Jitsu after graduating high

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school with Aaron Lawrence.

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And so training there, and then were you there through your blue belt the first time?

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No, I trained there for a couple months.

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And then I started cross-training at Conquest with a lot of the MMA guys. Did you go to Crofton?

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I did. I used to train out there, dude.

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Forever ago we probably trained together well i

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trained dude this was in like 20 before i

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moved to arlington i trained at conquest

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with um so it was probably just

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before you because this was

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in probably 2011 or 2012 yeah yeah

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that's right at the same time yeah because i would

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i was training at complete but then i wanted to

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get into the competition kai and lance yeah

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and nate vicente that's right um all

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those guys yeah good dudes yeah yeah tough

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dudes too man they were tough but i started going over

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to the noon class and training like tony dabadanza and

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micah terrell and all those dudes and

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i kind of got comfortable or yeah comfortable

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with the fact that i was never gonna fight in the cage but i

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could be the training partner to help these dudes get ready to

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fight um and just like the

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competitiveness over there like that was more my vibe

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like i wanted to be a competitor whereas like complete was more

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of like a open mat type mat club

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casual yeah just like a lot of hobbyists and i wanted to be around the guys

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that did this full time is that when you decided you wanted to start being a

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competitor then yeah um definitely but I did the same thing that all blue belts

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do I decided to go to college and stop training.

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Yeah you quit so you did the blue belt quit and about how long I think all of

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us did that no my ass didn't quit no actually no.

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Well I had a hiatus but I can explain my hiatus was at purple,

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mine technically was too I just want to be purple forever no that's what I'm accepting.

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But so how long was your was it The entirety of college, did you pick it up

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at all while you were still?

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You went to Alabama, right? Yeah, I went to Alabama, and there wasn't really

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a jiu-jitsu school in the college town at the time.

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There was a mass club. It's like Alabama, like Tuscaloosa? Yeah,

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like Vol Tide. Like Vol Tide. Vol Tide, fuck yeah.

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Yeah, that's why you went to Kentucky. I went to Kentucky. SEC, dude.

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I mean, you guys just like, if it wasn't a basketball game, there was just nothing.

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There was no chance. And this is also Saban, too.

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Like, you had Saban at the time. Yeah, I worked with the athletic department.

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I was around Xavier and I was around the football guys.

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Was that awesome? Yeah, it was so cool.

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But like student life and work life with the athletic department, there is no such thing.

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It was like a full-time job on top of being a full-time student.

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This is for NIL too. Yeah.

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Like these dudes were basically NIL in it. Yeah, I mean, I was there for like

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Jalen Hurts, Derrick Henry.

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Damien Harris, Eddie Jackson, Minka Fitzpatrick. Oh, yeah. That was a sick time

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to be watching Alabama football, too.

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I mean, not to geek out on too much football, but we could probably do that.

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I mean, for people who don't know, I mean, Alabama football is basically like... It's the...

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Here's the thing. I mean, I guess I'm kind of biased because I'm in the SEC,

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but Kentucky is a good athletic program in general, but Alabama is the number one program.

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It's like the Penn State wrestling of football. Yeah.

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Maybe I'm using a meathead or a combat sports analogy for our listeners.

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It's the program. I mean, there's many very good programs in the country.

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I imagine people that are listening to this will understand that. Yeah.

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And probably people listening just fucking know it, dude. Like,

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everyone knows Alabama football.

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Hey, we have some foreigners. We have some, like, Europeans.

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Yeah, we have one or two guys in the UK. Shout out to the UK, bros. Berlin.

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Shout out to our Euro friends, to our South Americans. American football. Yes, and Asians.

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Yeah, and this is American football, just to clarify. I'm not talking about

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what we would refer to as soccer here. No, yeah, we call that soccer.

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I even have friends that don't watch football.

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They could care less about what game is on Saturday night, but they still know

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Alabama football is the standard.

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It's the program. It's the standard. It's the program.

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And that's what all Alabama has for sports.

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Actually, their basketball team has been pretty decent. We're good at basketball

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now. We're good at gymnastics. We're good at softball.

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I mean, college sports is all that Alabama has. I think, right?

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Yes. They might have some hockey or some, like, small, like,

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AAA shit, but, like, Alabama's the sport.

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There is no pro team. That's the program. That's the pro team.

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Yeah, there is no pro team in the state of Alabama.

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So you're either with Auburn or Alabama. Auburn also a good program.

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They can't compare to them. But when it came to student life,

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there was a mat club on campus, and I went once, and I was the only blue belt.

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Everyone else was white belt. And I was like, yeah, I am not doing this.

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Like, I just got my blue belt.

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I am not being the highest belt. You didn't want to babysit them all?

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No. Okay. Be the one with the target on your back, too.

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Yeah. Around what year was this, by the way?

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That was 2015.

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2015, let's see, that was 10 years ago. I bet if you went back to Tuscaloosa

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now, there's probably two or three spots down there. There's an American top team. There you go.

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Back in 2015, man, especially in the South, unless you were in maybe metropolitan

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areas, there wasn't really a lot of academies.

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So back then, dude, that was kind of what you had. Yeah, and I'm sure there

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was, like, a jujitsu school in Tuscaloosa that, like, rented space out in a

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weightlifting gym or something.

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I just didn't try hard enough to look.

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I mean, I was a college student. I enjoyed myself.

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I was working with the athletic department. You were busy. Yeah.

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Guy was busy. And I don't regret taking the hiatus from jujitsu because I got

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to do some cool stuff at Alabama.

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On um got to do some cool stuff starting my career um and then covid happened and i had to put,

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starting jujitsu off another what two years but once i got back into it i jujitsu

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became like a kind of like speakeasy style it was sort of like you had a place

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where you're like hey we know this guy he's not gonna rat us out yeah we went

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underground but hey we're not gonna stop fighting No.

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Gov. Stop us from fighting. I feel like Jiu-Jitsu. That's like American like pitchfork like hell no.

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We're gonna fight. I also feel like help people stay healthy.

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Like training with other human beings like your immune system is gonna get stronger.

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And mental health. And mental health. It also keeps you from like doing things.

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You have something to do, so you're not going to the other places where you're

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probably going to be around people you don't know.

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You're just building a circle, right? It's a community thing, man.

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I mean, it's sort of like, I mean, they tried to dehumanize us for about a couple

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of years with the whole COVID thing. It didn't work.

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Americans are too strong and proud for that. I won't accept it.

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But, you know, like, yeah, like we just persevere.

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Yes. Yes.

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Anyways, you were saying, though, like you were talking about like you're just

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COVID COVID kind of jammed you up. Yeah, COVID kind of jammed me up.

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But then once I got back into it, man, it took me maybe six months to get everything

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back and get back into that competitive mindset.

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Started competing every weekend. So what year is this? Is this like 22?

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2020. 2022, I think. Okay. Yeah.

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I feel like that was around when things, by then, shit began to be normal.

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Yeah. Things started to open up. They were having kids class again.

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They were having regular class. We didn't have to wear a mask during training.

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Back in Kent. Yeah, Kent Island.

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And started competing. Every local tournament you could think of.

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I was signing up. I just wanted to compete.

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And it wasn't until I got halfway through Blue Belt that my goal started to

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shift to the bigger tournaments and wanting to actually try and do something

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with this, not just be a hobbyist competitor.

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Yeah, so is that around the time that you started really going into the bigger

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organizations, IBJJF, all of that, or focusing more on.

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Expanding like now you're a sponsored athlete uh

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competing in very big tournaments so is

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that kind of that that trigger that way yeah that's where

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that pro transition kind of much yeah what were

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the first couple organizations you started to go in did you figure out

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like what rule sets you liked tell us about that yeah

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so like a rule set like adcc is

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not gonna be my area of

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success i don't thing i mean i have

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cerebral palsy so when i get into scrambles and stuff

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like i'm probably gonna lose that scramble i mean.

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This morning i kind of i brought on my back to play

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guard every single time well i'd be

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curious to hear about your style that you like and man so like

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ibjf is really like my

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forte like slow it down tactical get

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those advantages hey if i win by

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one advantage it's a win it's a win it might

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not be exciting but it's a win you're learning how to win win the

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game man when we didn't fully explain this on the

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on the lead-in um explain kind

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of for the people who don't know about you or

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haven't heard like explain the limitations

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because of your cerebral palsy that like

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specifically like you know it's what what's

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limited and what's hindered because of that and then and how it's informed like

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your competitive style yeah so it affects my entire right side of my body right

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leg and right arm um but i think i've gotten to the point in my jujitsu like

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i can't even tell i know my opponents can tell sometimes.

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But like for example i just competed in spain a couple weeks ago and made it to the finals of nogi,

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and me and my opponent got match of the day and the organizer organizer organizer

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tongue twister again came up to me and he was like man despite what physical

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limitations you got your jiu-jitsu is some of the most beautiful jiu-jitsu i've

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seen he's like your guard is insane,

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um the guy tried to pass my guide for five

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minutes and couldn't do it um fuck we should have reformatted some of the drills

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we were playing off that next time we will yeah that's cool man well i i noticed

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when we were um when we were rolling like kind of at the beginning when we did

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that flow roll session like the way that you grip is cool because like you're you're still,

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applying grips even with the the weakened

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side um so it was

00:15:21.468 --> 00:15:24.268
pretty cool to see like how you adjust like the

00:15:24.268 --> 00:15:27.548
grips i know you do seminars on on this kind of stuff too like the

00:15:27.548 --> 00:15:30.548
way that you adapt your grip to still

00:15:30.548 --> 00:15:34.248
like establish things like we're doing like the takedown drilling like how you

00:15:34.248 --> 00:15:40.228
can still establish those grips around leg body um or doing the leg lock stuff

00:15:40.228 --> 00:15:48.988
like it's really cool like yeah the the overhooks underhooks um i use my arm like a captain hook like.

00:15:50.148 --> 00:15:52.908
Like yeah an ankle pick you know

00:15:52.908 --> 00:15:55.868
your body you know like you're like all right like you you know your resources

00:15:55.868 --> 00:15:58.268
you've kind of audited you're like all right here are my weapons here's what

00:15:58.268 --> 00:16:02.468
i need to do this is this is what i can do here is what i can't do there exactly

00:16:02.468 --> 00:16:07.748
fight around it that's why i like it ibgf once the ref says combat like i'm

00:16:07.748 --> 00:16:11.768
i'm pulling god immediately i'm sliding and doing that competition,

00:16:13.008 --> 00:16:17.788
you know, guard pool, getting a Bambolo, some type of inversion.

00:16:19.708 --> 00:16:24.288
And it works for me. And a lot of people just don't understand how it works.

00:16:24.468 --> 00:16:30.628
They're like, dude, I don't understand how you're able to do what you do with the type of CP you have.

00:16:31.128 --> 00:16:34.548
And I'm like, it's because of who I train with. They don't take it easy on me.

00:16:34.548 --> 00:16:35.868
Hey, well, you know what? They don't need to know.

00:16:35.988 --> 00:16:38.628
Like, hey, this is for me to know and for you to find out. This is a tournament, bro.

00:16:38.628 --> 00:16:41.868
The last time the last time i went to my doctor

00:16:41.868 --> 00:16:44.808
um she was like talking

00:16:44.808 --> 00:16:48.288
to me about like wanting me to start physical therapy again and whatnot and

00:16:48.288 --> 00:16:52.968
i was like well i do jujitsu and i started showing her videos and she's like

00:16:52.968 --> 00:16:58.048
oh keep doing that um just add like strength and conditioning into your routine

00:16:58.048 --> 00:17:02.128
or whatever and she was like i hope you realize like,

00:17:02.849 --> 00:17:08.289
The type of CP you have, you shouldn't be able to react to things the way you

00:17:08.289 --> 00:17:11.029
do or be able to, like, move the way you do.

00:17:11.189 --> 00:17:14.949
So she was like, that's just like a testament to, like, your coaches and your

00:17:14.949 --> 00:17:20.049
training partners and the way you go into training and the mindset.

00:17:20.049 --> 00:17:24.329
She was like, keep that up because it's good for you. She was like,

00:17:24.629 --> 00:17:29.969
as you grow older, you're going to be able to move a lot more than somebody

00:17:29.969 --> 00:17:33.169
else with CP that isn't staying active.

00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:37.589
Dude, sidebar comment, but we have a strength conditioning guy that he does

00:17:37.589 --> 00:17:39.009
remote work with athletes all over.

00:17:39.089 --> 00:17:42.369
He would really love to sink his teeth into like a custom program.

00:17:42.569 --> 00:17:44.309
So just sidebar comment. That would be sick.

00:17:45.109 --> 00:17:48.089
That would be sick because that's like the one thing that I'm like,

00:17:48.309 --> 00:17:51.749
I strength and condition, but it's like on my own.

00:17:52.109 --> 00:17:54.909
Like adding a coach or somebody that does it.

00:17:55.749 --> 00:17:58.349
He specializes in working with BGJ athletes. Yeah, see?

00:18:00.649 --> 00:18:05.469
He's very good at what he does. Yeah. Shout out to Asim. Yeah, shout out to Asim.

00:18:05.769 --> 00:18:09.309
You know who we're talking about. I know you're listening. Oh, he'll be listening.

00:18:09.869 --> 00:18:14.169
Yeah, he would love to work with you, man. He would love it.

00:18:14.889 --> 00:18:16.849
You'll like him, too. We'll get you linked up with him. He's a wild man.

00:18:16.949 --> 00:18:17.609
You'll like him. That would be cool.

00:18:17.889 --> 00:18:20.849
Yeah, we'll get you linked up with him. That could be cool. I think he'd like

00:18:20.849 --> 00:18:23.169
that. He might even do it for the science.

00:18:23.849 --> 00:18:28.989
Yeah. Well, he's, yeah. I mean, he likes, he loves, he's very passionate about programming.

00:18:30.209 --> 00:18:32.769
And also like, like you said, kind of like a science. He's like,

00:18:32.789 --> 00:18:35.029
he's like a mad scientist the way he likes to kind of like say like,

00:18:35.089 --> 00:18:36.569
hey, how are things working for my guys?

00:18:36.649 --> 00:18:39.529
And like experiment with the ingredients. Excuse me.

00:18:40.989 --> 00:18:46.029
Yeah. I think you guys will. I, like you guys said, like I do seminars,

00:18:46.349 --> 00:18:50.249
like adaptive jujitsu seminars and, or guest teaching.

00:18:51.069 --> 00:18:56.789
Every now and then. And I've had gyms, I haven't had any gyms say no.

00:18:57.269 --> 00:19:01.469
They've always said, hey, this is a great idea. We love what you're doing.

00:19:02.723 --> 00:19:05.943
Contact us in a few months after like the

00:19:05.943 --> 00:19:09.823
season after the majors happen um but

00:19:09.823 --> 00:19:14.663
i've had black belts like say the reason they've said yes to my adaptive seminars

00:19:14.663 --> 00:19:20.063
is like we want to just know how you're kind of doing what you're doing given

00:19:20.063 --> 00:19:25.743
your physical limitations like it doesn't add up like it scientifically it doesn't

00:19:25.743 --> 00:19:29.723
add up like we just want to see how you do it like we're curious Yeah,

00:19:29.823 --> 00:19:32.243
how are you rolling with one side of your body, basically?

00:19:32.563 --> 00:19:34.903
And winning. And winning. Yeah, successfully.

00:19:35.323 --> 00:19:41.083
And by the way, this is an exercise,

00:19:42.223 --> 00:19:47.163
strategic exercise that any athlete, whether they require adaptive training

00:19:47.163 --> 00:19:53.463
or just whatever, everyone needs to figure out what their style is going to

00:19:53.463 --> 00:19:55.643
be, how they're going to fight.

00:19:55.643 --> 00:19:58.643
That kind of just basically like everyone needs to like audit their body what

00:19:58.643 --> 00:20:01.523
they're athletically naturally inclined towards or or not

00:20:01.523 --> 00:20:04.303
for that matter and so just the ability to kind

00:20:04.303 --> 00:20:08.823
of like you've just you've you've done that like you have that self-reflection

00:20:08.823 --> 00:20:11.683
of like this is how i'm going to fight and i'm how i'm going to win you know

00:20:11.683 --> 00:20:14.163
what you can what you can't do i'm sure you're still learning that and kind

00:20:14.163 --> 00:20:19.123
of i'm still evolving that right it was it was a long time before i won it's

00:20:19.123 --> 00:20:22.703
so weird because that white belt when i competed like i was winning matches

00:20:22.703 --> 00:20:23.903
i was getting on the podium.

00:20:24.683 --> 00:20:28.603
I was like, oh, this transition to blue belt. No big deal.

00:20:28.803 --> 00:20:32.983
It's going to be easy. And then I started losing like in like 30 seconds.

00:20:33.483 --> 00:20:40.343
Guys get better when you go up, right? Like it was bad. Like it was lucky if I'd make it a minute.

00:20:40.743 --> 00:20:45.943
And then the more I competed, I started losing on points. I started losing by an advantage.

00:20:46.303 --> 00:20:48.863
And I started winning by points and winning by submission.

00:20:49.403 --> 00:20:56.103
And it was like so cool to see that growth of just, getting smoked every time

00:20:56.103 --> 00:21:01.243
and just like data collecting, taking it back to the gym.

00:21:01.976 --> 00:21:04.916
Adding it into my training and like seeing it grow

00:21:04.916 --> 00:21:07.836
well we talk about that a lot we're going

00:21:07.836 --> 00:21:11.156
over competition like it's a

00:21:11.156 --> 00:21:14.416
lot of it is just that self benchmarking um

00:21:14.416 --> 00:21:17.616
and yeah being able to take it back and improve on

00:21:17.616 --> 00:21:20.576
it and then you know that it worked the improvements you made

00:21:20.576 --> 00:21:23.716
or you know you get a little bit closer like like

00:21:23.716 --> 00:21:27.096
you're saying um yeah it's like it's

00:21:27.096 --> 00:21:30.296
a really good way to actually track versus just

00:21:30.296 --> 00:21:33.356
doing stuff in the gym and i think that's what sets

00:21:33.356 --> 00:21:36.996
apart like the com the real competitors and

00:21:36.996 --> 00:21:41.976
the the hobbyist competitors i feel like a lot of competitors just compete to

00:21:41.976 --> 00:21:46.696
compete because they it's a cool thing to say that you're a competitor so they'll

00:21:46.696 --> 00:21:52.856
sign up for every local tournament and they don't really see growth whereas

00:21:52.856 --> 00:21:54.816
like Like the guys from, you know,

00:21:55.176 --> 00:21:57.916
more of the competitive gyms, like, they'll compete.

00:21:58.296 --> 00:22:04.016
They'll go back data, analyze, and fix that type of stuff.

00:22:04.296 --> 00:22:06.796
Like you said, there's, like, the people who want to compete just to compete.

00:22:07.076 --> 00:22:09.336
Nothing wrong with that. And there's people who want to compete to win.

00:22:09.496 --> 00:22:10.716
Yeah. They have goals. Yeah.

00:22:10.956 --> 00:22:13.976
And they're the ones who are like, we got to get this data.

00:22:14.356 --> 00:22:18.396
We have to be informed with our process to take it seriously.

00:22:18.636 --> 00:22:23.896
They're the ones that, you know, watch film, study film, watch other. tournaments.

00:22:24.116 --> 00:22:27.176
I mean, this past week was the IBJF World Championships.

00:22:27.856 --> 00:22:32.356
I was watching the purple, brown, and black featherweights and light featherweights

00:22:32.356 --> 00:22:33.956
because that's my weight class.

00:22:34.176 --> 00:22:36.976
So I was like watching them, studying how they did things.

00:22:37.876 --> 00:22:39.976
And like you said, like trust the process.

00:22:41.256 --> 00:22:44.776
Are you doing more gi, no gi? Do you have a preference right now?

00:22:45.776 --> 00:22:53.676
I do. I'd say more gi just because of the classes at Conquest more gi but I

00:22:53.676 --> 00:22:57.376
try and do 50-50 I compete better in no gi,

00:22:58.511 --> 00:23:01.371
And I think that's because of the grips. Like, I'm not going to get a lasso

00:23:01.371 --> 00:23:04.811
going on my weak side. Yeah, you're not. Like, it's just not going to happen.

00:23:04.831 --> 00:23:06.491
It's a lot less of playing down.

00:23:06.711 --> 00:23:09.891
Yeah, whereas, like, no-gi, I can overhook, underhook.

00:23:10.251 --> 00:23:13.371
I can use body locks, stuff like that.

00:23:14.291 --> 00:23:17.771
Okay, so one thing we touched upon I want to keep talking about,

00:23:17.851 --> 00:23:21.351
too, man, is, like, going back to the organizations, the rule sets,

00:23:21.431 --> 00:23:23.871
and what you're focusing on.

00:23:24.071 --> 00:23:27.571
Probably talk a little bit about some of your goals, too. But like you talked

00:23:27.571 --> 00:23:33.611
about IBJJFs, like the, I guess one, the frequency and access to tournaments,

00:23:33.871 --> 00:23:34.811
there's just a lot of them, right?

00:23:34.951 --> 00:23:41.651
Like there's, they're all over the place and it's a good place for any serious

00:23:41.651 --> 00:23:46.351
competitor to constantly get more reps and build up to, they also have like

00:23:46.351 --> 00:23:49.331
major tournaments that you can,

00:23:49.451 --> 00:23:53.331
you can target that as like, this is what I want to win. I want to win Pans, Worlds, whatever.

00:23:54.111 --> 00:23:56.071
And then you can go to your regionals around it. So therefore,

00:23:56.391 --> 00:24:01.911
it's a good organization for that. You're also doing Abu Dhabi's. Yeah, AJP's.

00:24:02.511 --> 00:24:04.971
AJP's similarly formatted, but it's a little different.

00:24:05.991 --> 00:24:11.171
Similar, but they're more like European. Yeah, the locations are a little different.

00:24:11.411 --> 00:24:15.051
Yeah, but the biggest difference is all their matches are five minutes.

00:24:15.491 --> 00:24:19.571
So if you're a black broad and IBJF, you have a 10-minute match.

00:24:19.571 --> 00:24:23.371
Whereas AJP is five minutes and that's it.

00:24:23.591 --> 00:24:26.491
And they do that on purpose to keep the action going.

00:24:27.171 --> 00:24:30.671
They don't want people to sit there in a double guard pool.

00:24:31.491 --> 00:24:35.571
Stall out for four minutes. Seven minutes. And then they initiate action whenever

00:24:35.571 --> 00:24:44.531
they feel like they're ready for. And then what's weird is like IBJJF has points advantages penalties.

00:24:45.411 --> 00:24:47.371
AJP they all combine it together.

00:24:48.149 --> 00:24:53.729
So it's, like, really weird. I don't like it. It's been a while since I've done an AJP. I did one.

00:24:53.889 --> 00:24:57.369
And then, like, small little grips. Like, when I hit a Barambolo,

00:24:57.629 --> 00:24:59.729
I like to grab the back of the key bands.

00:25:00.249 --> 00:25:03.789
Like, I like to, like, get a big chunk of the butt. Yeah.

00:25:05.109 --> 00:25:09.449
AJP, you can't do that. You got to grab the actual fabric. I see.

00:25:09.749 --> 00:25:10.689
On, like, the butt cheek.

00:25:11.289 --> 00:25:14.589
Like, you can't grab the waistband. Really?

00:25:14.909 --> 00:25:19.869
Yeah. It has a penalty. So they have more, like, grip limitations than IB.

00:25:19.989 --> 00:25:25.469
That's great. I was training at the De La Riva Academy in Abu Dhabi last November,

00:25:26.109 --> 00:25:28.189
ahead of the World Championships.

00:25:28.409 --> 00:25:33.009
And one of the black belts saw me start the invert, and I grabbed the waistband

00:25:33.009 --> 00:25:35.769
and kind of, like, slapped my hand.

00:25:35.949 --> 00:25:38.309
He was like, hey, that's a penalty.

00:25:39.149 --> 00:25:42.889
That's a penalty. He was like, IBJJF, you're good.

00:25:43.429 --> 00:25:46.429
AJP, don't do that. was that like eye-opening

00:25:46.429 --> 00:25:49.209
for you yeah because i had no idea and i would have done that in

00:25:49.209 --> 00:25:52.769
the one sure are you glad you slapped your hand yeah yeah

00:25:52.769 --> 00:25:55.469
um was that

00:25:55.469 --> 00:25:59.029
one did you were you already in that circuit for agp

00:25:59.029 --> 00:26:03.309
that was the first ever ajp ornament

00:26:03.309 --> 00:26:10.989
i did was a world championships um it was like i i would do ivjfs and my thought

00:26:10.989 --> 00:26:16.449
process was right if i can win or if i can be competitive against able-bodied

00:26:16.449 --> 00:26:20.469
dudes i can go over to abu dhabi and beat all the adaptive athletes.

00:26:21.629 --> 00:26:26.969
And uh i mean it's a fair assessment it worked out kind of i mean i made it

00:26:26.969 --> 00:26:33.869
to the finals i lost to some guy from uh mongolia um but it was like a competitive

00:26:33.869 --> 00:26:40.329
match did some really good jiu-jitsu I credit it to doing IBJJF,

00:26:40.409 --> 00:26:42.389
so competing against the best dudes.

00:26:43.689 --> 00:26:48.449
And even though I wasn't winning all of them, I was being competitive. I was able to get points.

00:26:49.716 --> 00:26:54.076
I think it, I think it was a good process. Yeah.

00:26:54.616 --> 00:26:57.996
So right now, what are, what are some of the bigger goals you have that you're targeting?

00:26:58.976 --> 00:27:04.676
So the, I mean, the biggest goal is to go back to Abu Dhabi this November and get gold.

00:27:05.416 --> 00:27:07.556
Last year I got, I got to the finals. Tell us the tournament.

00:27:07.716 --> 00:27:11.476
What's the tournament? When is it? The Abu Dhabi Para World Championships.

00:27:12.556 --> 00:27:18.476
It's like a two week tournament. I fight on November 13th, but then the black belt.

00:27:18.476 --> 00:27:21.616
So like two weeks after it's like a two or three week tournament so

00:27:21.616 --> 00:27:24.476
this is a big it's a big deal a lot of people too and

00:27:24.476 --> 00:27:27.476
jujitsu is the national sport for the united arab

00:27:27.476 --> 00:27:30.416
emirates so like it's a big thing they've been

00:27:30.416 --> 00:27:33.336
pumping a lot of money into jujitsu yeah yeah bringing

00:27:33.336 --> 00:27:36.116
over a lot of the top guys to do like

00:27:36.116 --> 00:27:38.976
a lot of teams and everything and get on

00:27:38.976 --> 00:27:42.236
the podium get like cash prizes so like athletes

00:27:42.236 --> 00:27:45.696
are wanting to compete in that circuit um and

00:27:45.696 --> 00:27:48.796
they treat their adaptive athletes like royalty and they

00:27:48.796 --> 00:27:51.956
treated us just like they would any other black belt like

00:27:51.956 --> 00:27:55.896
it's it's pretty incredible um but

00:27:55.896 --> 00:27:58.696
obviously the i got silver i got a taste of

00:27:58.696 --> 00:28:01.816
what it was like fighting for a world championship and

00:28:01.816 --> 00:28:04.536
i still think my jiu-jitsu is better than my

00:28:04.536 --> 00:28:07.356
opponent he was just stronger than me it goes

00:28:07.356 --> 00:28:10.436
back to adding strength and conditioning like a legit strength

00:28:10.436 --> 00:28:14.236
and conditioning program into my training um

00:28:14.236 --> 00:28:17.036
and then on top of that

00:28:17.036 --> 00:28:20.256
like just teaching seminars i want to do like a seminar tour

00:28:20.256 --> 00:28:23.436
um just doing seminars and

00:28:23.436 --> 00:28:28.116
promoting adaptive jiu-jitsu and opening people's eyes to a different perspective

00:28:28.116 --> 00:28:34.136
um i believe jiu-jitsu is the most adaptable martial art there is and i want

00:28:34.136 --> 00:28:40.476
to showcase yeah i mean i i agree with that i have a guy who trains with us who's blind.

00:28:41.856 --> 00:28:46.156
I think he actually picks it up faster than a lot of other people do because.

00:28:47.178 --> 00:28:51.398
If you just adapt the little things for whatever someone's limitation is,

00:28:51.578 --> 00:28:55.058
like it's pretty impressive what people can do.

00:28:55.238 --> 00:28:57.898
Also just what people can do in general outside of that.

00:28:58.098 --> 00:29:02.898
But those, I think the people that get into it that have those limitations,

00:29:03.458 --> 00:29:08.458
I think they find a lot more value and they find their path a lot quicker than

00:29:08.458 --> 00:29:10.758
people who aren't, don't have any limitations.

00:29:10.978 --> 00:29:15.178
The guys that don't have limitations don't have too many options almost.

00:29:15.458 --> 00:29:18.318
Like they don't, a lot of them get too like kind of wrapped

00:29:18.318 --> 00:29:21.058
up in like trying to do everything rather than trying to figure out

00:29:21.058 --> 00:29:24.858
how to play a game that works for them whereas watching

00:29:24.858 --> 00:29:27.818
people who do have to adapt the sport

00:29:27.818 --> 00:29:31.158
like they have to find out what their game is before anything

00:29:31.158 --> 00:29:34.058
else because so i mean you you

00:29:34.058 --> 00:29:37.478
probably have you have more insight into that no you're spot on

00:29:37.478 --> 00:29:40.478
like i feel like everyone else

00:29:40.478 --> 00:29:43.558
can kind of do a little

00:29:43.558 --> 00:29:47.138
bit of everything like do takedowns play

00:29:47.138 --> 00:29:54.058
top game you know do all this stuff and for me it's like no I'm getting the

00:29:54.058 --> 00:29:59.278
guard I'm going to enter a leg entanglement or try and take the back I'm very

00:29:59.278 --> 00:30:04.078
strategic on getting advantage if we double guard I'm going to come up to get that advantage.

00:30:04.718 --> 00:30:11.098
It's very strategic of how I train what I can and can't do I feel like he's

00:30:11.098 --> 00:30:15.218
trying to lead me into some fake trap because we're probably competing against

00:30:15.218 --> 00:30:18.358
each other until he's telling me all these things that he's not going to do.

00:30:19.318 --> 00:30:21.078
He doesn't have to. I'm on to him.

00:30:22.158 --> 00:30:24.898
One thing I'd say, though, that's, I think, interesting about this,

00:30:24.978 --> 00:30:27.738
and back to what we were talking about on the seminars, that you said,

00:30:27.858 --> 00:30:29.878
like, black belts from all kinds of academies are saying, hey,

00:30:29.958 --> 00:30:32.518
come teach how you do what you do.

00:30:33.018 --> 00:30:36.678
What I would argue is, like, people with, quote-unquote, without limitations,

00:30:36.858 --> 00:30:40.938
like, I think everyone, especially in sports jiu-jitsu people

00:30:40.938 --> 00:30:43.998
do have limitations they just don't know like a

00:30:43.998 --> 00:30:49.338
they don't know how to address they don't know how to identify it yes whereas

00:30:49.338 --> 00:30:52.478
like they don't have a cut and dry like you said like your your friend who's

00:30:52.478 --> 00:30:57.058
blind you have cerebral palsy and like you're dialed in you're self-aware you're

00:30:57.058 --> 00:31:01.918
like all right i know my limitations therefore here's how I'm going to fight.

00:31:02.058 --> 00:31:07.398
Like just that exercise is really valuable for, I don't know,

00:31:07.478 --> 00:31:11.638
like regular folks too, because people, like I have limitations when I compete.

00:31:11.778 --> 00:31:13.498
Like I shouldn't do X, Y, and Z.

00:31:14.365 --> 00:31:17.385
And it could be like whatever. Maybe I don't want to do leg locks against a

00:31:17.385 --> 00:31:18.645
professional leg locker.

00:31:18.805 --> 00:31:23.365
I want to grapple them more wrestling, positional, like get to the neck style.

00:31:23.845 --> 00:31:28.745
But if people who aren't experienced like self-reflecting and figuring out like

00:31:28.745 --> 00:31:35.165
how do I win and how do I lose when I play jiu-jitsu, because like at the end of the day, it is a game.

00:31:35.425 --> 00:31:39.405
And everyone is going to have some variation of that thought process.

00:31:39.525 --> 00:31:42.625
And if you're not doing that exercise, this is a blind spot.

00:31:42.625 --> 00:31:47.625
Like I'll tell you what we were talking about like watching tape being self-reflective

00:31:47.625 --> 00:31:49.205
getting data and shit like I mean I've.

00:31:50.145 --> 00:31:53.685
I try to do this too where I like watch things and I'm like this is just like

00:31:53.685 --> 00:31:57.265
if I watch a match that I've lost I kind of fought away that I don't I don't

00:31:57.265 --> 00:31:59.505
fight like that I don't win like that,

00:32:00.025 --> 00:32:02.825
yeah I mean we talked about this on we did

00:32:02.825 --> 00:32:06.045
a like reflection episodes on competitions that

00:32:06.045 --> 00:32:09.345
we had and like we talked about like you know

00:32:09.345 --> 00:32:12.785
you do one tournament and you figure

00:32:12.785 --> 00:32:16.705
out like oh like if i start off

00:32:16.705 --> 00:32:20.125
with x y or z grip in the initial stand-up

00:32:20.125 --> 00:32:22.985
engagement like this is how i win

00:32:22.985 --> 00:32:25.725
this is how i yeah if i do this then the

00:32:25.725 --> 00:32:28.965
person is going to end up in their position and

00:32:28.965 --> 00:32:31.965
that that's not the way i should start because that's not where i want to

00:32:31.965 --> 00:32:38.525
be anyways so um yeah like you have to look at that stuff and you talked about

00:32:38.525 --> 00:32:43.465
how you look back at everything too like that's what makes you better is you

00:32:43.465 --> 00:32:46.985
can actually look at what your self-reflect on those limitations that you're

00:32:46.985 --> 00:32:49.945
creating for yourself or well or do you have.

00:32:50.865 --> 00:32:54.045
Um the match the match itself imposes limitations on

00:32:54.045 --> 00:32:58.685
you like you said like you have five minutes to impose your game on the other

00:32:58.685 --> 00:33:03.145
dude yeah so if you don't know how do i impose my game this is every athlete

00:33:03.145 --> 00:33:07.145
has to think about this adaptive adaptive or not yeah like you have to know

00:33:07.145 --> 00:33:13.745
that Especially if you're coming from IBJJF and then going to AJP and matches are shorter.

00:33:14.225 --> 00:33:19.165
They combine the advantages and points. It is a strategy game.

00:33:20.725 --> 00:33:29.245
I know if I execute my guard to the best of my ability, I am in good shape to win that match.

00:33:29.425 --> 00:33:33.105
If I get to the jiu-jitsu part of the match before my opponent,

00:33:33.625 --> 00:33:40.805
If I let him get to the jiu-jitsu part of it first, then I might be in trouble. Yeah.

00:33:41.465 --> 00:33:45.385
Especially for me, once they start scoring points on me, it's really hard to combat.

00:33:46.008 --> 00:33:49.628
I mean, that goes for everyone. That goes for everyone. But it's a good call-out,

00:33:49.708 --> 00:33:51.208
like you said. It's just imposing the game.

00:33:51.328 --> 00:33:55.608
You're like, oh, shit. I want to start off like this. He starts off like whatever.

00:33:56.568 --> 00:33:59.988
And you got to be able to adapt a little bit too. These things are fluid.

00:34:00.148 --> 00:34:06.108
But to your point, it's just a call-out to knowing where and how you want to start. Being aware.

00:34:06.388 --> 00:34:15.128
Being aware. And I have a subscription, AOJ+, the online database for AOJ.

00:34:15.668 --> 00:34:19.848
And that's really helped me out because I mean their athletes are the best of

00:34:19.848 --> 00:34:22.148
the best world champions.

00:34:22.488 --> 00:34:26.048
You train there you're going to be a world champion or you're going to at least compete for one.

00:34:26.188 --> 00:34:30.688
You can throw a pebble in that room and probably hit a world champion Yeah and

00:34:30.688 --> 00:34:35.868
I've been studying them and watching them how they analyze their matches,

00:34:35.968 --> 00:34:40.508
how they break it down every little detail and I'm like this is what I need.

00:34:41.768 --> 00:34:44.328
My margin of error is small.

00:34:44.528 --> 00:34:47.468
I mean, everyone's margins are small. Mine's even small.

00:34:47.888 --> 00:34:53.008
So it's like, how do I minimize those scenarios? So let me ask you this question.

00:34:53.168 --> 00:34:55.628
Like, where are you training right now? Like, your main, like, your headquarters?

00:34:56.968 --> 00:35:01.668
Ken Island? Conquest and Millie. Conquest. Okay, Conquest, and Conquest has

00:35:01.668 --> 00:35:03.008
a good competitive team, too.

00:35:03.648 --> 00:35:06.748
Are you in a room full of other guys who are pretty active? Are you the main

00:35:06.748 --> 00:35:07.908
competitor where you are?

00:35:08.668 --> 00:35:15.008
So there's a couple of us. There's Vicente's son, Gabriel, He just turned 15,

00:35:15.148 --> 00:35:19.068
so he'll be a juvenile blue belt soon. But he's still in the kids' division.

00:35:20.448 --> 00:35:23.188
Doesn't matter. He still beats me up. He's been just training for her.

00:35:23.248 --> 00:35:27.408
He's nasty, I'm sure. He's so nasty. European chant. Before he could walk. Yeah.

00:35:27.708 --> 00:35:31.428
Three-time European chant, pan chant.

00:35:31.948 --> 00:35:35.928
He's competing in Brazil next week for Brazilian nasty. And how much does he weigh?

00:35:36.608 --> 00:35:38.848
141. So he's a good training partner for you. Yeah, absolutely.

00:35:38.848 --> 00:35:44.148
Great training partner for you. And then you probably remember Mikey, male. I do.

00:35:44.528 --> 00:35:47.948
He was probably like six years old at the time. Well, he's a black belt now. Cool.

00:35:48.988 --> 00:35:51.708
Oh, I know, Mike. I've competed against Mike. Yeah. He's a beast.

00:35:51.828 --> 00:35:53.268
Mikey, male. Yeah, he's a great kid. Yeah.

00:35:53.588 --> 00:35:57.808
Yeah. So he's my main. Good.

00:35:58.408 --> 00:36:03.108
Is he featherweight now? For the majors who cut the light feather.

00:36:03.268 --> 00:36:07.408
Okay. But for the opens. So you have two dudes around your size who are like

00:36:07.408 --> 00:36:13.848
very good. And then I have a really good friend and training partner, Gabby, Gabby Vest.

00:36:14.028 --> 00:36:16.848
She owns her own gym in Milford, Delaware.

00:36:18.388 --> 00:36:23.408
And she's, she has a good understanding and maybe this is a female thing,

00:36:23.628 --> 00:36:29.408
but she has a good understanding of what I can and can't do and how to coach it.

00:36:30.659 --> 00:36:34.259
Better than a lot of you mean you specifically yeah like

00:36:34.259 --> 00:36:37.299
mikey can do it too i guess because we train so much

00:36:37.299 --> 00:36:40.319
he knows your style he knows exactly what i can do exactly

00:36:40.319 --> 00:36:43.439
what i can't do um and so

00:36:43.439 --> 00:36:48.839
and she competes at featherweight for uh the female division which is around

00:36:48.839 --> 00:36:53.859
like the light featherweight for male so i have some really good training partners

00:36:53.859 --> 00:37:00.739
um in that sense everyone else is bigger than me more muscular so i just try and keep my guard dude.

00:37:01.279 --> 00:37:03.979
Two to three good training partners who it sounds like

00:37:03.979 --> 00:37:06.939
and you have at least three from what i'm hearing who

00:37:06.939 --> 00:37:09.619
are all like competitive around the same

00:37:09.619 --> 00:37:12.539
size like you trust them they're not gonna do anything crazy to you but they're

00:37:12.539 --> 00:37:15.319
gonna push you dude that's huge exactly and

00:37:15.319 --> 00:37:18.039
that's you don't need more than that i mean anything more that's nice but like

00:37:18.039 --> 00:37:21.119
yeah that's a foundation upon

00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:24.019
which you can build like exactly a good program i think

00:37:24.019 --> 00:37:27.159
that's what i was missing last year in abu dhabi was um

00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:29.799
you know i i had a coach that was going

00:37:29.799 --> 00:37:33.119
to come with me and you know life happens he wasn't

00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:36.319
able to come so last minute like i asked

00:37:36.319 --> 00:37:39.079
uh remember vicky east loss yeah from high school

00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:43.119
i asked him to come he's now a black belt um and

00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:46.219
even though i've known him for 15 plus

00:37:46.219 --> 00:37:49.319
years and i trusted him he was

00:37:49.319 --> 00:37:52.919
telling me things like it wasn't wrong coaching he

00:37:52.919 --> 00:37:55.619
was telling me the correct thing but because of

00:37:55.619 --> 00:38:00.979
my physical limitation i just couldn't do it i get it and i they weren't the

00:38:00.979 --> 00:38:06.139
right things for you exactly they weren't the wrong thing but i feel like having

00:38:06.139 --> 00:38:11.759
somebody like mikey or gabby in my corner knowing exactly what i can and can't

00:38:11.759 --> 00:38:14.219
do i think that little adjustment,

00:38:14.819 --> 00:38:19.899
is what is going to make the difference between making it to the finals and

00:38:19.899 --> 00:38:23.299
losing and earning silver or making it to the finals and winning.

00:38:24.459 --> 00:38:28.759
And coaching is so important. I don't care what anyone says.

00:38:29.079 --> 00:38:33.719
Like coaching, if you have a good coach, you can be a success.

00:38:33.939 --> 00:38:37.259
And that's actually a really good point. Do you specifically,

00:38:37.799 --> 00:38:44.959
because I know you listen for specific voices Like when you're on the mat,

00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:49.119
like you have to get really good at sing, sing, sing, sing, singling out.

00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:52.679
You have to get really good at singling out the voice of your coach, too.

00:38:52.899 --> 00:38:55.879
And so even hearing a different person doing your call outs,

00:38:56.499 --> 00:39:02.439
even if it's the right call outs, it's a lot harder to pick up on that when you're in a loud room.

00:39:02.839 --> 00:39:08.419
Especially in IBJF, the Virginia Open. We're in this convention center.

00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:09.879
Yeah. And it's pretty loud.

00:39:10.859 --> 00:39:16.039
And they can't go back. They're like sitting. on the barrier being like hey RJ do this.

00:39:16.219 --> 00:39:20.039
Yeah they can't be next to the mat so like,

00:39:20.964 --> 00:39:26.224
And I have a coach with me. I pick where they are.

00:39:26.344 --> 00:39:29.104
Like, I know where they are before the match even starts. I'm like,

00:39:29.224 --> 00:39:30.944
oh, Mikey's right there.

00:39:31.084 --> 00:39:33.624
Gabby's right there. So I know where to look.

00:39:33.884 --> 00:39:36.744
And I know where to kind of listen.

00:39:37.644 --> 00:39:40.884
A lot of times Mikey is competing at the same time I am.

00:39:41.924 --> 00:39:47.664
Which is tricky. Which is tricky, but we always analyze the matches and go back

00:39:47.664 --> 00:39:49.824
and, you know, work on things.

00:39:50.624 --> 00:39:54.404
I competed in London, too, a couple, like two months ago.

00:39:54.624 --> 00:39:59.984
And that entire camp, we worked on staying on top. Because the Virginia Open,

00:40:00.264 --> 00:40:01.444
when was that, February?

00:40:02.204 --> 00:40:06.344
March. That was March? Yes. I won the match 8-6.

00:40:06.964 --> 00:40:11.164
It was a close match. But every time I got a sweep, I would let him sweep me

00:40:11.164 --> 00:40:13.524
right back because I wanted to play guard. I get it.

00:40:13.884 --> 00:40:19.444
And you just need that two-point lead. Yeah, so I was going up 2-0, 2-2.

00:40:19.824 --> 00:40:22.444
4-0, like, and back and forth.

00:40:23.024 --> 00:40:26.644
And Mikey was like, dude, you got to work on your top game.

00:40:27.084 --> 00:40:31.384
Like, you're getting these sweeps, and then you're letting them get the points

00:40:31.384 --> 00:40:32.804
because you want to play guard.

00:40:33.184 --> 00:40:40.524
And I think the entire tournament in London, I think I played guard for 20 seconds, and that was it.

00:40:40.904 --> 00:40:44.704
So the adjustments are working. I got my sweep, and I stayed on top.

00:40:45.344 --> 00:40:51.484
And tried the packs. That was with Reorg, right? Yeah, that was with V-Org.

00:40:52.124 --> 00:40:56.884
And the cool thing with the adaptive division, there's just not a lot of adaptive

00:40:56.884 --> 00:40:59.284
athletes. So all the belt levels are put together.

00:40:59.624 --> 00:41:02.104
So I got to compete against my first black belt.

00:41:02.564 --> 00:41:06.984
Got to win. Hell yeah. Never felt grip strength like that in my life.

00:41:08.464 --> 00:41:11.444
And there's also no weight class, which kind of sucks.

00:41:11.844 --> 00:41:15.484
So you basically did an absolute division. Basically. Absolute ranks.

00:41:15.484 --> 00:41:20.344
The guy I lost to was like 200 pounds of pure muscle.

00:41:20.844 --> 00:41:26.064
And he was an amputee. Like he was 200 pounds without his leg. Oh my God.

00:41:26.564 --> 00:41:33.484
And he just choked me around. Like I did get the two points for the takedown. I single legged him.

00:41:35.244 --> 00:41:40.604
I blast single legged him. You got rid of the last, uh, last leg you had to stand.

00:41:40.744 --> 00:41:44.884
Yeah. And then I passed his guard and all he did was throw me over.

00:41:45.757 --> 00:41:49.477
That's fair. And that was pretty much the match.

00:41:50.917 --> 00:41:54.317
Yeah, so that was what you did in London.

00:41:55.237 --> 00:41:59.417
Was there anything, did you get a chance to do takeaways from London and use

00:41:59.417 --> 00:42:01.757
that when you went to Spain was the next one?

00:42:01.997 --> 00:42:06.477
Yeah, so Spain was exactly 10 days after London.

00:42:06.477 --> 00:42:10.717
So I came home and basically went right back to Spain.

00:42:10.717 --> 00:42:17.357
Um, and yeah, me and Mikey sat down, um, talked about what I did well,

00:42:17.637 --> 00:42:23.997
um, had some, you know, pointers and ideas and goals for Spain.

00:42:24.197 --> 00:42:28.917
And, um, unfortunately in Spain, no adaptive athletes showed up.

00:42:29.077 --> 00:42:34.117
So I was all in one. So they threw me in the adult purple featherweight division.

00:42:34.677 --> 00:42:37.457
Um, but I had some great message, man.

00:42:37.457 --> 00:42:45.617
Uh did a few inversions got a few takedowns um fought out of a nasty foot lock

00:42:45.617 --> 00:42:50.897
like the dude had to i'll show you a photo of it later the dude had and he was

00:42:50.897 --> 00:42:52.957
giving me that like that look like.

00:42:54.297 --> 00:42:59.557
He's like do you need me to break this bro and it was like it was like you're

00:42:59.557 --> 00:43:03.077
wild and he looks I sit at the ref, and the ref's like, keep going.

00:43:03.277 --> 00:43:05.557
And in my head, I'm like, I just flew.

00:43:06.197 --> 00:43:10.717
It took me like 31 hours to get there because I had a 19-hour layover in Belgium.

00:43:11.277 --> 00:43:15.737
And then the flight kept getting delayed. So it took me like 31 hours total.

00:43:16.037 --> 00:43:19.297
I was like, dude, I'm not tapping. We're two minutes into this mess. I'm not tapping.

00:43:19.757 --> 00:43:24.577
Next day, I could barely walk. You're like, I'm getting five minutes right now.

00:43:25.137 --> 00:43:30.277
That's like, I feel like that's my super power because like straight ankle locks. I'm not going to tap it.

00:43:31.037 --> 00:43:32.957
Like I'll tattoo it in the training room.

00:43:33.766 --> 00:43:38.646
I'm not tapping into that corner. It's so fucked. You're going to have to Aoki it. Yeah.

00:43:39.386 --> 00:43:43.786
Kill me. You're going to have to threaten more than my ankle. It's fair. It's fair.

00:43:45.126 --> 00:43:48.226
What organization was that one with, too? That was with Camorra Cup.

00:43:48.626 --> 00:43:51.966
Is that something that's, I guess that's like a European? Yeah,

00:43:52.086 --> 00:43:58.406
that's like Spain's largest jujitsu promotion that's only held in Spain.

00:43:58.766 --> 00:44:01.466
Obviously, they have AJPs in Spain.

00:44:02.286 --> 00:44:05.146
And they usually do an IBJJF in Barcelona.

00:44:05.966 --> 00:44:09.166
But like Camorra Cup is like Spain's largest.

00:44:09.406 --> 00:44:14.766
Yeah, it's their like big national. And they have a para division, brand new.

00:44:15.166 --> 00:44:21.146
But I had the opportunity to go. The flight was like $490, like super cheap

00:44:21.146 --> 00:44:22.646
for an international flight.

00:44:23.006 --> 00:44:28.726
So I was like, yeah, I'm going to go travel. That 19-hour layover in Belgium, that was when I got out.

00:44:28.866 --> 00:44:33.746
But that layover was cool. My mom went to the international school of Brussels, a high school.

00:44:33.946 --> 00:44:38.826
So it was cool to like see Belgium and see what it was like.

00:44:39.246 --> 00:44:43.046
I mean, obviously she went to high school way a long time ago. Sorry, mom.

00:44:43.386 --> 00:44:48.726
But like Belgium's a lot different now, but it was just cool to see like where

00:44:48.726 --> 00:44:50.886
she grew up essentially. Yeah.

00:44:51.606 --> 00:44:54.786
I imagine this, especially in a different country.

00:44:55.086 --> 00:44:58.366
Like it was really cool. And I also like traveling solo.

00:44:58.366 --> 00:45:01.406
Well i mean i went to peru a couple

00:45:01.406 --> 00:45:05.266
years ago to volunteer with guardian um to

00:45:05.266 --> 00:45:12.426
help uh teach kids jiu-jitsu and man core went by myself had a lot of fun some

00:45:12.426 --> 00:45:19.046
sketchy moments as all solo travel has yeah shit man that's awesome this is

00:45:19.046 --> 00:45:22.226
a cool story yeah um any And...

00:45:23.108 --> 00:45:25.848
Do you have any other plans like that? Well, actually, before that,

00:45:26.008 --> 00:45:31.088
do you find it easier, now that you've done the European thing,

00:45:31.188 --> 00:45:34.188
is it easier to find the adaptive divisions over there?

00:45:34.188 --> 00:45:42.368
Is it hard to find adaptive competition in the United States without maybe going

00:45:42.368 --> 00:45:46.888
through matchmaking for a super fight or something? 1,000%.

00:45:48.228 --> 00:45:51.148
That's the one thing Europe and the Middle East are

00:45:51.148 --> 00:45:55.828
doing really well in terms of jiu-jitsu with para-adaptive

00:45:55.828 --> 00:45:59.088
athletes they're hosting paratoins all

00:45:59.088 --> 00:46:02.248
over the place whereas in the united states there

00:46:02.248 --> 00:46:05.628
really aren't any last year ajp held

00:46:05.628 --> 00:46:09.408
a para division at the dallas grand slam um i

00:46:09.408 --> 00:46:12.368
had broken my toe like three weeks before that so i i

00:46:12.368 --> 00:46:15.468
had to back out um so i could be healthy for

00:46:15.468 --> 00:46:18.248
november but yeah it's

00:46:18.248 --> 00:46:22.128
really hard i've done a super fight with iron man grappling in

00:46:22.128 --> 00:46:25.088
uh connecticut uh they got a super fight for

00:46:25.088 --> 00:46:29.028
me an adaptive match against the amputee um

00:46:29.028 --> 00:46:32.728
so that was the first adaptive match in promotion history

00:46:32.728 --> 00:46:35.508
and i won that match um and that

00:46:35.508 --> 00:46:38.488
like that was cool but in terms

00:46:38.488 --> 00:46:41.288
of like tournaments yeah the org

00:46:41.288 --> 00:46:44.748
in london has one all the time um twice

00:46:44.748 --> 00:46:51.008
a year ajp do you think there's a what do you think because i mean there are

00:46:51.008 --> 00:46:56.368
plenty of adaptive athletes in the united states doing jitsu too do you think

00:46:56.368 --> 00:46:58.688
that what do you think needs to

00:46:58.688 --> 00:47:03.088
what do you think would need to happen or change is it just getting those.

00:47:03.768 --> 00:47:07.108
Organizations to start holding tournaments here or do you think there's something

00:47:07.108 --> 00:47:11.668
else I think it's, you know, advocating.

00:47:12.208 --> 00:47:19.768
Like, I think it's getting these promoters and organizers on board with having a paradivision.

00:47:20.048 --> 00:47:25.608
Like, starting small with, like, Grapple Industries, NAGA, getting them on board

00:47:25.608 --> 00:47:30.568
for having an adapted division and see where it goes.

00:47:31.388 --> 00:47:35.388
I've spoken with a lot of adapted athletes here in the United States,

00:47:35.388 --> 00:47:37.368
and a lot of them are worried they're going to get injured.

00:47:37.608 --> 00:47:44.968
Like they train jujitsu, but they don't want to compete because they don't want to get injured.

00:47:45.248 --> 00:47:49.308
And it's like, well, you don't have to compete against able-bodied people.

00:47:50.907 --> 00:47:54.947
That's why we have adaptive divisions. And in the adaptive division,

00:47:55.087 --> 00:47:56.687
they're not allowed to attack my right arm.

00:47:57.087 --> 00:48:02.287
And I'm not allowed to attack their... Name it. Whatever their disability is.

00:48:02.627 --> 00:48:04.687
So it kind of, like, levels the playing field.

00:48:05.307 --> 00:48:09.787
In Abu Dhabi, I can't tell you how many times, like, I knew my arm,

00:48:09.807 --> 00:48:12.087
if I was in IBJJF, was going to get very tough.

00:48:13.207 --> 00:48:16.587
But because it couldn't attack it, I didn't have to worry about it.

00:48:16.607 --> 00:48:18.587
You could be a little more lax with it.

00:48:18.867 --> 00:48:24.107
Yeah, exactly. But, like, I did the New Jersey Open a couple last year,

00:48:24.187 --> 00:48:27.787
and the guy did a flying armbar on my week on in, like, seven seconds.

00:48:28.087 --> 00:48:31.727
And Vicente was like, well, we knew it was going to happen eventually.

00:48:33.647 --> 00:48:40.247
He was like, we knew it was going to happen eventually. Someone was bound to take advantage.

00:48:40.387 --> 00:48:43.087
He was like, well, what finally happened? He was like, at least it happened

00:48:43.087 --> 00:48:46.627
at Probel Belt, like, three and a half, four years into competing.

00:48:47.487 --> 00:48:50.387
Like but i've talked to so many opponents and

00:48:50.387 --> 00:48:53.207
they're like halfway through the match we realized how

00:48:53.207 --> 00:48:56.327
good you were at jiu-jitsu and we wanted to win i want to beat you yeah

00:48:56.327 --> 00:49:00.887
yeah bro i think you might be better at jiu-jitsu than me but yeah i mean i

00:49:00.887 --> 00:49:05.087
had that i had to take advantage of my advantages the guy in spain was kind

00:49:05.087 --> 00:49:09.267
of like that uh he didn't really speak english but like we could like kind of

00:49:09.267 --> 00:49:15.587
communicate he's like he's like thumbs up like really good he was like,

00:49:16.247 --> 00:49:21.527
I had to attack He beat me on points But he tried to Vislock My week on And

00:49:21.527 --> 00:49:23.747
I just looked at I'm not happy to this.

00:49:24.927 --> 00:49:29.907
You're like It's useless anyways Break it bro Yeah It's so weird With my CP Because like,

00:49:30.823 --> 00:49:35.083
It doesn't hurt, but I can feel the pressure. Like, if you put it in an arm

00:49:35.083 --> 00:49:38.843
bar, it doesn't hurt, but I can feel the pressure.

00:49:39.263 --> 00:49:42.963
Like, you know it's not in a good position, like something bad's going to happen.

00:49:43.163 --> 00:49:45.683
Yeah, exactly. But I don't know, like, when to tap.

00:49:46.243 --> 00:49:50.403
So, I tap quick in the training. But, like, in tournaments, yeah, I can let it.

00:49:50.883 --> 00:49:53.723
You can run with it for a second. I can run with it for a few seconds.

00:49:53.903 --> 00:49:57.803
Well, that probably explains why I remember you always had a cast on in high

00:49:57.803 --> 00:50:00.243
school. Like, you were always breaking your arm.

00:50:00.883 --> 00:50:04.283
I also did some really stupid things in high school.

00:50:05.123 --> 00:50:10.303
You guys played football, you told me. Well, not just that, but growing up watching

00:50:10.303 --> 00:50:15.383
Bam Mojera on MTV and Johnny Knoxville and some jackass.

00:50:15.503 --> 00:50:16.923
Doing some jackass stuff.

00:50:17.643 --> 00:50:22.903
Hey, this is RJ. I had a half pipe in the backyard.

00:50:23.363 --> 00:50:26.663
So we would always do stupid stuff on the half pipe.

00:50:28.223 --> 00:50:31.183
I wasn't really responsible. oh and

00:50:31.183 --> 00:50:34.063
you were you were also big into like the like

00:50:34.063 --> 00:50:36.863
the motocross yeah we had a we had a motocross track in

00:50:36.863 --> 00:50:39.863
the backyard this guy has adrenaline he's an adrenaline guy

00:50:39.863 --> 00:50:43.423
prospect bay did not like that um i've

00:50:43.423 --> 00:50:46.303
skydived like six times i love

00:50:46.303 --> 00:50:49.223
skydiving you love adrenaline yeah i love

00:50:49.223 --> 00:50:51.863
i love sky last time i went skydiving the guy was

00:50:51.863 --> 00:50:54.643
like we got to get you certified like the

00:50:54.643 --> 00:50:57.823
jump solo but the problem is the parachute the

00:50:57.823 --> 00:51:01.663
cords on the right side so i'd have to be smart

00:51:01.663 --> 00:51:05.463
about that i go like that and i'm like man i'm not i'm not trying to do that

00:51:05.463 --> 00:51:11.583
yeah the the failure point is too high the risk of failure and it's hard he

00:51:11.583 --> 00:51:19.503
said you can't i can get like a modified parachute but they're expensive like very very expensive,

00:51:20.489 --> 00:51:25.809
Dude, this was great. Yeah. Do you have any kind of last remarks or anything?

00:51:26.589 --> 00:51:30.669
You got Worlds coming up, man. I got Worlds coming up in November.

00:51:30.949 --> 00:51:36.689
Obviously, I'm going to do some IBJJS before that. I'm going to do Virginia Open.

00:51:37.469 --> 00:51:41.689
I'm going to do New York Open. Maybe Toronto.

00:51:42.649 --> 00:51:45.289
Something. I just want to go to Canada for some reason.

00:51:46.509 --> 00:51:50.249
And then I'll put it out there as a hint.

00:51:50.489 --> 00:51:55.229
Like we're, we're working on putting together a, uh, like an adaptive jujitsu

00:51:55.229 --> 00:52:01.389
seminar tour, um, for 2026, I'm getting one scheduled now for the United States

00:52:01.389 --> 00:52:04.189
already have two on the books for this summer.

00:52:04.389 --> 00:52:10.309
Um, so if your gym wants an adapted seminar, hit me up, but for 2026,

00:52:10.729 --> 00:52:12.269
I want to do one in Australia.

00:52:12.929 --> 00:52:15.249
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Well, dude, when you have all that put together,

00:52:15.349 --> 00:52:17.369
let us know, dude, we'll pump it out too. Oh yeah, for sure.

00:52:17.369 --> 00:52:20.709
And where, where can people get in touch with you for booking that?

00:52:21.089 --> 00:52:25.989
They can hit me up on Instagram. I'm the one handed bandit BJJ.

00:52:26.169 --> 00:52:29.209
And we'll tag, we'll put you, yeah, we'll, we'll write it out in the show notes.

00:52:29.209 --> 00:52:36.349
And I have posts on my page, uh, promoting adaptive seminars with my accomplishments.

00:52:36.989 --> 00:52:40.229
So you can either comment there, just shoot me a DM.

00:52:41.041 --> 00:52:44.441
Any other shout-outs you want to make before we wrap this thing?

00:52:44.561 --> 00:52:48.301
Just one. Really want to give a shout-out to Gaidama.

00:52:49.241 --> 00:52:56.861
I messaged Gaidama back in December, told him I was an adaptive athlete and

00:52:56.861 --> 00:53:03.161
that I wanted to be part of their team and what they do, and I just wanted to say thank you to them.

00:53:03.421 --> 00:53:06.701
They've been nothing but supportive. uh.

00:53:06.701 --> 00:53:09.801
Carla kendall uh chelsea um

00:53:09.801 --> 00:53:12.741
really good group of people and i couldn't be more thankful

00:53:12.741 --> 00:53:16.521
for them supporting me and my adaptive para

00:53:16.521 --> 00:53:20.761
jujitsu just trying to get the name out there and get awareness

00:53:20.761 --> 00:53:23.741
out there that like hey there's people out here

00:53:23.741 --> 00:53:26.801
um and disability belongs in

00:53:26.801 --> 00:53:30.021
combat sports so just want to give a huge shout

00:53:30.021 --> 00:53:33.461
out to gai dama and all those people awesome man

00:53:33.461 --> 00:53:36.481
um you know big thank you to rj for

00:53:36.481 --> 00:53:39.621
being on the show um it was it's great

00:53:39.621 --> 00:53:42.581
testament to how people can

00:53:42.581 --> 00:53:45.281
adapt and overcome and be successful in

00:53:45.281 --> 00:53:48.661
the sport even outside of just the adaptive vision um

00:53:48.661 --> 00:53:51.521
and thank you as always for listening to fighters drinking

00:53:51.521 --> 00:53:54.281
coffee um make sure to

00:53:54.281 --> 00:53:57.681
as always follow like subscribe

00:53:57.681 --> 00:54:02.061
um those reviews on spotify apple

00:54:02.061 --> 00:54:05.581
itunes wherever you guys listen is a big help um follow

00:54:05.581 --> 00:54:09.561
us on instagram at fighters drinking coffee and um

00:54:09.561 --> 00:54:12.361
join the discord we'll have all of that in the show

00:54:12.361 --> 00:54:16.241
notes along with how to get in touch with rj um regarding

00:54:16.241 --> 00:54:21.821
you know scheduling seminars or just to follow him see what and keep track of

00:54:21.821 --> 00:54:27.001
what he's doing probably by gaidama gear through his uh code i'm sure he has

00:54:27.001 --> 00:54:34.001
one on there too but yeah definitely check it out and we will see you guys next time bye.