I Never Really Told Anyone This Before

Summary

Combat Confidential #013 - S2E5 - Daniel Negru 🥋 Step into the world of Daniel Negru, a young and determined MMA and BJJ fighter. After facing a challenging injury that temporarily put everything on hold, he's back on the mats, stronger and more focused than ever before. Watch…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] [Applause] all right hello everyone check it out we're back um all right today I got my friend here Mr Daniel we just went over this NE negro yeah that's it all right right on man it's a one I know I I always screw names up yeah I don't know what it is it could be something simple U but I always screw it up all right um here so we're going to start things off I have a simple question I'd like to uh ask folks all right so how has MMA how's Combat Sports you Didu wrestling Boxing anything how has that changed your life how is that improved your life um yeah so for me personally I think I'll start off with jiu-jitsu cuz that's where I first started I was like my first love kind of how old were you when you started when I started I was 15 okay 15 yeah 15 yeah 2015 yeah so I started in the kids program in SBG and basically when I was a kid like from the age of like 10 11 12 13 I basically was I was very shy reserved I was a I was afraid of of like any kind of conflict or any type of situation like I remember being like playing outside and I'd be whatever kicking the ball against the wall by myself or whatever nothing like yeah and then I just see a group of lads whatever let's just say they're coming in my direction maybe they had nothing to do with me at all but I just see it and suddenly I'd just be scared and I'd run away I'd hide in my house and I'd wait till they uh till they left or something you know and I remember thinking like why am I feeling like this you know I shouldn't be feeling like this so then I was like I knew I had to like kind of I learn learn how to defend myself or just kind of understand why I'm like feeling that way that's a that's a good bit of self-realization yeah I remember thinking that like real young I was like I need to change something I knew something had to change cuz I was like I can't live like this like for the rest of my life um and then at that point it was 2015 so it was post Connor when he fought in Dublin I remember my older brother was into kind of Connor he I kind of showed me him and all and I was like oh this is very uh this is deadly I want to join and then I searched up just by chance the closest MMA gym to my house which happened to be SVG the one he was he was training out of I was like oh perfect works out so I remember this was probably around October time or something like that so I kept saying okay I'll join next month the next month came never joined next month never came then I was like okay in January of 2015 I'll join I made sure like start of the year let's do it I remember I would tell my friends and like my family and they were like oh you're like you know kind of they heard it before you're maybe not going to do it I was like no no I'm going to do it so I remember I went with my older brother cuz I was a kid still at the time so I needed an adult to come with me so I went with him uh did the consultation you know they showed me around the gym lovely perfect start I think I did it on like the Monday I started the next day on the Tuesday jju Tuesday comes around I'm in school I have my bag packed cuz I'm ready to go after school straight to the gym I get on the Lewis now I'm on the Lewis I'm panicking to bits like I'm scared I'm like GH I get off the Lewis I walk I see the front door I'm like no I can't I'm not doing this I turn around I go home get home I feel like I'm like this is the worst like why did I do this if I'm just not going to like walk in the door but I just felt so scared to like walk into that gym have everyone looking at me it was just like my worst fear so then you know whatever I was like okay no I have to go on the next day was the Thursday I was like I have to just just bite the bullet and walk in Thursday comes along same thing happens I'm scared to bits on the Lewis I'm like hoping the Lewis crashes or something and I don't have to go or I miss the class or something like that happens I get off I do the same thing I walk past the gym door I start walking home as I get like maybe 2 minutes down the road I'm like no no I'm not doing this again cuz I remembered how I felt when I got home on the Tuesday I was like there's no way this is happening again turn around I just I remember like as I was kind of in and out of the gym like another guy came in and he was like oh are you coming in or not and I was like oh yeah yeah and then he kind of like pushed me in a little bit gave me like that little nudge and I was like all right came in everybody looking at me I was kind of like scared a bit but I just like walked into the change room changed sat on the m just sat on my own kind of just took everything in and then from that moment how much I enjoyed that I think Thursday was MMA or I don't even know what what kind of class it was but I enjoyed it so much I remember thinking like and it also helped I had one of um one of my friends from school was also on SBG at the time so he kind of helped me a bit as well I partnered up with him so after that I remember thinking like wow this is actually I don't know what I was scared of you know I had no idea what I was scared of went again the next week then it was so at the start when you first joined it was like the two days a week then like you could move to three days four days I just started doing everything I started paying more money just to move up to do as many classes as I could and then I just loved it I loved every single aspect of it I loved the like the Friendship of I love learning a new skill I loved how good I got at it as well I think I don't know I had something that like I just got really good really quick you know like I was at white belt and then all of a sudden I'm like kind of rolling with some of the guys that are there years and I'm like God this is actually fun I'm improving a lot and I felt like this is um a big like kind of improvement I'm getting from just like a a month or two months of training consistent training and then yeah so and then after that I remember thinking like like I I lost that feeling of like not being able to defend myself you know I remember being like okay now something happens I'm I'm not scared not that like I want to like you know fight somebody or something but just to have that feeling of like I'm not scared anymore that was a huge huge P for me like massive it's a fantastic story and for you to kind of get over the that fear kind of on your own that that's is pretty incredible that that's definitely kind of Testament to your your character yeah I I I never really told anybody like either you know like it was kind of something like I was I was embarrassed about I don't it was just kind I knew to fix it and it just so happened that this was like you know the same time Conor was popping off and I got in I started watching some of his fights and I was like I stayed up for one of his fights and you know he would win in spectacular fashion and I be like wow this is like you know this is the dream like this what and then it just happened to be SVG was the closest one to me and then it's just like it kind of all just happened from there yeah it is um for anyone out there who is interested you know like the hardest part and I'll even say the scariest part it it's that first that first class that first uh kind of showing up especially if you don't have someone who's going in with you um if you can make it through that and you still enjoy it yeah it's nothing everything else after that is it's easy you know and it's just it's just showing up you know and and you know like you had said you know the that first day that you went and like you you didn't go you know you went home and you felt like absolute afterwards you know it's that feeling is a thousand times worse than trying to get over that initial fear you know absolutely and it it's it's totally worth even for me like I you know I don't really like put myself out there um contrary to this whole podcast um I I don't really like put myself out there I I generally don't like being the center of attention but um if you can you know just get past that exactly and get in there and then you know you'll realize that no one's really I mean they might be looking at you but they're looking at you in a way of you know how can I like how can I train with this person you know I think they're also remembering how they felt exactly like they understand kind of what you're going to like and there's like there there's a quote I think Will Smith said where it was like some of the best in life are on the opposite side of fear yes which I think is is a great quote and I live by that a lot like anything that scares you generally once you get through it it's the best feeling in the world past that you know there's really something uh to be said about doing something that is scary you know um especially if you come out on the other side and it's a positive experience you know you feel great afterwards you know and even on even in the times where maybe it didn't work out in your favor you know it you still did it you know and even though maybe you didn't accomplish your goal you accomplished something you know and that is one of the things I like to push when I talk to people about you know Combat Sports or MMA jju really um is you're doing something difficult with other people and you know you're you're you're really learning about yourself and your own uh capabilities and character yeah it's like a way of um I don't know how to like kind of it's like the first month or whatever like you're going to get smashed you know you have to like understand the fact that you're not going to be successful you know you're months yeah for a good a good while like sometimes a year yeah so it's about even showing up still every single day even though you're get smashed you know the best feeling I had was I was probably about maybe 6 months 6 months into just a jitu um I was 6 months in and I remember I rolled with someone and then I remember like wait a minute i' I've rolled with them before I wrote with him when I just started and I'm like you know I did all right you know and like I I didn't you I didn't get tapped 100 times know maybe got tapped you know five times versus the 50 before and it just you notice that kind of self-improvement and I remember it gave me such a confidence boost I was just like heck yeah fight anybody it's a good it's like it's that white belt mentality that you have to keep TR your ho youju you have to keep it cuz like always going to come up against somebody who's better than you yeah and in just in those moments you have to understand like okay instead of getting tapped 10 times I got tapped six times or you put yourself in scenarios where like you're getting choked constantly let's say and then this time now you didn't get choked you survived put yourself in those positions that eventually you'll start to improve eventually you start to escape that's the only way you can grow and that's that's that white build mentality you have to have all the way through and even until black click yeah I sometimes I think after you do it a while kind of forget that but you know especially when you kind get ahead ofself if you take it Ser like if you take it really seriously like you know a lot of people do you maybe you might forget that but you know yeah that exactly had that white Bel mentality where you have to you know you stay eager to learn and it's not necessarily about you know you know about the belt or you know your rank or whatever um it's everyone's there to learn exactly you know and if you're not there to learn you know maybe you're there I don't know maybe you should reconsider while you're there there's a few of that people kind of with the you know with big Egos and stuff but they they don't last in J no I I agree and the the cool thing about it is um you know when it comes to Roland that the ego is a or the Roland is the real ego Checker it is so there's always that one guy who who's better than there plenty of times I've been humbled uh you know by someone who I thought you know I someone who I thought maybe I could uh you know take pretty easily but uh yeah that's the thing like no matter how good or big you think you are there's always that one person who's bigger and better you know I think that's why it's good I think it's why I prefer the ghee because at least with the ghee you know when everyone has their belt on you you can at least gauge maybe where you're at in the Spectrum whereas like noi it's not always it's not always that easy unless you're familiar with them yeah yeah no yeah and the G like I love the G like at the start that's what I was the only thing we training we did there was no no G Jitsu in the kids program at the time yeah so it was just G ju-jitsu so I remember like I I love all I knew was was the ghee and then I kind of as I got my blue belt I started dabbling in the no ghee realm and then almost left the ghee behind which I kind of regret I wish I I didn't cuz now I feel like I'm learning all over again I'm starting to learn the grips and stuff like that again and it's fun again it's it's interesting but I kind of wish I kept it going from when I was a kid cuz I really really Lov the G like at the time it was so fun yeah know with um so I I train G mostly and like some people find it weird but often times like I close my eyes you know and I'm just kind of you know feeling for things so when I roll noi I still close my eyes and I'm like trying to grab a collar and then they get a sweep on me because yeah um no like that that's fantastic um that that's that really is kind of a you know Wonderful story and kind of how you get started there you really kind of you knew that there was something that you wanted to improve about yourself and then you went about improving it and you know it was a bit of hesitation um you you overcame that Hill as well and you know look at you know you that that's that's it it is an inspiring story and I'm very thankful that you you shared that with us yeah I don't know just like that feeling that I felt after going to like that first class was the best feeling i' I've ever felt like and that's why I'm still doing jici I'm still doing MMA to this day like cuz I can't get rid of that feeling nothing else gives me that feeling that's awesome um what about sorry so you do MMA as well yeah yeah yeah and you've had a couple fights I have yeah four amateur fights yeah four okay um talk to us about that talk talk to us about your your leadup to your first fight how yeah like not necessarily training wise but mentality you know how how did you train mentally for yeah so I I remember I had been pretty much let's say 2 years before my first fight I had already been like very serious about getting into MMA and doing having an amateur fight that was a kind of a goal of mine um so how old were you for your first fight my first fight was last year so what 21 20 something like that right so I was fairly old like um I was again bit tentative I was training a lot in MMA I just started doing the pro classes with John and and Dave roach and I was just kind of getting into that I was trying to get my striking up to that same level my wrestling my Jiu-Jitsu everything cuz it's different MMA when you know there's punches involved it's not the same you can't just pull guy and hope to not get hit you know so you have to learn that kind of aspect of it um as soon as I felt comfortable with that probably after like a year year and a half of training just MMA um yeah I I I took my first fight um the mentality was I don't know I felt very confident like um very very confident I don't know I just felt like I had been learning so much and I was already a purle Bel Andi Jitsu at the time I felt like I had one of the best ji Jitsu games in the I still feel like I have the best like one of the best Jitsu games in the amateur scene um it's again just being able to implement it on the night of course that's that's that's how you know um but yeah just kind of I I was I was doing everything by chance really you know I didn't know I never did a camp before I never knew how to like you know eat right and you know this and I had to lose a bit of weight to make the weight and you know this is all new stuff for me so just understanding what works what doesn't work you know doing cardio doing this making sure I'm ready but the mentality of it was just just did you have nerves going into it or um how did you beat those yeah so I remember so the my first fight actually I did it was a week and a half out it was a wrestling class with Nikolai on a Wednesday I remember we were doing some sort of tro and then I went for a tro I like moved my back in a weird way and I kind of tore my back a little bit here oh okay and that was a week and a half ago before a week and a half before my fight my first fight so I was like well this a bit of an issue now I need to like kind of I couldn't train anything up until that point um but I was like like how am I going to get to the fight healthy you know I remember being like G this is going to be tough I was doing a lot of therapy a lot of like massages and laser therapy and Ice bats and everything I can think of I I was TR money at everything just to get me healthy um so kind of that you know away helped me get my mind off the fight I wasn't thinking about the opponent or the fight I was thinking about making it to the fight yeah that was my goal like a week and a half out making it to the fight so you know about maybe two days three days out I knew okay look I'm going to do this like I feel I feel healthy enough look worst case something happens it happens you know but I felt like I could I could win the fight either way um I remember I would so during fight week I kept a little kind of notebook and I was just writing down my thoughts kind of throughout each day how I was feeling I was going on like little walks and little kind of just just out in nature just enjoying like kind of being with myself with my thoughts you know yeah I think that's very important and I was just writing down like how I felt you know and I each day I was just getting more confident and confident more ready and ready like the nerves kind of weren't really a thing until the day of the fight pretty much like um and then yeah even just getting there enjoying the whole experience like enjoying the you know meeting the referees and going through the reals meeting and getting the Medicals done and all of that stuff I just enjoyed every single aspect of it and kind of kept that like mood of just like you have nothing to lose you know you've trained hard for this realistically in my head it was like the Last 5 Years had been for this moment you know like this was my goal you know was just to compete and not only compete but to win and then just going out there and doing what what I needed to do and I T it was one of my best perform es I've I've ever had the best I've ever felt even though I had my my back was In Piss the next day like during the fight I didn't feel it thankfully but the next day I was like in pain like but it was like one of the best I've ever felt like I remember just being in the zone seeing all the all the shots coming like taking like pretty much like controlling any way I could like I knew that like I could just take him down and submit them any time I wanted to and they showed in the fight in first round I had mounted him within like the first 3 minutes second uh second round I took him down I choked him out and like the side of the round so I just know I'm capable of doing that and actually doing it like knowing you can do it and then actually doing it is like it's it's so good for the for the confidence and just for the for the whole aspect of the of like winning your first fight that just gave me so much confidence yeah that that's definitely um I remember when I had mine uh um just coming out of it it was F on top of the world you know and you it's all that that time and training that you put in um you know it's it's the payoff at the end you know even if even even if it went the other way um you know it still would have been you know like it still would have been at least for me and how I did it it would have been like a positive outcome because you know it's I need to work on this um you know or excuse me you I would know where I need to you know what I need to work on um and that what I trying to say I know what I need to work on and then um you know it's still you know it's an accomplishment you know at the end of the day like regard you know win lose draw it is an accomplishment uh I almost feel more when I I almost learn more when I lose than I do when I win like from my like I'm two and two as an amateur and from my two losses I've probably learned more and improved more yeah than from my two wins like 1,000% like cuz when you win you have a lot of people coming up to you telling you you're this and you know congratulations and you smashed them and this this and you're kind of almost getting a bit too big for what you actually are but when you lose nobody's coming up to you you know you're just sitting there you know your face might be busted or whatever your leg is sore and you're actually just there on your own nobody's really coming up to you and they can kind of like almost digest what happened why did it happen and I almost kind of I I enjoy both experiences obviously the winning is 10 times better but you have to enjoy the losing as well you have to enjoy it otherwise you're in the wrong sport you know cuz losses come with this with this game you know this it is what it is so you have to make sure you're enjoying both aspects of it and learning from the losses yeah I know for sure um I guess like longterm wise what what is it what do you want to do do you want to eventually Go Pro or do you want to focus on coaching or yeah so I have a lot of like and I'm not like too particular with like you know when exactly I'm going to do them I know that I'm I'm still young and I've still got loads of Time ahead of me and I'm still just enjoying that the training aspect of it and I think I will for a long long time um yeah I think right now I'm just trying to get back to consistent training and so like my short long-term goal would be just get back to consistent training get back training MMA again cuz I just this year has been a lot of injuries and just a lot of kind of hiccups and pauses yeah it's it's been it's been a lot so just kind of getting back consistent getting back to going you know every day showing up to the gym every day training every day and then you know twice a day open it up again cuz twice a day is hard yeah twice a day is very very tough and that's what I was doing for the last you know year and a half two years was twice a day Monday to Friday and then I felt Invincible I thought I couldn't be and then I started obviously injuries were coming into play and I was getting infections and just a horrible horrible experience so now I just need to kind of I slow down a bit get back into that consistent train and show up every day and then yeah probably I would like to get a few more amateur fights for like maybe the end of this year and then next year um turn pro yeah why not like I'd love to have a pro fight absolutely um I feel like I'm I'm only a few amateur fights away from that you know I think maybe six or seven months I fight like three or four more times I'd be happy to turn Pro um and then I also love like I love to coach like I think coaching would be like I'd be I'd love that I'd love to open up my own gym I've got like them kind of goals as well like I want to open up my own gym start my own Jiu-Jitsu school so I kind of have a lot of different Avenues I want to explore and I know that's obviously going to be time consuming so you can't do it all but I kind of want I just want to try different things and see which one which one sticks with me you know if let's say the pro works out for me really well then fantastic I'll continue that my Pro career and hopefully I'll make a lot of money you know that's the plan but if let's say that doesn't work out for me whatever reason injuries anything can happen then I'd love to coach and I'd love to you know coach jiujitsu either coach like get in someone else's gym or just start my own gym you know and start a little kind of community cuz I think ultimately if at the age of let's say 45 40 to 45 if I can have my own ju to school and have had at least you know one or two pro fights I think I'd be happy with I will say it's it's never it's never too late to have a pro fight I have a an uncle in the states who uh I think he turned Pro in his 50s you but I mean he's also been fighting his entire life yeah and coaching he's he's he's a big big time coach um you know so even if it doesn't happen now you know don't think like it can't open your gym and then like I know for a fact that I'm going to be in this sport doing something yeah that's what I want to do that's like that's what I want to do for my life like I'm I want to be involved somehow you know whether it's coaching fighting anything I just I want to be involved you know I love I just love the sports so much MMA you did to Combat Sports and general I just want to be involved in what whatever way I can so if that's going to be true coaching or true fighting or true whatever yeah sorry so you said you coach now I do and uh what do you coach and so yeah I um right now I'm coaching the kids kids classes in SBG so that's obviously I've been doing that since a long time like 15 maybe 16 I remember they needed somebody to help out and at the time I was doing it you know just just to help out just cuz I was coming early from school and there was time before my class was like I I sit around or I just help coach and then I just kind of started enjoying it and I actually kind of like coaching the kids and seeing them progress like you know there kids that I remember coing in like the the spider monkeys which are like the really small ones like four or five and now he's 12 or 11 and he's in the older class but he's like really good and I've seen his growth like from this small to like it's like it's crazy to see and then you know I I I coach some times like the beginner adult classes let's say if like you know some of the coaches are away on holidays or something and they ask me to take a class I always say yes if I can you know if I'm available 100% I I love to coach even beginners like adults it's fun to coach them but just to see like kind of what what do you find to be you know kind of like the most difficult part about coaching difficult I don't I don't know I don't find anything really difficult about Coach I think if anything it's like it's like a a secret kind of cuz like for me when I'm coaching I feel like I learn myself as well yeah cuz like it's different when you're like you know learning a technique doing it in a round but when you have to actually sit there and explain the technique why you do it why it's effective front of you know it really tests your knowledge of absolutely and it's what you're teaching there's 11 people looking at you you know trying to understand why you're showing them the technique and you have to sit there and explain to them why the technique works why you're doing it like all this stuff and it almost opens up kind of a different part in your mind where you're kind of thinking about differently now like I'm not just doing techniques you know myself now randomly I'm like why am I doing it like does it have a point is there like is there a reason for why I'm doing it I think coaching has helped me like kind of understand that and uh like in terms of difficult like I I don't I don't find anything difficult about coaching you know just maybe like thinking about what technique you should show you know there's so many techniques that it's like kind of which one is the right one you know like but it's it's easy when you're like kind of focused on a position or in in SBG anyway the like it's kind of done by each month you know so like let's say January and March it's top position passing or whatever you know so you kind of have that basis there where you know what to show them from a certain extent what what's your kind of favorite thing to teach or like favorite move or maneuver whatever I don't for me for like me like all first of all I don't teach and and if I have taught you anything just ignore it from me maybe get a second opinion um but I I always like to show people like how to do lockdown that's my favorite thing yeah and like just I know like for me for instance um like I found it helpful like if the guy's bigger than me yeah and they're on top of me it really helps get them off my chest you know just kind of kick them down and it and it just it takes them down and um depending on their skill level you know you can do a sweep or roll from there or something like that but anyway that's that's what I like to teach cuz it's it's fairly easy um and you can should be able to get yeah it's effective and you know you should be able to get it you know kind of right away yeah yeah what what what what about you what technique for me um I don't know it's hard to think of a specific Tech technique for me what I like to do is I like to show pretty much everything that I show like generally a pass let's say if I'm passing I always want the end goal at least for me anyway is to take the backe and choke yeah that for me like has to be the end goal like whatever like kind of cuz like to me I think that's the ultimate position you know like kind of the goal init to yeah you can submit from s control Mount but one of the main the most like kind of best places to be is on someone's back you know submitting them from behind so anything I show I tend to always show if it's a pass like if we're passing from half guard passing from open guard Clos Guard we're getting to the back somehow so we're either reacting to how our opponent moves if he turns away we're taking the back that way or we're forcing him to turn away or we're just taking the back that's what I always tend to like the show I think I don't know I think that's something that kind of like I'm drilling just like with my team with my teammates my China partners are always like if we're just going of just drilling anything like kind of freestyling it's always you know take the back choke take the back arber it always ends up with somebody taking the back that's kind of how like we start from open guard and we always end on the back I think just just drilling that into your mind and like kind of always having that goal of like cuz you'll see in like in rounds and I'll see in beginners as well like like yesterday for example I was watching some of the beginners Ro and you can just see how like naturally people people will turn away like when they'll feel danger they'll turn away and they they won't realize they're exposing their back but it's like it's happens maybe five six seven times a row like they'll turn away cuz they'll feel what pressure or danger and they'll turn yeah and it's there all the time so it's about just drilling that kind of soon as you feel your opponent turning away or any type of movement where his bag is exposed off the map that's a chance to take the back so that's a good that's a good thought process and uh I know narius has been kind of drilling that into us L that's where where where I learn it from like always like makes sense and no he the last class I had with him uh he kind of scolded us well me and U the guy I was rolling with partly my own fault I showed a plate to the class um and I didn't know exactly what we were doing and um anyway yeah um yeah just that's a good uh said kind of thought process it take is to always be looking for a route to the back yeah um you know regardless of you even even if you're working on a submission from you know like half card or you know from Top out or anything um it's good idea to have a like Escape Route to the back absolutely and and though they are there it's just kind of knowing them um you know which it you know like you said before there's so many uh different techniques and stuff to teach and it's yeah it's like it's just about having that end goal you know like of course if you see something from half gu take it you know whatever if there's something from side control but it's like ultimately you want to end up on the that's kind of the way I look at it anyway that's good I I think I'm going to fold that away and store that somewhere for me um I haven't haven't had anyone really say it like that before so it's just it's just my opinion anyway I don't know if it's the right way to think or not it it makes sense you know it's the way that I kind of approach coaching and approach my own like you know I wouldn't coach something that I wouldn't do myself yeah so that's kind of the way I approach and when I'm drilling when I'm it's always to the back that's the goal right on all right um so if there if you kind of had to tell people maybe like strangers to Combat Sports or or anything if you had to you try to get one point across to them um you know about the sport like what would that be um so about like kind of why they should join or anything you know anything in general yeah why they should you know or you know just just anything it is completely open to however you I've I've always said and I've always had an opinion that I think everybody male female child should learn some form of martial art um I think not only for the fact that you can defend yourself um but for the community of it I don't think there's anything out there like maybe football like stuff like that of course they have their own little communities and stuff like that but in terms of like building confidence making friends kind of that whole aspect of like knowing how to like tap somebody out like tapping out yourself like the humility of it the the whole thing like there's nowhere else you can learn that all in one place all Under One Roof yeah in my opinion anyway um so I've always said that like to any kind of person who's you know like like I was like you know shy or reserved or kind of scared of like conflict or confrontation to get into Jiu-Jitsu especially jju MMA of course nobody wants not everybody wants to get hit in the head you know it's not like the best you know some people that works for them as well you know that's a form of therapy like you know sparring or boxing or stuff like that but even just Jiu-Jitsu just kind of flowing and understanding that like in certain situations like you know you can hurt somebody but you don't you know you kind of go light and you kind of you have a feeling of how how the kind of human body works and ultimately that will give you confidence then when you're kind of out in the real world challenging things and any type of conver it doesn't have to be physical it can be verbal anything like that you know kind of Jiu-Jitsu teaches all of that teaches like you know attentiveness you know listening Focus like all of that stuff kind of you learn from jiujitsu and I see it with the kids that that like you know there's like certain kids who are like there a long time who you can see they've like kind of they've changed they're kind of you know they came in a bit like you know shy and you know would sit kind of far away and now they're in with everybody and they're enjoying it and they're actually learning and they're you can see they're kind of almost their their character and their Spirit kind of comes out more and I think Jiu-Jitsu is the only kind of only kind of art that that allows you to kind of Express Yourself the fullest um so for like a stranger who is you know struggling with a kind of any mental health or any type of you know issues like that I think getting into Jiu-Jitsu you know starting friends learning a new sport is also like a huge you know it's difficult but it's something to like kind of have you look forward to you know so let's say if your life's not going the best or whatever there struggles in your life you know you always have look forward I've got on Tuesday I can't wait you know I got something like that just kind of a distraction but also keeps you focused also you learn skills that can help you out in the real world you improve your confidence you it's for me it's a no-brainer you know I think if I like for example when I when I become a parent like all my children are go into match there's no no like you know they they don't have to come a fire or compete I don't want I don't I don't mind if you don't want to compete but just learning you know being involved in the culture and the community I think is it's a huge benefit in life like especially if you can get them in early like the earlier the better I think but again it's never too late to join you know it really isn't uh I know for me in my personal experience the community aspect was huge for me because like same same I I came from I kind of came from like a military background um you know and ever since I left even though I I didn't like it the the community aspect of milit military I really enjoyed um and you know two of my best friends you know that's where that's how I met them and um it's I always kind of struggled to find that again and when I joined uh up atg like immediately right away like that it was that and I don't know what it was um you know I I think part of it is you know it's kind of you have a community of people who are doing a difficult thing together you know and you're all learning a difficult thing to potentially you know dangerous um thing you're all learning it together um you know it at different skill levels and you know whatnot so like it that really kind of cemented it in for me you know because that type of community is something I had been looking for you know for so long and then I found it and it was like I'm my yes like this is it so yeah so anyone you know who is you know kind of struggling with any kind of mental health or maybe they're feeling lonely or you know whatever um it sounds so weird to say it but like you know Jiu-Jitsu MMA like it it brings people together you know um like like nothing makes you want to like like when you're like you know when you're grappling with your with your train and partner or when you're even like sparing with someone at the end of a spar it's just kind of like you almost want to give them a hug you're like we just went through you know whatever five 6 minutes of you know trying to hurt each other kind of in a way controlled but trying to hurt each other kind of almost have that like wow like you know that respect and that almost like you know you sit down after you share like oh maybe you should do this next time and this this and I saw this and this and it's like kind of everyone's trying to learn and it's weird like cuz you never really get that anywhere else you're not going to get that no you know and any other sport this is kind of like that weird one where it's like you're kind of doing it on your own as it's your own Journey or you know you're going up the levels yourself but you have so many people around you coaches training Partners friends who while at the same time trying to like increase their own journey and like you know go further in their own P also helping you and it's almost like a weird little like kind of by helping someone you're also improving yourself so it's like why not help you know like everyone wants to help because like they're going to improve themselves if my training partner keeps getting caught by an iron barar for example I want to I want to teach him how to not get caught by that iron barar so that when I roll with him I won't be catching him with arm it'll have to make me do something else y so it's kind of like almost that way of like by helping someone else you're ultimately going to improve yourself by making it a harder R making it like more difficult for you I think that's like number one thing like if why like why wouldn't you want to you know help with people around you you know it's almost like kind of an incentive to do it whether like you're not going to be you know coming in and just thinking about yourself and oh I don't want to like you know show anything you're going to get those people of course they tended like weed out though like after about a year you know they tend to just yeah those people don't tend to stick around and that is a nice thing you sense everybody sense it and they just like just kind of let it they let it run its course B exactly they just kind of leave them there and eventually they'll they they either change themselves or they just leave and it's cuz that's the thing it's um it's takes a certain person to kind of come in and actually do it right to to that effect like you know it wouldn't be you know the people who are kind of maybe seeing this person they wouldn't necessarily just kind of like ignore them they would certainly be trying to you know help them improve themselves but you know yeah ultimately is it is up to the person you can feel it off somebody if they're willing to learn or if they're not you know you feel it straight away and if they're not then there's not much you can do you you can try your best but I tend to just kind of I don't waste my time you know it's like if I'm trying to help somebody I want them to actually learn and I want them to actually kind of accept the just like I do with someone else who's trying to teach me you know yeah you kind of have to give that respect you know and if you feel like it's not there you kind of just ignore it and you're like okay at least that's that's the way I I kind of work I don't know if it's the right way maybe you shouldn't be ignoring those people but no no no like it's you like you're not necessarily ignoring them per se it's just kind of you're you're almost kind of letting them yeah kind of beat themselves up you know what I mean or you're letting them uh um not do their own thing but uh you're you're letting them find out for themselves you know that exactly um you know whatever it is they're doing isn't working for them um but you know it's no one's going to just kind of let someone do the wrong thing M you know like you'd always be there to to help out encourage or you know maybe to show technique or whatever but yeah you know like you said if the person's not there to learn then you know it's there's not that many of them yeah no no yeah for sure they'll switch on it yeah and most of the people who show up there well every sorry everyone who shows up there anyway like they are there to learn something you know and it it it like said the people who aren't like like said they don't stick around and generally it's they're gone right away right away so so this year you said you've had you know quite a few injuries um how has it been that you've kind of been able to overcome the injury um you know maybe still not being able to train you know to your fullest potential um you know kind of how has that been for you certainly it's been tough oh yeah I'm not going to lie it was um horrible experience like um so before like so what I what happened is basically I uh I had strained my LCL in my right knee yeah um you st you strained it you didn't tear anything no it didn't tear but it's it's on the verge of tearing basically like I'm I'm close you know happened yeah so um I basically it was it was a nightmare in terms of like having to stop training yeah um I kind of almost not like I wouldn't say I was depressed or anything but I fell almost into kind of like a h like kind of Tau like that's it I was done kind of in a way you know like it was like something like six six to 8 weeks from now training you still coming to the gym or um no no I just kind of oh man I was just stuck at home kind of didn't know really what to do I was like U then I started um then I kind of got into like I was like I knew I needed I needed something you know like I love to train in general I needed to do something yeah so I knew that like look I can't use my knee I can't use my lower body let's say I can at least use my upper body so I would go to um just live weights so i' kind of join the gym with my older brother he was already going there I just joined with him um Champions gym actually just like on the long m road really really good gym like like one of like I'm not a biggest fan of white lifting gyms um like the fly fits and the these kind of ones but Champion gym I think has one of the most like weirdly nicest communities I've ever been aart it's almost similar to like a Jitsu Community like everyone's kind of helping each other yeah that's cool it's Str like I it's TI strange to kind of describe because when I feel there I almost feel like I'm in SVG kind of in a way it's like everyone's helping like you know if you just ask if you're stuck on something somebody will help you they it's like really really nice Community um so I remember I was just kind of building my upper body and then I was kind of I was enjoying that you know I was like kind of lifting heavier I was starting to I started to kind of fix my nutrition a bit as well at that point cuz my nutrition was kind of so so yeah so I started kind of going on a higher calorie plan I was bulking up I was eating so kind of that kind of almost distracted me from the knee I was kind of chasing a different goal I was like oh let's see how strong I can get so that was nice I needed something to distract me from not being able to train so having that was a was a really really um kind of good way to not just sit at home and waste away kind of which is basically what I was doing for the first week like it was really bad like yeah it was the first time I'd ever been injured like properly like I've had little niggles here and there you take a day or two off and you're back the next day but this was like a proper kind of serious injury you know and before that I thought I was invincible I was you know training twice a day it was like just flying through everything and then to have this happen it was like kind of and the fact it happened like it was just kind of the way it happened was just weird it was like it happened like a spar and then I didn't it didn't feel like anything serious so I kept training on it I took a fight uh in April of this year I was like training seriously for I remember I would do like two days I train the next day my knee would swell up I'd like ice it I'd take a day off and the next day I'd come i' do two days again the knee would swell again and I was just doing that for like two three weeks and I could I could tell it wasn't like the smartest thing but in my head I was like let me just kind of get to the fight you know stuff like that get through this and then we'll manage it after and then I was getting to like two weeks out and I was just like I was like looking at my knee and it was just swelling up and it was just getting worse and worse and I was like I don't think it's worth going into a fight possibly you know tearing it in the fight and then making it a lot worse having to get surgery and then that's a whole year out of training it so I kind of just took the decision to look it's not the end of the world if I don't make it to this fight let me just rehab it now stop it before an Anon goes mad but um so that that's what I did I had to just kind of pull out but it was just it was kind of that stupid thinking of training on it you know for an amateur fight I just didn't think that I should have done that you know I should have just taken the rest and maybe it wouldn't have been as bad as it as it was but again these are just things that I learned from I never had an injury before now I know and yeah that's why now at this moment my trainings have been so different I I approach it differently I don't you know I take my recovery seriously I'm not overtraining like twice a day every day you know killing myself I'm taking my recovery I'm stretching you know I'm doing stretching is huge huge aspect it's it's something and you know I'm I'm guilty of not stretching enough um but yeah know there's huge benefits to to stretching and that yeah that U who is it uh Eddie Bravo he he's he's huge on stretching um I think like he he did an interview once where he's like uh he doesn't get he he won't give like a black belt to anyone unless they can like stretch like a certain amount or way whatever um you know like I I think that's it's good to kind of have that uh that focus on stretching one I mean it it helps your Technique flexibility yeah it's absolutely just injury wise like it it's it's critical in preventing injuries yeah absolutely and like I've started to do that and I kind of almost I don't know I take training a lot more kind of look I'll do like let's say if I'm I'm I'm feeling a bit tired from the day before I won't go as hard you know I'll do two rounds hard and two rounds late and I'll just like take that approach rather than going in hir every single time every single day it's about knowing when to like kind of adjust the pace of it and then the next day you can go H you know so you don't have to sit the next day out yeah yeah yeah so just kind of learning that aspect also having um the guys at Chiropractics they're like sorting me out really well like I I I go there you know maybe once every two weeks or something like that and it's it's a huge benefit and a huge game changer for me just like any kind of niggles I'm having like injuries wise I'm just like getting put back into place I almost feels like when I go to Jitsu I'm getting like you know like like one of them Rubik's Cubes Twisted into like different colors and then I go back to them and they put me back and it's a it's it's huge benefit like to be able to just keep the training going and just keep keep my body healthy so I'm trying to keep it as healthy as I can for as long as I can to be able to train very good so um that's kind of to answer like the question you asked before like get true that I needed something else to focus on so I was focused on the weightlifting focus on that focus on get and then once I was able to start Rehab on my knee I was then focused on getting my knee better and then slowly kind of working my way back into like you know once a week du two twice a week you know slowly get wearing the knee brace protecting the knee stretching not doing too many rounds slowly we surely getting back into the things and now I feel like I'm almost at full Str like my knee feels perfect no no issues um I know of course it's like kind of a bit a bit dodgy like it's probably going to tear when it like you know soon eventually I'm going to have to get surgery on it at some point but so far I'm just kind of enjoying the training and trying to stay healthy and that's my my biggest goal right now for the next month is to just stay healthy if I can get through that month staying healthy I can kind of get back into them into a camp and start fighting MMA and start training me knowing that my body now can you know know is that full health full fitness full everything so that's kind of where I'm at now I'm in that kind of post recovery getting back into kind of compete and then get back into that kind of I'm I'm happy to hear that I know and I'm happy to hear that you weren't like totally you kind of stagnant on your on your time CU it that's it's very hard to kind of get back in the swing of things you know to motivate yourself to to do that and you know especially going from like two days to you you know less than one making that adjustment of having to like just slow down when you have to slow down you know and it's like understanding you know listening to your body kind of in a way and not just kind of pushing through like your past your limits kind of thing especially when there's no need to you know like you know you're not fighting a pro MMA World title UFC you know like understand if it's like the stakes are huge then of course you know you push through whatever you have to push through but if the stakes aren't that big big and it's ultimately your overall health and your like longevity in the sport then of course you're going to have to have to focus that and I would much rather take these four or five months off that I have taken like you know from like high level competition to be able now in this position now where I'm in now like finally getting back into the swinging things and you know so you just competed yeah and U two events or was it um or what was that it was the U Irish National yeah just yeah and was there one before that um no the one before that I did was like a few few mind okay yeah I remember seeing those pictures yeah um I don't know totally forgot it just slipped my mind there yeah U so congrats on that so I'm happy to see that uh you're definitely back on the men that my first competition back from kind of um and then how did you do overall you got uh and you placed uh so I got gold in my division yeah so that's the 79.5 purple belt right no G so I didn't do the ghee I just did the no G um I haven't really been training enough in the ghee to kind of be going into competitions yeah I think let me just get back into the swing of things and then what was the weight 79 79.5 right that's got to be pretty full category as well too yeah they weren't that many to be honest at this event um I think probably because of the Purple belt there's just not that many competing purple belts like I look at Blue and I see this goes down like I wish I could go in there but but it's still a good experience and I felt very very confident at Purple belt and then I joined the absolute as well which are the purple brown black the whole the whole shebang and uh I won my first match there and then I lost to the to the person who actually ended up winning the absolute a black belt from uh JS BJJ in town um very very good like obviously winning AB but even going with him I didn't feel like I performed that badly you know I lost on points I didn't get submitted and oh excellent you know I also threatened with a few subm myself you know against the black belt I thought that was very um like looking at it was he have a similar weight or he was much smaller so kind of in a way I yes I had the weight advantage on them but it was so much more harder for me to get around them and get like it was just it was a difficult match but I didn't feel discouraged from it if you know what I mean like I looked back on the video and I was like I was even talking to my coach and narus and he was telling me like I gave him so many points you know just from not really understanding the ibjjf rules set the best like I'm more noi Grappler you know I don't even know the I don't even know the rules when it comes to the point it's like belly and sweep and take down and I couldn't tell you what the basically what was happening was he was like going into like kind of leg locks I was disengaging by like let's say falling down disengaging and he would just take take down you get I know you get points for that so he was just getting two over and over again so I lost about eight points from just that that motion and I wasn't even it wasn't even understand from watching back I could see but I wasn't understanding that at the time so I think now with that approach that I have now going into that match I think I do a lot a lot better excellent well first competition back to me I thought I thought I did very well first comp back and you got a gold out of it at least yeah and then you know you lost the absolute but look if you're going to lose anyone to lose to the winner of the overall like that's I I was shocked like I didn't think he was that good I didn't think he was going to win to be honest and then when he did I was that's a testament to yourself then because there there's times where um um what I try to say like you're rolling with somebody and then you feel even yeah you know and then to find out you know they're high matches in the gym like from purple belts from Blue belts even I've had harder matches you know so like I I especially on noi I don't really look at the belt that much like belts to me don't really matter that much um kind of just how how good are you like how how much are you training and how much are you actually Drilling and that's how how I look at someone's like skill level like there's some blue belts in the gym that are like much better than some of the pro belts you know like that are on PA with like you know some of the high high level guys so you know I would much rather go with him than I would go with a PE belt who's not as good just cuz he has the PE belt like I don't I hear you I hear you there um here look check it out um I appreciate you coming in appreciate you taking the time out of your day you know I enjoyed this I'd love to have you back again especially either in the lead up to your next uh fight or maybe short I'm thinking probably at end of the year to be back in MMA so 100% right now hey I appreciate it thanks very much [Music] [Applause] thank