IN DEPTH | EPISODE 12 | JESS PAULO

Ringkasan

David sits down with Team Sanda Amateur MMA fighter Jess Paulo to talk how he found the sport and how his career is progressing.

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

Kind: captions Language: en [Music] okay so i'm here with jess paolo and uh team sander uh he recently won the caged conflict uh welterweight against um cameron clements um how are you today and how did you find the fight going it was a very good fight um and how did it feel lifting the belt at the end of it uh well i'm good thanks for asking uh thanks for coming down as well also for the interview uh it was a good fight it was a tough i knew from the get-go that'd be a tough i mean yeah i only have to watch cameron to know that he's a tough competitor uh really likes to suffocate his opponents he has that strong grapple uh grappling style heavy on the wrestling uh i've been kind of watching him more like he caught my eye about a year ago and i just knew for some reason though okay he's on his way to the top of division hopefully i'm on my way to top of my division so i knew we were gonna fight eventually and that ended up happening it got made the week i was meant to fight on premiere so i was like three weeks notice i mean it's not really no no bother to me anyways i'm used to staying active anyway so yeah i knew that we'd fight eventually and ended up being for the caged conflict belt which is good higher stakes higher reward and yeah the fight i mean in terms of game plan and whatnot i don't really have a game plan because i like to think that i'm comfortable wherever the fight goes standing up or on the bottom and i feel like i did showcase that especially in that fight to begin with but yeah i knew that obviously he'd be looking for the grappling exchanges this is that and by all means i have no problem welcoming that you can see yourself he kind of goes in to get the body lock on me and i'm going for the kind of judo troll in the first round it messed up on me because i kept going with the throw and then i he ended up getting like a really easy sweep and then i ended up on my back for more or less the most around apart from like maybe the last 20 30 seconds but yeah i was i was calm you know i knew that okay yeah he was able to turn me he had good top pressure he still he was it was his fresh it was his best round like the first round fresh so i was like don't panic don't give up the neck for the rear naked choke defend your self-intention intelligently for the strikes and yeah next round we go again and that's exactly what happened coming out for the second round i think it was a true maybe a calf kick and then it was kind of just feeling each other out on the feet and then i threw like a one two and he ducked onto the two went in for the takedown i got a nice heavy sprawl on the way back up i went down with the trowel and i got it correctly this time and then yeah i just kind of had him on top for the rest of the round actually no i didn't toys maybe the last minute 40 seconds i kind of had his neck in kind of like a guillotine position he was able to just drive forward and i ended up on my back for like the last last 30-40 seconds but wasn't really much bother to me to be honest i knew that i wonder i don't know how i knew but for some for some reason i knew that that round was mine anyways then obviously we came out for the last round with it being one one whenever winner takes it and yeah uh i could see that he was looking a bit fatigued over in his corner i mean not saying i wasn't fatigued as well but i felt fairly i felt worse i've had fights where i felt worse and yeah i went in with the calf kick i noticed that the commentators watching the back they thought that i was tired kind of maybe i was a bit lacky daisy but i wasn't i was fresh through the calf kick through a nice front kick that landed and then that made him shoot got a nice sprawl on that and then from there kind of just maintained the top position for the rest of the round you know is in his guard just staying heavy suffocating him pulling my hand over his mouth that's perfectly legal putting the hand over the mouth to suffocate the breeding stuff like that just staying heavy letting off the strikes as well keep busy for the referee so he doesn't stand us back open yeah that's how the rest of that round played off and uh yeah i was able to show as well that i can out grapple the grappler you know people thought i was probably going to be wrestle folks to bits or this or that and i proved the exact opposite standing on the ground i can go wherever the fight goes you know it's quite impressive for us i watched it from home obviously i didn't get didn't get seen in person how how did it feel when you got to bed you got to raise got your hand raised like what tell us what that feeling is like in a place like the devin this which tell us what that atmosphere was like as well it was a nice atmosphere i mean when i was coming out there was a few booze you know probably because that was the away fight i didn't really give a rats to be honest i had kids there that were talking to me in the toilet before saying yeah when you're on the way to the cage could you shake your hand i was like yeah of course why wouldn't i so no i didn't really pay attention to the booze like that doesn't get to me to be honest but yeah enough it was a good venue it's a good show okay complex is a really good show you know people that fight on there they have gone very far places later on in their career so i'm happy to be a part of that history and be one of their champions but no yeah it was a good fight uh getting the belt it just felt like it was just something to take off the list you know after hours and hours and hours and weeks and months of work it's just something to finally just okay that's one thing out of the way on to the next defending there again other bells this is that's just just a feeling of just okay that's finally done and out of the way just yeah you know and when you look at yourself where you are here because we've chatted before you actually have no background in any combat and then how long ago did you start mma i started mma during the lockdown i'd say october 2020 that that'd be the time i started i started off with uh just a bit of spam we want to blaze out he fights out of uh kf now or trains out of cash i say but yeah just uh doing a few bits with him sparring up in the he lives in thailand so we used to go into the spg24 gym and just pay tanner and just on the mats do a bit of movements around or even just do some of the evening classes they had there as well and then eventually i went to go sign up uh for the jiu-jitsu club beyond down in barbarian just same again mostly mma sparring obviously a bit of jits as well and then yeah just training away training weight training away in terms of the combat the background in combat sports now there was nothing that was here from the get-go i grew up playing football so yeah so what made you go into it that's what fascinating i just from playing the ufc games and then eventually watching the events then you just watch stuff like connor and so and so it's just yeah it's just motivation and just like okay they can do it why can't i do it you get me obviously they'd be doing it for longer with the background and stuff but i'm just like you know i'd like to think i'm fairly athletic enough i was decent not crazy i forgot decent like wouldn't be professional or anything but like yes like i was decent in terms of athleticism so and you can see that carries over into the mma because the things i've done in the amount of time i've done it with the experience that i have like not many people not many people that all can say that so i mean i'm a year into i mean you're fighting now just over a year fighting i'd like to think that i'm top 10 welterweights in the country top 20 in the uk and ireland's i mean how many people can say that yeah in the amount of time that's actually like crazy when you think about and it just shows to go delicious and once you have that and you have the right mindset once you start training someone and you have someone like darren yeah definitely that's how far you can go definitely that plays a big part towards i mean you can only see i'm four and one with sander now and like i said no easy fights every fight every opponent has been a tough fight definitely keep me thinking at night you know sometimes i wish that darren would give me an easy fight but i mean yeah definitely not no easy fights every fight has been tough and for me to to be doing what i'm doing it definitely is a big statement to me big statement to my teammates my coaches everyone around me my circle you know and it only gets better from here it's only only goes up from here so excited to see where things go in the next year or two yeah so my i'm glad i'm after catching at this stage like i said and we i can watch your career progress i think this is more exciting to me watching the likes of you guys then the ufc guys because they have this follow-on words yeah i get to see you yeah you get person and then when you're in a certain place i go are you sat down yeah we know each other this is that's not you trying to get an autograph for this uh like yeah and uh definitely definitely um i wanna talk about your first fight just briefly as well yeah you went in against jordan fury like how was that going into that fight for your first fight was that not a bit nerve-racking uh no not really because i didn't know he was as good as he was so that if i knew like of him today back then then it probably probably wasn't even ended up fighting him but actually what i would have bought maybe coaches or whatever would have said now but no i mean took it on i think it was about two weeks notice er i just wanted to fight like that i didn't really care who was against what i was for i just wanted to fight caught loads of weight doing it it was i catch weight 73.5 kg so yeah i had janderson got me ready for that fight he played a big big role in the start of my mma career for sure and i appreciate him doing that for me but yeah it was like i said i didn't know what i was going i didn't know what i was walking into for that fight uh definitely fighting alone is a crazy thing but like especially your first time doing it and then again someone like him you're like okay you have all the things in your head oh yeah i'm going to throw this i'm going to throw that then you get and then it's just the complete opposite they come free that's lately especially for your first time everything just goes out the window your brain is just in meltdown but i mean it was tough could have been worse i it when did it it got stopped it was like three seconds left in the at the end of the second round which is that island is a big testament because his fights you see him he's finishing he's worn and done like and that's against boys that like he gave me fighting a long time that was my first fight and for me to drag it as long as i did that's a that's a testament to myself i'm proud of not don't say i'm proud of losing but like the way the fight went like he's battling people worse like his performance for your first year because he looks like he hits like a truck yeah yeah he does he does he does he does yeah um and then you fought nathan who's a very good graduate very good like your first two fights you're getting the you're not getting anything i'm not coming up against someone who like has my type of experience level they're just starting off now i'm finding people who've been at it for a long time for the from the get-go i mean can't really complain have some people learn these ways some people learn the hard way and i learned the hard way and i mean it's made me into who i am today so all i can do is be grateful and thankful everyone has different experiences that shape them into the person that they are so that's my experiences and that's because of that that's who i am today and yeah i can only be grateful for that look at where i am now yeah no exactly like go on that you went on a bit of a tear then obviously you came sander you went and like said your form one and then again your only other losses conor mccarthy was also very good yeah yeah um what's i'll just kind of uh get you to recap and the same questions i kind of asked uh so like what would be your favorite fight you've had like whether it be back and forth or just your favorite performance my favorite fight would probably be my fight with bradley rice the clan wars last december probably just because it was my first win and the way i did it as well i mean i won all three rounds nice 30-27 uh victory but yeah i controlled him while in the grappling department he had he more than likely he had my number in terms of striking but i was still i was only training with darren and the lads for like what was it even a month a month in a bit before that fight so for i feel like it was a big turnaround from my fight against nathan to my fight against bradley the performances are just in contrast to just two completely different fires whatsoever and i mean for me to put on a performance like that in such a short time training with these lads it only showed where i was going and the next few fights after that i mean it was kind of set in stone that yeah okay just on the up on the horizon yeah perfect and what fight do you think you learn from the most which or what's it again it doesn't have to be when you're lost as either it could be like something that you had to change midfield what fight you think you've learned from the most uh learned from the most two it's going to be the connor fight and the camera fight the conor fight because after the wake after the wayne i kind of messed up my recovery a little bit and then i had really bad like i couldn't keep any food down on the toilet for the whole night even the next day even before the fight like 10 15 minutes during the warm-up i'm taking breaks to go to the toilet oh it was horrible back and forth darren's there looking at me like uh well i mean made the walk anyways no excuses no excuse for how the fight went or whatever the better man won on the day is what it is well done twin and i have great respect for conor he's a really good really good competitor great fighter even better guy so yeah no it went i went if we meet each other again if not i don't really i don't really care about to be honest on to the next one and then the one with cameron i feel like that was this turning stone for me in terms of things mentally because i'm sure you know like fighting a lava is in your head not just fight eq but just mentally digging deep you know saying okay i'm already tired but like i have two rounds left or one round left like i can't just quit now like i have to keep going i feel like the camera fight mentally i was stronger than him in that fight i feel like he broke from the end of the first round the first round he was looking very even though he finished he spent most of the round on top and he was like controlling i feel like i don't want to say he was using more energy keeping me down but like i was on the bottom i was fairly relaxed i was like okay this is happening now but the round's gonna end soon in here back to the basics from there so yeah i feel like that camera fight definitely mentally i found myself especially for the last round where i'd usually if when i make it to the third one of the fight i'm usually more my cardio isn't the best something i'm still working on i don't really like running or anything like that don't really get on with the gym but it's a work on progress but yeah for the last round coming out i was like i didn't i wasn't feeling the usual things i felt i wasn't really feeling too fatigued anything like that i was like okay like this is this is my round like this is the last round who wants it and i want it and yeah definitely that fight was a big turning stone for me in terms of the mental aspect of the sport and what do you think brought on that change in the mental aspect was it something you done different or was it just true experience uh experience definitely but along with that i wasn't thinking too much about the fight at all i mean usually when i'm in camp or whatever a few weeks leaning up to fight i'm there watching five videos trying to teach myself this trying to teach myself that trying to watch my opponent and analyze what to do this is just over analyzing and just thinking too much this five hours later i don't think i watched any of cameron's fights until the night before we fought just to give my brain like a quick kind of refresh just to let me know what i'm expecting when i get in there but no i wasn't thinking about the fight what's up i'll just live my life normally i'm just banging out the playstation playing fifa like just living life normally i wasn't and i noticed that that's kind of that works for me that's the way i'm going to go carry on forward not thinking too much about the fight because obviously when you start overthinking you start getting into your head or what if this happens well if this doesn't happen this is us so yeah i feel like that's what works best for me just not overthinking just going about my day normally and switching on when you have to find that switch right before you get into the cage or even during the warm-up even in the back but yeah that's that's what works for me yeah cause obviously if you're overthinking over thinking you're going into the fight you start having that's how you freeze that's how you freeze up that's how you freeze up you're like what do i try what do i like you just that and it's happened to me before like plenty of times so i feel like that this approach now is works best for me perfect um i'm going to ask you two or three more questions and then i'll sorry i'm going to ask you one or two more questions so the imas obviously armin's been there is it something you'd like to do is is it something that interests you or would you like to just keep fighting on the reasons no really to be honest just cause like my walk just like the way the same day weighing all that type of jazz and then you have to stay on i don't think it's something that i don't think it seems that's for me because my weight is i can usually i can walk around between like eight eighty two to eighty four kilos so like would i fight middleweight would i fight well probably what if i well to wait 77 that would be too much of a call for the same day but and then you're finding middleweight and then it's just boys that'll be more i mean i have the length but like the the yeah the frame and the physicality so it's like it's a bit of a it's a bit of a gray area for me i'm not really too pressed on it to be honest i just as long as the fights are as long as the fights keep rolling on and especially the campaign on the grappling scene as well i'm more than content with though with that yeah and then as well like i think the imas is a great experience because you get different bodies and stuff like that but i think it's it's strange though that with the same day weigh-ins because it's not really preparing you for a pros yeah that's what i'm saying yeah and then especially like if i don't know i'm not too sure on how it works but like if you're fine one day and if you're fine the next day again i don't know if you have to wane the next day again yeah like that's ah that's not then if you're even what you're eating like is that you can't even eat that much like i don't know how other people do but for me it's just not it's not something that i really i'm more than happy just find amateur in the country maybe even a few fights over in england or something and campaign on the grappling scene that's more than i'm content with yeah i think i think it was nate and kelly who we talked recently said he lived on sushi for the week he was able to eat so it is and then as if just say if you're there with almond let's say or or whatever whoever's worth something and they get knocked out then they're they're not a good food besides yeah yeah it would it wouldn't be a hit whatsoever going forward we know you've got clan wars um and then we presume you're going to be defending your bet we're not looking for any names here but that's the plan going forward yeah hopefully yeah yeah definitely definitely that that would be another three week turnaround for me no no i'm not used to anyways but yeah it's going to be a busy september slash october for me anyways so you've two facebook are you looking to get more before the end of the year do you think that's going to end the footage uh yeah definitely after cage conflict there should at least be one more before the end of the year and then also i want to get back competing on the grappling scene i'm trying to reach 50 wins for the end of the year i'm currently on 23 so i need 27 more i mean the ibj jf's are over in italy november maybe i might fly over for that i just got promoted blue belt so do a bit of nogi the geez and no not my style at all so yeah i'm trying to stay active grappling wise as well and hit that landmark 50 just doesn't mean anything just for myself i just say okay yeah in my first full year campaign i was able to hit 50 wins and rack up a nice few meadows so yeah definitely i like i think i like complete no i think i know i like competing more and grappling than i do in mma because i don't know what it is i don't know i don't know why i like it so much because i used to hate at the start obviously when you're starting off you don't care about all the jiu-jitsu you just want to spare spice by inspire do this and that but then as you kind of evolve in the spot and you go on to learn the importance of grappling then well with me anyways i just found it over and especially competing in grappling i love it there's no one that comes closer for me you know it's like it's like a high level game of chess yeah something like that is that one small move gone literally one second you're on top one second you're a bomb that's everything is calculated everything is trying to stay a step ahead of your opponent literally that's what i love it's mental chest that's what it is perfect thank you so one more question what would you like people to remember you by when your careers are sent on or what would you like people to say about you could be either as a fighter as a person uh i mean i like to think that i'm a nice person i get along with everyone i'm not really rude or disrespectful or this just died just yeah i'm really i'm really nonchalant person like i really couldn't be asked as a fighter uh just a good fighter that's all i can ask for you know well another thing as well it's just well-rounded kind of like a john jones type you see john not the best striker but he holds his honor he's creative on on the feet uh he'll use that to set up his grappling exchanges take downs or clinch or whatever just yeah just be well-rounded i mean as you can see yourself i'm beating grapplers in the grappling apartment against dewey harrison for the at the start of the fight he's a very good striker i was kind of bringing it to him in strikeouts before i started to get a bit wild and loose but for it when i was at the start and well composed i feel like i was holding my own in that fight as well strike away so that's what i want to do i want to be strikers striking grapplers grappling and yeah not many people can do that not many people can say that they can do it especially never training any of it before so i mean like less than two years yeah so that's what i'm gonna do i just want to cause up a storm in the division that's it i feel like i am doing that people are starting to take notice and that's all i can ask for let my friend do the talking don't need to go and do all the trash talking all this stuff my my fighting those are talking for me yeah and it will do and obviously you're gonna be at the next two fights so we'll get links out for the two fights when they're coming if you want tickets as well talk to jess we'll organize that so i want to thank you so much for your time it's been a natural pleasure talking to you again thank you and i can't wait to see you compete again thank you