Callen O'Mahony Crank interview

Summary

Callen is a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioner who competes at Crank this weekend, we speak about the event this weekend and his journey into Jiu-jitsu. the social circle he's created through it, he travelled through 12 countries in Europe cross training and exploring Europe. we…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

Hey, so I have Callen Oatney H who's going to be competing at Crank this weekend. Uh I really like what the guy is doing. I've interviewed Adam before, so I said I'd do a couple of interviews and I want to find out a bit more about the jiu-jitsu scene. Um thank you very much for joining me, especially so close to the event. How are you feeling with the event just two days away now? >> Ah grand. Yeah, we got worlds next week. So this is kind of just a warm up for me now. So just keeping, you know, staying in good shape, making sure that I'm feeling good, body's feeling good, staying healthy. So this is just me getting ready for worlds. Uh I was in Paris last weekend, took double gold there. So just, you know, staying loose, staying warm. So >> Wow. Congratulations on the two goals. Then now you're going to have another one and then straight into worlds again. Do do you compete that often? Do Do you like to stay active in jiu-jitsu? >> Uh I do. This year's been tough though. I tore my shoulder earlier in February and then I got in a motorcycle crash over the summer there and I tore my wrist. Uh like yeah, I was in I was in a rough state there. I was hospitalized overnight. Um, so my first time like really competing since February was probably Europeans there. Couple that was like end of October there. So I try to stay active when I'm healthy enough too. But I mean I have a long list of injuries that have come gone. So >> wow. Like the motorcycle obviously you're okay and Jesus Christ. >> And then yeah because a lot just like you're talking about injuries. Are they from jiu-jitsu or are they from everyday life? Um, some of it's it really depends. So, like, you know, I like I had a bone infection there, my finger, broke my finger, broken collar bone, like the list goes on and on. Uh, it's a mix, honestly. Like, I I have a lot more injuries tend to come from jiu-jitsu and wrestling and whatnot, but most of it was most of it was combat related, but I have a few there that kind of lingered from, you know, me being an idiot my everyday life. So, >> but we can we can all relate to that. And >> yeah, >> it's just funny because a lot of people say, "You should try jiu-jitsu, Dave." And I'm like, one, I don't want to get bit up for a year before I can ever progress. >> And two, >> while they're talking to me, they said it's the least one with the least like it's not as aggressive cuz you're not getting shook and all. I said, but you're standing down a knee brace. Your shoulder strapped up and you're telling me it's safe. >> But like I I I'm fascinated like I do more MMA, but I'm f I love actually the ground game when it goes ground cuz I wouldn't know that. I know your basics, you know, that sort of way and like when you get two good grapplers. So I wanted to explore more. So talk to us about why you started jiu-jitsu. Why and when? >> So okay so it was about 2 years ago. Um honestly I wrestled I wrestled throughout high school but again I was wrestling for on and off four or five years about that but I was constantly getting injured. Uh and then the end of wrestling season came around and I was like I felt like free. I was like oh thank god I'm so glad to be done. I'm like I'm never going back to wrestling. I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. And then I got really depressed and I was like I mean I've given like you know it's year- round training. It's in the morning, it's in the middle of the day, it's in the night. So then I kind of you know I was like well Jesus what do I do now? Uh and then my buddy's like ah you got to come try jiu-jitsu. I'm like that's gay. I don't want to do that. That's like um and then I tried it and I ended up you know I walked in one week and I never walked out. So it's been two years now a little bit more. Um, and you know, I'm just trying to just pushing the I just I really love it, man. It's like really really really really like I'm obsessed, you know, and I'm not too keen on, you know, like it's a lot. Like it's a lot. Like I love jiu-jitsu and, you know, but like I show up every day and I'm like, you know, I got a smile on my face. I'm surrounded by people that I love and it's it's healthy for me, I think. So >> yeah, it's a lot of people say that once they go I had the same reaction as you. No, that's men going around in their pajamas. so to speak. >> Yeah. >> But a lot of people say like that they get addicted and for the first couple of months you're getting bet subbed, not bet, but like subbed dominated. >> What makes you keep going through that? Cuz a lot of people be like, "So that's not for Joe." Like >> it's hard when you're getting defeated all the time and a lot of people give up. What made you stay on >> wrestling? So I think with So I was in terms of wrestling, I was one of the worst in my room. Like my team was, you know, third ranked nationally in all of America. Um, I was just getting my ass kicked every day. And like it's just for me, jiu-jitsu, I kind of like even when it gets tough and I get those nitty-gritty matches, I kind of think like nothing will ever be harder than wrestling for me. So when I get my ass kicked, I don't respond as like I want to stay away from that. It's like I want to keep going so I don't get my ass kicked. Like I remember I walked in first day. Um, you know, I wasn't like I wasn't trying to wrestle everyone cuz I didn't want to launch guys for no reason. Um, and I just kept getting subbed and subbed and subbed and I was getting not frustrated, but I was like, "God, I just got to keep showing up and I got to keep getting good." And, you know, I train six to seven days a week most times. Like, I was going up to Dublin there on the weekends to train. I'm like, I was flying over to London two weekends for two weekends straight there, Paris. Like, I just I'm obsessed and for some reason I just can't walk away from it. I don't want to, to be honest. So, something I really, really, really enjoy in my life. Good for me as well, I think. Yeah, I could actually see the positivity and the enthusiasm oozing out of you as you talk about and it's actually really refreshing like like you're going to Dublin, you're going here and and like you're saying you're obsessed and you love it and that's I love it cuz I think what you make of the community cuz I think the BJJ community I'm involved in like a lot of combat sports and I think those communities are a lot more tighter knit than let's say football obviously American football or soccer or something like that. I find them very clickish. They group apart. Whereas I find the BJJ and combat sports kind of come together. You'd always get one [ __ ] in the gym or not every gym, but what how do you find the community and how did you find it over here? >> So I think judiciary is a very very fascinating sport and it attracts a bunch of really weird people. Like there's there's you know the one side I'll talk about the side that I don't necessarily like. Like like I beat a guy in Paris there over the weekend and IBJF posted the reel and it it got highlighted essentially, right? and he comes up to me after, he goes, "I'll see you next time." Or like, and I'm I'm just kind of thinking like that ego of like, you know, you just got beat. You know, you could just like I shook his hand. I gave him a hug. I was like, "Yeah, you know, thank you." But like, and I've had guys DM me and be like, "I promise you next time I'm beating you." Like, it's just you and me next time. That side of it, I think, is very almost discouraging and strange. But then you get people like you get really nerdy guys who are like, it's like jiu-jitsu is like a puzzle with the human body. And I love meeting really weird and strange people. Like I come from a 10th planet gym. So it's like bunch of weirdos there and it's like it's it's weird. It's really weird how you get people from all over the world. It's like like for me like I did I drove across 12 countries in Europe there over the summer on my motorcycle and I was just stopping in random gyms meeting random people every day and the one thing you know like we just got along. Like I'd roll with them. We'd have some really hard scrappy rounds. They'd be like ah yeah come out for food with us you know and they come back the next day and it's like it's not like that with wrestling. Like wrestling was always like not my gym at least but I know lots of gyms were always like no you can't go cross trainin you can't go train at other gyms you train at our gym and that's it. And if you went and it was almost discouraged where jiu-jitsu it's like a yeah go meet people go physically interact with people and it's like really really helped me make friends like I've never drank and I've never smoked not for any religious reasons or anything but just cuz I always never needed it in my life. And I think like combat sports and especially jiu-jitsu has really helped me like grow my so social circle in a sense all over the world, man. From London to Ireland to America to France to Hungary. Like it's like really really really been great for me. At least that's my experience with it. >> Yeah, there's a couple of interesting things you said there so I'm going to pick up on them. The rest of you saying obviously with the gym you can't cross train. I think you see that a lot loyalty with MMA gyms as well. But the smaller gyms I find here, I would encourage them to cross trainin because you've got SBG and Fight Academy which have hundreds of fighters. These smaller gyms kind of lose their top fighters to those gyms. If you cross lane, you keep them. And like you said, >> like life is about living, meeting people, and to for people to kind of pigeon hole you in one gym, like think of all the experiences that you might not have had if you didn't do that traveling. >> Totally. Yeah. Absolutely. What was what was your highlight of that kind of name a couple of things that your highlight over that because I'm actually fascinated about this. You're going across 12 countries. Ah, >> so actually it was it was just there over the weekend. So I I can't remember his name. He's a big he's a massive fiend. He's a he's a really big guy. He was a purple belt there. But um like you know I I trained with him two or three times. I was in Hungary there and I stopped by his gym. He was really nice to me, really kind. And then he was just there in Paris and I didn't get to run into him but he texted me. He was congratulating me and I was like it's to me that was always like really strange and like even there was this guy Hugo over the weekend that we we fought in the finals and I beat him like two zero really but one of the soundest lads you'll ever meet in your life really really really good guy but like the funny thing for me is is I was literally training at his gym two weeks prior to us fighting um and you know there was no like resentment there was nothing like like you know like we literally walked off the mat we went over to the warming mat and I was like can I give you a friendly piece of advice and then could you give me a friendly piece of advice and we're both just helping each other. And that to me was like I just I don't know very many people in the world who would get beat in a finals match and then go over talk to that guy and try to help him. That to me is what jiu-jitsu is all about. And I love I love that side of it, man. I really really do. So as you know, as interesting as it was me traveling around the country or traveling around Europe, I'm sorry. The most the most interesting part for me was meeting people, talking and and interacting like that. That to me is worth, you know, any beautiful mountain view or any nice scenic lake drive and it's way worth its weight and gold to me. So >> yeah, like that you meet some characters and you might meet people that will be connected with you from your own life because and >> his character obviously shone through there that like after you gave each other and I like that you gave each other a piece of advice cuz even though you won there's still things that he might have said like you could have done this and you could and being open and honest and being accepting of constructive criticism is like something that is really a good quality and like said those guys that were texting it's only me and you like don't mind them. Do you know that's that's not what it's about cuz I think the way I look at it is if >> Joe took a war if you one on each side if you both got on the same side and you have the same goal it's much easier to pull that rope. So I think that's go rather than have the friction but um how like you must how many times have you competed >> or do you know? >> Yeah. >> Um honestly really not that many. This year I've probably I had um gez let's see so it was one in February Europeans Paris uh I did a super fight there so including worlds I only have about six comps this year six comps um uh but again a lot of that was me being injured and I couldn't compete and I couldn't do what I wanted. Um but like I mean no like honestly I'd love to compete more and I'm going to I fully plan to like um it's in talks right now about me going on a Polaris card next month and like you know I'm like that to me is like I I just I'm excited man you know like win or lose at the end of the day I get to go out there had like with wrestling right like I always really struggled cuz I was severely underweight. I was wrestling I don't know I can't do the conversions off top of my head now but I was wrestling 182 lbs and I weighed 16 like nine something like that and guys were cutting from 195 so I was underweight >> and I don't ever remember showing up to a comp smiling but every time I compete now I show up I'm in a good mood I'm jumping around I'm listening to my music I'm smiling I'm singing and that to me is like that's just fun man you know I'm just going out there to have fun at the end of the day so >> yeah I could just feel it's just oozing how you through the screening and I find it very infectious. I'm in a really good mood now talking to about it. I'm like maybe I'll give jiu-jitsu a try cuz this guy's kind of convincing me. Um but obviously you're going to be competing at Crank that I really like what the boys done. I've interviewed Adam and I said I wanted to kind of explore the scene more. So he gave me a couple names. You were one of them and Charlie was the one who just interviewed and I can see why because they've been two so far this been a very interesting conversation. Obviously, you want to be more active your route because of the injury with the because there's so many shows, tournaments like like there's a couple invitations. There's one or two that are gone from the scene which I kind of dis this point that they're gone like Grapple Grapple Kings was a really good one. I believe that's gone. But with the amount of options that you have here in in Ireland and UK and further out, how do you feel as a competitor that there is that many options cuz the sport seems to be evolving and just growing so rapidly now? >> Um I I love it, man. I'm I I mean jiu-jitsu the thing with wrestling I think it's a very niche community like one thing like there's no money in it like there's no like winning anything like if you get to a college level you may you know maybe you get sponsored if you're one of the best in the country where jiu-jitsu it's like you know I've seen blue belts go and win five grand at a tournament and that to me is like [ __ ] man that's really exciting really really exciting like you know I won like I went to um quantum invitational like it was probably about three 3 4 weeks ago now and I won 300 lb. I got performance of the night. I won my fight and they flew me out. They gave me a place to sleep and it's not it's you know it's not a godly ungodly amount of money but to me that was like this is exciting man. Like it's like I'm getting paid. I'm getting you know like it doesn't m the money is not what's important to me but the fact that it's there on top of everything else is phenomenal. I love that Ireland's like um Galler's gym down in Cork. He's having a competition down here. We just had it uh two weeks ago. Um you know, like it's just it's great. It's really really good to see the community growing. And I think things like CJI, ADCC, IBJJF, and it's not just one organization running everything, I think is really really good for jiu-jitsu. Um and it's exciting, man. It's, you know, it's attracting all kinds of people. You got judo guys, wrestlers, MMA guys coming over. Like I know Amy Skoly's on this card this weekend who's a phenomenal MMA fighter, but like her just stepping in the jiu-jitsu, she's like, "Yeah, [ __ ] it. Why not?" I think it's great. You know, so >> yeah, she's elite. She's like a double world champion. And I'm not sure what she is, but I went to interview her and I watched her role and she's very very good as well. >> Belt don't matter, man. And she's a [ __ ] killer. So >> yeah, there's like you were saying there about getting the money. Like the money does and that's it's like your hobby, but that's like the little cherry on the top of the cake is is getting the extra money. You mentioned Gilera there. Two boys have moved over to MMA. What's it like being around? Have you rolled with the comedies? >> Yeah. Yeah, man. So, Oh, I love So, honestly, I really like I've always, you know, I've known the harmonies and whatnot, but I really started going to the gym this semester and like [ __ ] Shane's a brilliant drilling partner and he's just again one of those guys who's always smiling. He's always in a good mood. You know, might skip the warm-ups and show up a little bit late, but he's always there having a good time. Um, all the harmonies, they're all lovely, man. And specifically, you want to talk about Carmony, you got to talk about Stuart Harmony, man. You know, [ __ ] grand slam champion in blue. He just won um just won Euros, won pans, he's going to worlds now. He's unbelievable. But Stewart has been detrimental and like really really kind of kicked the [ __ ] out of me, weirdly enough, given his size. Um and he's just he's so [ __ ] good, man. So so so good. And he's really helped me improve my game. Like I remember at Euros there he called me out on something and he's like I don't think that would have been a sweep if you wrestle up from the knees and I was like nah that's definitely two. That's definitely two. It ended up being how I lost my match at Euros. Um so if I would have just listened to him like a little bit earlier man you know like but all those comedies man they're all they're all sound really good fighters too. Even Shay Sean Stewart and Shane all four of them are sound. >> Yeah know I I've had two of them on and because they've entered the MMA scene. It's hard to get the mask because >> obviously in there would be people that could strike better than them, but if it gets to the ground like you're going to sleep or your limbs getting ripped off, but >> that's it, man. >> That's the problem when you're so high level BJ day coming over. But then like a lot of people have to understand, you still do have a chance if you can stop the take down, you can or if you are decent at jiu-jitsu yourself, but it's a good transition over. Um, what's your plans for for next year? Uh, like are you going to travel more? are you going to do? Or do you do you just kind of just go off a whim and go, I'm going to do this or do you plan ahead? >> Um, honestly, these last couple like few months here, it's all just been like spur of the moment kind of stuff. Like Quantum reached out to me like two weeks. I remember I was in Rome and I had just finished Euros and I was really I was I was devastated by my loss and I was eating pizza and ice cream and then they text me and I'm like, "God damn it." So, I had to put the pizza down. Um, and like mid mid snack there. Um, and then all of it's just kind of been spur of the moment like and then Quantum and then I literally booked my flights back to London the following weekend and like I'm just trying to get my name out there, man. Um, I really really am just trying to get exposure. Um, in terms of planning ahead, I said uh my mother might kill me, but I said I'd do one MMA fight would be uh would be, you know, long-term goal for next year. And then just, you know, I want to go win a world championship. I mean I'm doing I'm going in what few days now. So that's my goal. Uh I want to win euros. I want to win pants. I want to win Brazilos. Like I just want to I want to go and I want to compete as much as I physically can. Doesn't matter the name, the brand, how big the tournament is. Just get me on the mats, man. So >> yeah. Know if you are looking to do an MMA fight, I do match for a show. So let me know you stuff like that and we'll match it in a in a fair even contest, you know, the sort of way. But um hopefully your mother won't see this and we won't we won't stream it live. But no uh I'm going to let you go. But I've really enjoyed this conversation. You've actually put me in such a good humor after a long day >> cuz you're so enthusiastic about the sport. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you is there anything you want to touch on before we go or expand on? >> No. Uh you know, thanks for doing what you do, mate. I know it's a it's a long day for you. Like you were saying there before we started recording. So I appreciate your time. Not like if you do want to subject I'm in a good mood now. If you do if there is something you want to touch on we can go on further but if not you can give shout outs to people. If you'd like to give shoutouts the floor is yours. >> Uh Charlie Charlie free man that's the only person that really comes to mind right now. Uh after Euros I was like I had a I had a moment there where it's like man I'm not as good as I thought I was. He's like no that's not it at all. You just need to change a few little things. And he's really really helped me man. So, I'm feeling like for worlds, like I I went into Euros and I wasn't confident. But like now I'm like, nah, I'm going to I'm going to [ __ ] kill everyone. I'm a smash and I I owe a lot of that to him. So, that would be my one and only shout out for now. >> And yeah, I think you were the last shout out on his interview as well. >> So, yeah, there you go. >> Yeah. So, no. Uh, I'm going to let you go. Uh, best of luck this weekend. And I'm actually very intrigued in you and your direction because of the stuff you're saying to me, I really find interesting, intriguing. So if you would like, I'd love to have you back on and follow your journey. >> Yeah. Anytime. >> Especially if you're going across and doing all this mad stuff across different countries, but we will keep in touch. And like I said, if you like, I will follow this journey with you and we can catch up at like every three, 12 weeks, 10 weeks, something like that. And and just kind of how things have gone and how you expected them and how they've turned out and what your next plans are. But >> I'd love that. That'd be great. >> You've been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much and enjoy your evening. All right. >> Cheers. You too, mate. Thank you.