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Worlds’2015 Blue & Purple Part III: Try until you win and keep it simple!

By admin on June 12, 2015

Now this is the third (and the last) part of our Worlds’2015 Blue & Purple series. Here you can read Part I and Part II of the interviews given us by the most elite blue and purple bjj players. We feel a little bit pity about this work is over and we are sorry that not all intervews entered this series, but the fact is that the post-event analysis can not last four weeks after the event. But we are glad we have such a lot of new friends and, why not, new contributors to our publishing project. People you all are awesome! So this page is over and we are looking forward for new results, competitions and stories. Here is the last part.

*** Look here for Worlds’2015 Bonus Part: Impressions.

Danny Feliz from Icon BJJ, Geneva, Switzerland, being third at purple male super heavy division tells us:

Danny Feliz from Icon BJJ, Geneva, Switzerland

I never have any special pre-Worlds camp, I just train 2 or 3 times a day and I do a lot of sparing without rest for pushing me on my limit and train some positons or drill more some physical training.

Before competition I don’t do a lot of physical training for my body be 100% at competition so just train jiu jitsu and train some strong positions in each situations like takedown, passing or guard to be able to react fast in the fight.

I don’t have one technique specially but I think my top game was good I always try to stay on top because I’m heavy but if I can’t do the takedown I pull guard and try to sweep my opponent.

It’s my first podium at Worlds and I’m really happy. Past years I lost 2 times in quarterfinals in blue belt and last year in purple I lost in eight finals by decision. Today I’m happy to step on this podium finally and for sure I will compete next year. I am trying to compete as much as I can, because I train jiu jitsu full time so it’s like a job for me to compete and to bring some results for my boss, ahahah J

I should train my takedowns, I suppose, because I lost my semifinal against a very good judo player. I tried to sweep him but he had a very good base and I lost in advantages. I will keep training hard to be able to win in this situation next time.

Just say thank you to you BJJMAG.COM to give me this interview, thanks my professor Anderson Pereira, all my team ICON jiu jitsu, thanks my sponsors to be on my side and my family and friends who support me. OSS!

BJJ Mag: What is your advice to beginners before their first competition?

My advice is try to get this experience and if you win its good but if you don’t – just no worries and try again until you win and reach your goals.

Livia Gluchowska from Maromba Academia International, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, got her silver at purple female light feather:

Livia Gluchowska from Maromba Academia International, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I usually do an intensive training camp in the USA before I fight, however this year I decided to compete at the ADCC Trials in Japan one week before the Worlds. This meant I stayed with my normal training schedule and continued with about 4 no gi sessions per week, wrestling and a lot of heel hooks, knee bars and toe holds.

In terms of gi training, nothing changes for me in terms of learning new skills; however, about 3 weeks out my intensity goes through the roof, I try to fight for every point and I play a lot less during training.

Unfortunately, it gets hard to replicate the game that light feathers play with male training partners, so I have to seek out people with specific attributes. One day I would have a spider guard player come and push me to my limits as I try to either just break grips or establish a pass for two hours. The next, it would be advanced girls from other clubs giving me tough rolls, white and blue belt ladies giving me a cardio work out, or lighter and fast guys try to torreando pass me over and over.

Although Australia is still young in BJJ development, we make it work for us. It’s a real community effort and in the process everyone improves.

Lastly, the guidance, help with problem solving and BJJ video analysis from my partner/coach Lachlan Giles has been invaluable. I am extremely lucky to have someone so technical and knowledgeable on my side.

I trained twice a day Monday to Friday with added drilling and a video analysis class and competition rounds on Saturday. I work as a physiotherapist, so recovery between sessions wasn’t easy, but that’s what I have to do to have a career and compete at an elite level.

I don’t currently lift – I’ve replaced strength sessions with more technique and use hard rolls as my cardio. I think specificity is extremely important and you can’t get much more specific than replicating competition roll. I am already quite strong for my size, but I can never be technical enough, hence the emphasis on drilling and specific training over lifting weights.

At the moment I am comfortable on top and bottom with my jiu jitsu, but what most people don’t expect from me is that I love pressure passing. I wanted to have a good crack at passing some guards these worlds, as my weight division has some very complicated and tricky guards. In saying that, I am adaptable and also love playing single x, x guard and spider guard.

I prepare differently for each opponent and my strategy may change from fight to fight. I wanted to leave no stone unturned in my preparation and be ready to fight from top, bottom or double guard pull.

My strategy was to end up on top and sub. These Worlds saw the return of my single x guard that I played a lot as a blue belt and still find it a very high percentage sweep. On top, I linked different variations of knee through passes, chokes from mount and footlocks.

I am both happy and devastated. I dominated my first 3 fights and was quite happy with skill execution, game plan, mindset and listening to coaching. However, I still cringe when I think about my final – I made a lot of errors that I couldn’t recover from. Credit to my opponent as she capitalised on my mistakes and was certainly better than me on the night.

I will definitely be at Long Beach in 2016. I have already made a training plan on the positions and skills I need to add to my game. There is nothing quite like a loss that I took rather hard to motivate me to be much better next year.

I would like to thank the people that are on this journey with me. There is a whole team behind each of my medals, starting with Lachlan Giles, who is an incredible mentor, supporter and coach. He expects only the best from me, but is kind and nurturing in doing so.

My team at Absolute South Yarra that Lachlan and I recently opened in Melbourne, Australia is an incredible place to train. I have so many high level training partners pushing me each day. My previous coach Thiago Stefanutti and his team at Absolute CBD are also a massive part of my development throughout the years.

We spent 6 month last year training with Fabio Gurgel at Alliance Sao Paulo, which was a massive eye opener to what it takes to become the best. I will forever treasure that experience.

Thanks to all the girls and guys that came in to train with me in the last few months. I hope we can continue to work together and kick each other’s butts for a long time to come.

None of this would be possible without my sponsors. MA1 Apparel and specifically Simon Carson has been with me since blue belt days and I still pinch myself at how lucky I am to have MA1 as part of my team. Musashi Nutrition provides me with supplements and dietary advice, which helps with recovery and keeping my weight stable.

City of Melbourne, Absolute MMA, 34s Core Tactics and my beautiful family have also contributed to me being able to live a privileged lifestyle of travelling the world doing what I love.

BJJ Mag: What is your advice to beginners before their first competition?

I think the most important advice is to try and have fun. Don’t fight the nerves – once you accept that it’s part of the process that everyone goes through, it’s much easier to relax.

Madeleine Håkansson from Yamasaki Academy Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, came second at purple female feather:

Madeleine Håkansson from Yamasaki Academy Gothenburg, Melbourne, Gothenburg, Sweden

I had regular classes at Yamasaki Academy in Sweden until two weeks before Worlds. Then, I trained almost one week at Clark Gracie’s Academies in San Diego before going to Long Beach.

My accent before Worlds were short interval training and being prepared for pulling guard and having guard pulled on me, since I know this happens a lot. However the spider guard was the most important position for me. I won two fights from the triangle position from there. Like most people, I pulled guard in most of the fights, but I don’t mind coming up on top going for the pass.

Overall I am quite happy with my performance. Of course, you always want to win. I hope to be back next year and compete again. For my game, I need to work more on certain sweeps as well as tuning up my passing game.

I would like to acknowledge everybody at Yamasaki Academy in Gothenburg where I train hard daily, as well as Clark Gracie for the excellent preparation at his academy. Unfortunately, I don’t have any sponsors yet, but if anybody is interested in supporting me in any way, please contact me on Facebook! 🙂

BJJ Mag: What is your advice to beginners before their first competition?

Try to have a game plan and work on specific techniques. Try to keep it as simple as possible and try to use techniques that you have really mastered.

Tommy Lilleskog Langaker from Atos Jiu Jitsu, Haugesund, Norway, being second at purple male middleweight:

Tommy Lilleskog Langaker from Atos Jiu Jitsu, Haugesund, Norway

Since I am from a small town, on the Westcoast of Norway called Haugesund, I go a lot back and forth from Norway to California. I came two months prior to the Worlds to train with the Mendes bros and the rest of the AOJ/ATOS team. My focus was working on my attacks from my guard and my passing from top.

My most useful technique in the Worlds was the double guard pull to leg drag and pass from there. I prefer to pull guard and attack from the guard, but I don’t mind going for a takedown and start passing. However, my confidants lays in my guard and attacks/sweeps from there.

I’m really happy with my performance this year, I felt great! But I did some mistakes that I need to fix. I will for sure compete next year, I won’t change too much in my game, I will just keep on improving my technique and add some new things on the way.

I would like to thank my team AOJ, my coaches, training partners, and my sponsor Mokahardware @Mokahardware!

BJJ Mag: What is your advice to beginners before their first competition?

Keep it simple, have fun and do your best.