From The Gut recently had an opportunity to talk with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and 2007 Abu-Dhabi champion Robert Drysdale about training with Frank Mir, his new school, his step into the world of MMA, and his upcoming All Star Camp.
FTG: How long have you been working with Frank Mir?
Drysdale: I’ve been with Frank for about a year now. Maybe about 9 or 10 months. I started working with him before we started filming TUF. I spoke to his manager and he said that Frank needed a BJJ coach and he asked if I would like to start working with Frank. We got along well. Its been really cool.
FTG: How long after that did he invite you to be a part of TUF?
Drysdale: Soon after. He was talking about filming it and he was like, “Hey Rob would you like to be my assistant coach on The Ultimate Fighter?” And when the opportunity came up I was like, “ya know what, thats a great opportunity. I’m gonna do it.”
FTG: Had you trained professional MMA fighters before?
Drysdale: Actually, No. I worked out with a lot of guys in Brazil before, but it was me being more like their training partners. Never just their coaches. Frank was probably the first guy I’ve worked with consistently as a coach.
FTG: What do you think of being an MMA trainer as opposed to a jiu-jitsu instructor?
Drysdale: Its different, I try to make it as specific as possible for his next fight. Trying to look for his opponents weaknesses and watch out for their biggest strengths and go from there. So its very specific and there’s a lot more attention. With a jiu-jitsu class you give everyone equal attention for one or two hours or whatever. When I’m rolling with Frank, Its all about his training and his opponent. Its a different mentality. Its a different approach.
The thing about coaching and teaching is it teaches you a lot. I’ve probably learned more from teaching than my students have. It forces me to really break everything down and really understand jiu-jitsu. You don’t get away with doing positions that you’ve just seen someone else do. You’ve got to really understand what you’re doing. I actually recommend teaching for every fighter. Every fighter should be teaching. It forces them to learn and understand.
FTG: How has teaching MMA fighters as opposed to traditional jiu-jitsu helped your game?
Drysdale: It opened my mind to different things. A lot of these guys are very experienced and have lot of knowledge to share. When talking about Frank’s strategy for example, he’s a smart guy, and a lot of ideas come up like, “What about this…what about that”, and it opens your eyes. Its different. When you come from a jiu-jitsu background its a different world. You have different objectives It’s a different sport I don’t care what people say. There are a lot of similarities but its not exactly the same. You have to give yourself time to adapt and really understand the differences. Working with these guys absolutely helps because most of these guys have an MMA background and haven’t been in the sport of jiu-jitsu. I’m teaching, but I’m also learning so much.
FTG: How did you get involved with Xtreme Couture?
Drysdale: I moved here about a year ago and had been planning on going there but was still establishing myself. Getting an apartment, and figuring things out. I got an email from one of the guys over there who invited me to come check out the gym. It was really something I had in mind so I was like, “yeah sure absolutely.” When I was over there I liked the guys right away. Its like a second home for me. I’m really glad to be part of the team. Its a great experience over there. I’m learning a lot from those guys. I’m very glad to be part of the team.
FTG: Whats it like working guys like Forest Griffin?
Drysdale: Forest is one of the most athletic guys I’ve ever met. He’s really underrated on the ground. His jiu-jitsu is much better than people think. He’s one of those guys thats just really talented. He’s just born for the sport. He’s one of those guys that if he decided to practice jiu-jitsu he’d push to the highest level in no time. His jiu-jitsu is very MMA oriented. Training with him wakes me up a little bit like, “oh wow this doesn’t work…this works really well.” Its great to be able to train with those guys and share experience with them. Forest is a great guy.
FTG: How long have you been planning to open your own gym?
Drysdale: I thought about it when if first moved here. Someone gave me the idea. I was like, “ya know, I’m so busy training jiu-jitsu and MMA, I don’t wanna commit myself to anything. I just wanna train.” Then so many people kept telling me over and over to open up my own gym. I didn’t wanna teach class all day so I committed myself to one class a day so I can train still. We’ve had the gym open for about three months now. Its really cool.
FTG: How many students do you have now?
Drysdale: Were getting close to 100. I’m surprised I wasn’t expecting so many students so fast, especially with the economy. We got new people coming every day. We’re planning to have 500 students in the next 2 years.
FTG: Are you going to have to expand?
Drysdale: We’re already thinking about expanding. We’re looking into other buildings and possibly at the end of the year, building in another location.
FTG: How’s your MMA improved since you’ve been training at Xtreme Couture?
Drysdale: It’s a good experience. I’ve got to train a lot and teach a lot. I roll every day still. Its like a second home. Some of the guys have a wrestling background so my wrestlings improved a lot. I feel far more confident in my striking. I train with my boxing coach three or four times a week. Its getting better every day. I’m excited about MMA. I should be fighting soon.
FTG: When does your All Start Camp start?
Drysdale: Its starts Monday, March 16. We have some guys coming from Brazil and some MMA guys. Its a 10 day camp, two classes a day. We’re covering transport and hotel. Its gonna be a great experience. We got some intense core jiu-jitsu coming up. Anyone who’s interested, its open to the public, doesn’t matter what background you have or team you represent. You just come and roll with some of the best grapplers in the world.
FTG: Who will be teaching at the camp?
Drysdale: About 30 people from out of town. Joe Stevenson, Kevin Randleman, Frank Mir, Phil Baroni, Martin Kamppmen anyone looking for some training.
FTG: You’ve had one MMA fight so far. How did that go?
Drysdale: I had it in October of last year. It was an amateur fight. I won with an armbar within 2 minutes of the first round. I’m looking for a second fight soon. Its just a matter of when and where. Its just a matter of doing it. Its actually not that easy to find an organization to fight for, but it should be soon.
FTG: I heard you may be having a fight in Japan?
Drysdale: I would like that. I think the Japanese crowd is more grappling oriented than the US or UK crowd, just because they come from a Judo tradition, where in the US or UK its a boxing tradition. Anyhow, being a grappler, it certainly helps if you have the crowd on your side and they appreciate and understand what you do. So I’ve looked in that direction, but whatever comes up. I’d be more than happy to fight in the US. I’m open to any opportunity that comes up.
FTG: Are there any prospects right now?
Drysdale: I’m talking to 2 or 3 different organizations now. Its just a matter of when and where. I Should be in at least one fight before June and possibly two. It just depends on who I’m gonna sign with.
FTG: Do you plan on continuing to compete in jiu-jitsu?
Drysdale: Abu Dhabi. I’ll be competing in Abu Dhabi, I like the tournament, I like the rules, I like the organization. They treat the guys professionally, ya know? If I’m gonna train like a professional, I have to get paid like a professional. I can’t be doing jiu-jitsu for free anymore. As much as I love the sport, I feel like I’ve done what I wanted to do and there’s nowhere else for me to go. You reach a point where you can’t grow anymore in that sport. So you have to move on. MMA its always something I’ve wanted to do in my mind. So I was gonna do it anyway. I don’t see myself going back to jiu-jitsu, maybe one day just for fun, but not likely. You can’t train for both things. they’re different. You cant focus on jiu-jitsu and an MMA career. People who do that haven’t been successful in either. I’m just focusing on MMA right now.
FTG: How did you train for your MMA fight?
Drysdale: I had a boxing coach, and trained jiu-jitsu at my school with my students and some of the best grapplers in Vegas come over to my gym and we train and I do all my sparring at Xtreme Couture. That’s about it man. I do two training session a day. Thats my life. Busy. Teaching once a day, training twice a day, thats it. Now I’m just looking for a fight.
FTG: Did you come out of it with any insight into yourself? Your own game? Things you need to work on?
Drysdale: Ya know, one of the reasons I wanted to get a fight was I wanted to see how I behaved in the ring and see if I liked it. Before the fight I’ve never been in a ring before. I’ve never been in a ring where your opponent wants to punch you in the face. I’ve been in jiu-jitsu a million times, but its different. I wanted to make sure I was ready. If you’ve never been in a fight you really don’t know how your gonna react when you get in there. I liked it man, I had fun in there. I was a little anxious before like everyone else. But once I was in there I was like, “I’m gonna win this fight, there’s no way this guys gonna beat me, there’s no way out of this. And once I was in there I was like this is it man, this is what I’m made for, I’m not made for anything but this. I’m a fighter and I’m gonna do it for the rest of my life.” Once I was in there I was 100% sure of that. So I was happy. I was happy in the ring, I’ve never felt so good. I knew MMA was gonna be the next step in my life. I was 100% convinced of that and when you’re really convinced of something you always manage to pull it off. So I was glad that I won that first match. now its just a matter of getting a second one.
FTG: When did you start training with Joe Stevenson?
Drysdale: I’ve trained with him for 9 or 10 months but I don’t train with him as consistently as I do with Frank. I see him about twice a month. His boxing coach called me and was interested in having me over. Joe was looking for a new jiu-jitsu coach. He asked me if I wanted to train with Joe. I knew who he was. He was super cool, I liked him right away. I like to work with people I get along with and Joe is one of those guys. He’s a great great friend of mine and a good fighter, he’s a good hearted person. I was very happy to work with him.
FTG: Do you have any thoughts about his fight with Sanchez?
Drysdale: Actually, its funny because everything we worked with him was based on Diego’s shooting and take downs. The funny thing was it was the first time Diego actually tried to strike with someone. All Diego’s other fights he was shooting like a madman. It was shoot, shoot, shoot, and then ground and pound. This was the first time he actually tried to strike. So we were a little thrown off. We were expecting a different Diego. I disagreed with the way the judges scored it. I think it could have gone either way. But the way the judges scored it, I was a little surprised. I didn’t think it was a 30-27 match. I think that, especially the 3 round, Diego was totally backing away and Joe Stevenson was chasing him across the cage. I don’t think the judges took that into consideration, but it was a close fight. It could have gone either way. The way they scored I think it was kinda crazy. Diego did not dominate that fight, that was clear.
FTG: What was it like watching Mir beat Nogueira?
Drysdale: I was excited. I felt psyched. The only reason I wasn’t happier, is that he didn’t tap Nogueira and I think he could have. Thats how much we worked on Frank’s game. The one time he took him down, I was like, “Okay this is it, he’s gonna beat the crap out of him here.” I asked Frank, “Why didn’t you engage him when you took him down.” and he was like, “Well I was doing so well on my feet I didn’t wanna take any chances on the ground.” And thats reasonable. Ya know, if you’re winning a fight striking, why would you risk going to the ground? It doesn’t make any sense. I was happy. Very few people believed he could do it, he had a ton of injuries before that fight and he trained so hard. His training camp was seven months long. I was just so happy to be part of it. Nogueira is a guy I’ve looked up to. He’s always been an inspiration for me, but I was so happy when Frank beat him. He really deserved that win. He needed it. Frank is an outstanding fighter. Whenever people think he’s gonna lose, he pulls it off. Whenever he’s the underdog, he performs his best. I hope he keeps that going. Everyones saying, “Brocks gonna smash Frank this time.” You know what happened last time. I think Frank’s gonna tap him again.
FTG: It was obvious he had been working on his striking.
Drysdale: Oh yea, his striking has improved so much. Even Nogueira said in an interview, he was pretty humble about it, and said he totally underestimated Frank’s stand up abilities. He expected to fight the same Frank that fought Brandon Verra and the Frank that walked in there was a completely different guy. He was an improved version of himself. And the next Frank that fights Brock is gonna be an even better Frank. He’s an incredibly smart guy and he’s gonna keep improving. He’s gonna get better and better. He’s one of the top heavyweights in the world. No question about it.
FTG: Anything else you’d like to share?
Drysdale: I just want to invite people over, if you’re in Vegas and you wanna check out the gym, find out more at www.RobertDrysdale.net. If you wanna check out the camp it starts Monday. Everyone’s welcome. Thats it. If anyone is ever in Vegas, you’re more than welcome to come by and check the gym out and train a little bit. I wanna say hello to everyone out there.