Interview with the champ.

Recently, we interviewed BJJ champion, Gustavo Pires about the upcoming jiu-jitsu world championships and overcoming adversity. Gustavo is one hell of a grappler. If you get the chance, you absolutely must see him in action some time. Check out the interview below.

What competition are you training for right now?

Right now i am training for 4 tournaments: The Phoenix Open , Dallas open , Long Beach Open and World Championship.

How are you preparing for the competition?

I am training Bjj every morning at Gracie Barra America HQ and doing my conditioning at Juggernaut System Training every Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Who do you think will be your toughest opponent?

in my division have a lot of tough guys... Yuri Simoes , Lucas Leite , Rafael Lovato, to name just a few.  But the toughest is Rodolfo Vieira , the best fighter in the world today.

Everyone has challenges to overcome. What have you had to overcome to become a world-class jiu-jitsu champion?

I have high blood pressure , when i found out, i had to stop training for more then a year because the doctors thought that I had something in my heart. Thought that I wasn't going be able to compete again. But now I take medicine everyday to control my blood pressure and I can training and compete normally.

Do you plan on ever giving MMA a shot? Or are you going to stick with jiu-jitsu?

No , I like to watch MMA , but my life is jiu-jitsu . I live to compete , teach and share with my students all the knowledge that i learned from my Master Carlos Gracie Jr.