Following the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6, tune in to the Post-Match Press Conference to hear the athletes take questions from …
Craig Jones H all right well congratulations how are you feeling after that performance uh I feel really good uh yeah that’s it is that how you expected the night to go for you uh yes 100% like that so I knew I would have uh I think I spoke about that so we would start a fight wrestling for the first four five minutes he would get tired and I would build up my way into my submission uh I was uh calling out the armar and I would do that but during the fight I felt so much power over him and I didn’t like him much to be honest the feeling I was like I’m going to be a hassle if I just pein him for like five minutes and then get my submission uh so I ended up breaking him down from turtle and my arm was out around his neck that is why I was like shaking my head like what should I do like should I should I finish here or should like change my submission and I okay whatever so I’m gonna choke him and live my life you mentioned you didn’t want to be an do you like this person particularly or is this a new side of you that we’re going to see where you’re going to be hesitant to do these finishes uh I don’t know to be honest uh I have nothing against him personally we have close friends in K uh and I know he’s a good person but still we are doing business and this is my legacy against his legacy I should do my best to build up my story and but when we were fighting I felt so much power over him so much control I I I felt I could do whatever I whatever I want and I didn’t like much the feeling to be honest cuz I think should be more equal and I would be a hle if I just pin someone look at someone in the face and okay I’m going to just choke you right now cuz that is what I want then I was kind of like weird I’m going to be I’m I’m going to choose the person I want to be hassle because I I think this part of the business but tonight was my plan and ended up not being anymore so do you mean you felt like he wasn’t at your level in terms of nobody’s On My Level okay what he was he uh lower level than you had expected were there surprises in there were you surprised that you felt that power over him uh I’m not surprised I think he would it was part off the process so the last two guys I fought noi besides Matos they were the top three guys in the world and it literally made them look like hobbyists uh because my level is far away from the second best I know people are still calling me out people are still like trying like to take shots but I’m not doing the same sport so what I what I’ve been saying since forever I’m going to be one of the greatest ever uh to ever do Jiu-Jitsu uh this is 100% accurate I’m going to this direction and that is what I’m gonna I’m going to be in the near future I think I’m there already technically I just need to prove more win more and when I double go HCC people will put me aside Gardon Ryan and Haj Gracie uh and I’m here and the third guy in the world because I’m the second besides Gordon it’s down here like I tap Ka in 11 minutes I tap Pena in 11 minutes so today five six I I didn’t pay attention it’s just a different sport I’m playing a different sport yesterday uh you spoke about is there somebody coming and he didn’t like it giv a look um yesterday we spoke about how you were potentially going to fight Mason Fowler next but when they asked you on stage who you wanted to fight you didn’t mention him so I’m curious did something happen and did you see something in his fight that you lost interest or were you never really all that interested or uh I’m still looking to fight him for sure uh he’s a guy that sometimes do great sometimes not so I think his performance against Pedro wasn’t that good did he got submission but like was late on the overtime uh he has a solid brand in America I think it’s going to be good for me uh I I just want to right now make moves where my brand will spread out instead of just getting another Victory uh and I want to also have Craig Jones and Nick Rod I think Craig Jones ni Rod Mason and I want to fight against uh Ka one more time because I’m still thinking he is the top three guy in the world he just one ibf Grand Prix and uh I know his brand is not as huge as the other names that we are talking about but he definitely smoke all the other guys so if there’s someone that deserves a spot is kind of not crack not Nick not Victor Hugo not Mason they’re just good for the business they’re good for UFC but they’re not high challenge opponents so if you had to pick one of those names for if you had if they said it’s your choice you can fight who you want johnes well how do you think that would go so I lost for him ATC uh was a fight back to back he he did a better job than me he deserved the victory I’m not taking his credit out but I had only five months training oi my wrestling was sucks my top position was terrible my guard was like literally like nothing and I think he would p Guard after fil my wrestling cuz he normally pull guard I would go side to side and find my way to go straight to his back and then finish him rear naked joke or any other type of uh uh choke from back uh he knows that and uh he also believes that I I’m going to finish him if we compete that is why he’s not signing a deal to fight against me uh he’s pushing narod but nicar Rod just had a war against Roberto jimz because his skill level is not there yet he can possibly become a champion but he’s not a champion he’s just American guy who has a solid brand here but has no titles uh when he becomes a champion I can give him a chance right away but as he’s not a champion yet he’s just someone that always lose in finals uh I want to use his brand to catch crack Jones if I have a chot against Craig Jones I can sign a deal to fight Nick Rod otherwise I’m not going to face him right now but uh eventually atcc if he makes into the finals so y I know you didn’t see the main event because you asked us what happened but were you surprised hear that Craig Jones won or the the method he won no I’m not surprised Craig Jones is Pretty Tough he’s a tough guy like he never won any major thir title uh we have not friends in common because people that are on my side they’re not friends anymore of Craig but uh everybody speaks highly about his Jiu-Jitsu skill and also I when I watch Craig computer I can’t tell like his stuff I he knows what he’s doing he’s just mentally weak when that is some hard moment like like tough situation like a final in know in a in a really big stage like ADCC or or any other big fight going on but he’s definitely Tech like he’s technically really good like he’s one of the best guys in the game for sure but mentally he’s not as tough as the other guys who has a lower skill level but can handle pressure per well so that is why Ka k d every time he fights Craig Jones He Just Smokes Craig Jones so bad Craig Jones looks like a child but in skill level Craig Jones is way better than Ka but when they go to Stage Craig Jones just collaps what do you think of Craig Jones’s uh personality because he’s a little he’s really funny he does well bro like he definitely is he’s going to be a guy that when he retires Jiu-Jitsu he can be standup Comet how can you say that yeah he’s pretty smart yeah that’s true like he’s funny bro yeah I like his his Instagram so I don’t have Instagram anymore I follow zero people uh but every time someone send me his stuff I was like like you’re smart bro like you do well like he does well thank you Nick to your left um of course you made it obvious on the mat and on the mic that you believe that you can do anything when you want that you’re the best you’re the greatest so with that mentality in mind and feeling that I’m not proving enough I didn’t say that what do you feel is the challenges next for you to continue to prove that but more importantly for yourself to continue um having that fire burning deep inside um as I said on the on the other interview my challenge right now it’s not against opponents my challenge right now is against Jiu-Jitsu I want to keep involving as athlet and seen the game and as a overall toll where I need to fix every every little Gap that I have uh and I think winning more titles and finish HCC as a double gold and a high submission rate and that is what I’m going to do there CU today I fought for five minutes and I got my submission pretty easy HC I have most of the fights into the final 15 minutes to work which is going to be pretty easy for me like I tap Kan and pen in 11 and I have finals in thir I have 30 minutes to work on on the finals match so it means I would tap everybody out I’m going to have eight mats I’m going to have eight submissions I’m going to have probably the highest highest submission rate out there and then I will reach the spot I want as athlet one of the greatest of all times and yeah pretty much that but until until there I I I’m I just want to work as hard as possible uh and keep following this Ideal World where Perfection is the only answer I’m curious on your thoughts on on this next question and quote here um obviously you mentioned how Craig Jones you think you find very funny you should be St comedian after he’s done um but after his fight he has said that in lack of better term he said that you had a shitty performance now that you have him at the top of your list of who you want um to Grapple against next I had a shitty performance against who just now that’s what he said that’s his words ah for the guy that bit him okay makes sense but he’s always making funny that there is what the point like Craig he’s always making funny about everything so it’s never a true answer it’s always something behind like awesome and then last thing for me um actually that’s it thank you that’s it all right no no keep going keep going I keep talking good I answer your question you answer my question yeah know like like he he’s always he’s never there’s what’s funny about him like he knows how to involve people do you know what I mean like and he’s involving people in that like his perform like he had a performance bro like how can I do better like this is this is my mind right now when when I’m competing people I’m always thinking how can I do better and if people are still thinking I can do better I need to bring a knife to the stage and kill someone out there cuz there’s nothing there’s nothing better to do like to to be honest what what else can I do like control people pin and finish like without breaking sweat like how can I do better it’s literally that you know then do you feel like blocking out that external noise not only um removing yourself off of Instagram but everything like that has allowed you to have a better peace of mind and accomplishing those goals quicker uh I don’t know yet so that move uh I just did was like three weeks ago and my life is getting better so I’m very I’m I’m I know how to handle pressure and perform well but I’m a very emotional person so I feel everything whatever you tell me sometimes I observe sometimes not and I feel like staying away from Instagram focus on my career my training my diet uh my family my girl like things that makes me feel good uh it’s been better and I want to stick to this uh style one to way to see because I I kind of hate social media so a bunch of like fake people exchanging likes comments and blue checks like that bro I just want to have power win titles make money and be happy with with people who love me and support who I am absolutely you probably just touched on it as in the things that you love was there any other changes as of the last few weeks that you’ve made so that you can keep that peace of mind and continue progressing forward in a better way uh Instagram for sure is the top one and I think I’m trying to think more about my family and be as close as possible so I had two years Living in America without seing my family when I first moved cuz I had complications with my Visa but right now by having them closer to me it’s definitely reminding me who I am daily so that is what I want to I want to do I want to be a better uh uh uh better son to my parents a better sibling to my to my siblings and a better man for those who appreciate who I am well with that being said as you take a look at trying to better yourself not only for yourself but for others and those that you love around you how important is it to utilize this platform that you have then utilize what sorry how important is it to utilize this uh platform that you have talking on the mic talking to thousands millions of people watching on this platform I I I’m so sorry I didn’t get your question no you’re all good how important is it to utilize the platform talking about the things that really matter Beyond just the mat and the graph uh I I don’t know man like uh I think after you live a little bit social media and understand the voice you have have to share things with people you kind of this is this is my Approach nowadays I’m not like caring anymore I’m just seeing how I feel and what I think and if it’s helping it’s helping if it’s being like not positive thing it also can can be be a damage to someone so I cannot like charge charge myself to be a good person because I can I can just be who I am so I’m just sharing whatever I feel and the way I’m living my life and if I’m adding to your life perfect if I’m not just move on won’t find another example I’m not trying to be nobody just Nicholas M congrats on the win what’s up guys welcome back back is this getting old for you yet winning I mean no this is my favorite part never gets old so what did you think of your performance yeah I thought it was really good um I I followed my game plan that I had set in my head um with that being said I wasn’t expecting to be uh so off-balanced by the foot sweeps so that was a surprise that was something that I’m going to have to um go back and look at a little small hole in my game but that’s the good thing about competing against you know number one ranked guys in the world right they’re going to show you um some small holes in your game and things you need to work on um but with that being said you know uh I got taken down at a time that there was no points so um I don’t know if that would have played out the same he he tried as well to take me down in the points period I think and uh I was able to get pop back up so um all in all yeah he he got off a little more offense than I would have liked but can’t complain he’s he’s a tough competitor he won double gold at the noi world at Black Belt he won the absolute division he has wins over some of the best guys in the world and I was able to get the win and not only get the win but get the submission which was something that I talked about a lot I really wanted to get the submission and I I accomplished that so I got to be I can’t be too hard on myself I gotta uh at least enjoy it a little bit I don’t watch a ton of Jiu-Jitsu so this question may sound weird but it seemed a little bit more violent than normal like he seemed a little bit more violent oh yeah slapping and kicking and that sort of thing is that normal for you I mean I like that so you know he started kicking me and smacking me and I was smacking him back we were headbutting each other you could taste your own blood a little bit I used to do MMA so for me it’s all good you know let’s freaking scrap so it was fun man and uh I thought that if the match turned out that way VI you know violent more of like a fight I thought that would favor me because I have the experience in MMA um I’ve been in real fights I had a lot of hours sparring so I’ve been kicked in the legs before it’s all good I didn’t let it get to me I stayed composed um and uh yeah I was able to come out on top so it’s all good so that didn’t surprise you from him no he he always kind of competes like that he’s he’s a he’s a scrappy dude so um no surprise I know we talked a little bit yesterday about who you want to compete against next has that changed since yesterday because it seems like it’s changed for marali so I’m just wondering if it’s change for you if you still are interested in that match or if you’re interested in something else what’s kind of On Your Horizon yeah I think in Mar’s postf fight interview I think he wants uh Craig or Nikki same as me you know both of us want to get uh one of those matches just because it’s such a big match it’s no disrespect to either one of those guys um you know me and Craig already have a history we’ve competed against each other three times um so I’m not sure if uh Craig really want I I don’t even I’m I’m hearing Craig might not even compete again so um I don’t know how much Craig wants to comp compete um so I know Nikki wants to compete I know Nikki’s uh agreed to compete against me before um I know the UFC has asked for that that matchup before the UFC seems to really like that matchup so um man they take care of me um Stephen Claudia everyone here takes care of me so um if they want the match with Nikki Rod even though he’s big much bigger than me if that’s the match that they want then I would be okay with doing that next I think it’s an exciting match and uh I’m I’m here to test myself against the best guys in the world so whether it’s I I think I would prefer the match with Nikki than maragal because seems that Nikki’s more popular when I talk to Everyday people that don’t really know Jiu-Jitsu they always ask about Gordon Craig and Nikki Rod so marol is very of course he’s very popular but I think the everyday person knows the name Nicki Rod more so than maragoli when you say um Craig may not compete again is it here at UFC fight b or wherever no I’m not sure I mean he’s just just he’s been very successful outside of competition um so he has a great personality he has a great brand that he’s built for himself and uh I I just don’t know if it makes sense for him to to Really compete that much anymore and if he does it seems like he likes to go more of the route of um competing against UFC guys and um other names outside of the sport I was watching one of his podcast where he talked about maybe not even doing the next ADCC so um I can’t speak for him uh it would be up to him but from what I’m hearing it’s probably unlikely that that’s going to happen from the vibe that I’m getting I did you get a chance to watch the three uh matches after year um I saw I saw bits of uh Nikki rod and Roberto it looked like a really good match and then I I was able to see the match with Craig and lato as well what did you think of those I mean you just said what you thought of Nikki but what did you think of the main event uh yeah Craig man Craig’s really talented and uh he blitzes right away when he competes and if if you’re not careful if you let him get into any kind of leg entanglement he usually gets a submission so Craig has amazing Jiu-Jitsu he’s very very technical um people kind of hate on him for getting second place and stuff like that but he has very very good Jiu-Jitsu so yeah it look great thank you Mason to your left um I gotta ask you so you mentioned that the foot sweeps caught your attention but what caught my attention was the head bobbing when you guys got in the clinch and he was bouncing your head up and down did that did you make anything out of that in the moment or was that just kind of just slipped your mind you’re still going at um what you wanted to get done yeah he was shaking my head and it was like it was kind of like making me dizzy a little bit but I was thinking like man this guy he’s using so much en energy that’s why I wasn’t really like if you noticed um when he would be real aggressive and do these like really uh athletic like strong explosive movements I wasn’t giving into it I just kept playing my game touching him pulling down on his head faking at the legs um so I just kept my composure I every time he did some really strong movement to me I knew he was using energy so I wasn’t think I wasn’t getting mad like oh this guy’s pulling on my head I was thinking like oh yeah keep on pulling keep on pulling it’s all good you’re G to get tired you know so um yeah pretty pretty much just went went the way I thought it would um he it was a tough scrap but uh it did take a little bit longer than I thought for him to get tired you know once we were like uh once we hit the overtime I was thinking like dang I’m pretty tired too you know I wonder how tired he is but uh yeah I was able to score at the end and so that’s what counts earlier you mentioned about the physicality of the Mind Games um car to elaborate on that a little bit I was just curious you know you’re mentioning the head Bobby and you’re mentioning you were trying to fatigue him and trying to tire him down it took a little bit longer was there anything not only that just surprised you but that you were trying to get done you’re like oh I finally got to this point yeah I have a pretty good snapdown and one thing that I was really thinking about a lot is that it would be nice to uh get a snap down and attack off off of that because his Guillotine is so dangerous right so if I was able to get a snap down into my own Guillotine attempt or um get a snap down and use that to score like get around to the back or something like that that would be uh much smarter than having to shoot in on him where I’m exposing my own neck so that was the game plan in the first 10 minutes I just wasn’t he he has a really strong neck and he stands really tall so it was hard to get into any type of snapd down position so that’s why I was like okay you know I figured I was down on the judge’s decision at that point because he hit a couple nice foot sweeps on me and uh I didn’t get too much offense going on so I thought that the momentum was in his favor so at that point I had to go ahead and and shoot in and at that point it’s like all right if I get guillotine I get guillotine but I got to make something happen I felt like in this Invitational there were a lot of the matches that ended up near the end of the match and provide a lot of ref stoppages for you did you feel like that gave you more advantage or disadvantage in terms of allowing yourself to get more grip or kind of lose the grip that you had in that moment yeah I I personally didn’t like um anytime the match stopped in this case because my goal was to get him tired you know so um when the ref even stopped us and told us like all right guys stop being so physical I was like all right come on let’s go like I I didn’t want to let him get any breaks and like I said even though I myself was getting fatigued um I know that I can perform uh I can perform under that fatigue and so I wanted to just drag both of us into deep water and just see who would survive well looks like you survived congrats on the win thank you hey Mason I just want to ask you um obviously last time we saw you you faced off with Gordon uh pretty sure that was like the plan going forward and then he comes out and says he’s not competing until ADC how bummed were you that that that you weren’t going to Grapple him yeah I was super bummed especially um the training camp that I had for the the match the first time um we flew out Victor Hugo who um obviously you guys have seen he’s an amazing competitor he’s one of the top probably top three pound-for-pound guys right now um in noi we flew him out we got a lot of good training in with him and uh I was I was I peaked my I had a perfect training camp so that’s the thing that sucks the most right is I ne I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to really replicate that training camp and you know it was a 25 minute match I was in shape to go 25 minutes um you know I was going with fresh guys every two minutes for 25 minutes straight and I just had a I had a really good training camp so that first time he dropped out I was super bummed um and then obviously he announced that he’s not going to be coming back anytime soon and at that point my mindset just switched because I have been um really kind of selective in the competitions that I had been doing um leading up to the Gordon match because I didn’t want to risk losing a match and then losing all the fans attention and you know all the fans really were wanting to see that match between me and him and I figured that if I took a loss against someone maybe someone Gordon had beat before or something like that then all of a sudden the fans are going to say oh we don’t want to see that anymore right so I was being a little more selective in uh the competitions I was doing because I had that Gordon match already lined up and at this point I just got to a point where I’m like hey man I’m 31 um I don’t want to sit around and wait for Gordon because I may never get the match so um let’s just take this time and let’s just challenge ourselves and and go after some of the top guys um is ADCC still a plan yeah yeah I definitely want to compete in the next ADCC um I got my official invite so I’m definitely going to do ADCC and uh besides ADCC I don’t know if I’ll do any other competitions just because I like the Fight Pass Invitational so much so I’ll probably just stick to Fight Pass and ADCC for now congrats thank you how was the transition like for you going from the MMA scene to just strictly the Jiu-Jitsu scene I know you even went under defeated across your imate and pro career yeah I I think it was really a blessing that it went that way I know it’s kind of backwards most people don’t start with MMA they start with kind of one of the other sports and then go into MMA but um obviously the experience of um going into an MMA fight will help you a lot for Jiu-Jitsu because the stakes are so high in MMA and the adrenaline is so high and you’re so nervous right so when you go from that like being able to perform in that environment under that level of stress and then I started going to these Jiu-Jitsu tournaments like the PanAm and the worlds and noi worlds that’s how I kind of started off with my you know Jiu-Jitsu career um I felt like I had an advantage over all the other guys uh in competition experience even though I hadn’t competed in as many Jiu-Jitsu tournaments as them like maybe I had done 10 Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and some of the other guys had done a 100 already but I still had the advantage in competition because I was under those super high stress environments so and then obviously coming here to The Fight Pass Invitational where it’s on a stage and it’s a super fight a lot of Jiu-Jitsu guys aren’t used to that they’re used to being at a tournament setting but I man I’ve been doing competitions like that since I was 19 years old in in cages with a guy trying to knock me out right so I think it definitely helped um with uh the experience and then on top of that just the physicality um like you saw tonight me and Pedro were just scrapping and a lot of Jiu-Jitsu guys will just fold under that pressure you don’t see um a lot of you know Jiu-Jitsu is like the gentle art guys come and pull guard and do like Baron bolo and stuff like that um and then if you really start to put the pressure on them and get real physical with them sometimes they’ll Break um but for me obviously I’m used to doing MMA it’s just a a lot harder of a sport another site for you is on the fight best Invitational events and in the fall for ADCC but would you ever dip your toes back into the MMA scene one day I I don’t think so just because um like I’m 31 now and uh my goal before was to fight in the UFC that was like my 100% life’s plan plan I put everything into that and at this point now I’m 2-0 as a pro so realistically if I wanted to make it to the UFC it would take three years of doing like local cards and making like 500 a th000 bucks training full-time it just doesn’t make sense when I have this platform to compete on congratulations thank you thank you guys appreciate it [Music] yeah well is this a first for you guys to be interviewed together like this yes most definitely first do you like it looks good on camera so what do you guys what let me ask instead of what did you think of your match what did you think of your brother’s match each of you I saw Nicki Rod get tired for the first time ever my entire life um yeah I mean very entertaining I think Roberto has a super similar style to me so I was uh just trying to kill Niki Rod every day leading up to this competition for you know his prep um and I feel like I did a good job but yep J Rod spent many hours trying to hurt me and embarrass me in practice and um definitely paid off you know I was prepared for the fight I had intentions of submitting my opponent fairly early like in one or two minutes as Craig Jones did but unfor unfortunately I had a 15-minute war on my hands and um you know I went I wenton in overtime via points but you know I’m a black Bel nowadays and the time for me submitting opponents will be very soon what did you think of your brother’s match did you get to see it I don’t know if you even saw it yep I definitely watched jrod’s match backstage and he looked great you know he was able to um use some tight and loose passing to fatigue his opponent and then uh once his opponent decided the stand with him he was able to hit a duck on there straight to the back and finish via R choke similar to his um similar to his trials match was it semi-finals in in ADCC yeah semi-finals in ADCC trials he hit a duck under to the back and Rene get choke and against a a uh an ibjjf black p world champion in the Gees so that’s a super impressive win you’re talking purple Bel with maybe three years of training against a black bar World Champ that’s like almost unheard of what was the experience like doing this together do you think you’d want to do it again or was it too stressful or uh I always stress out I I stress out watching Niki Rod way more than I am nervous for my own competitions so it’s good that I’m stressed after my own competition like I’m I compete I’m off the mats and then I can worry about Niki Rod but how do you feel about that yeah kind of the same like um I’m not allowed to be emotional when I’m competing for myself so quite emotionless but when he competes I have to like especially if I’m competing on the same day as jrod I have to just like look a little bit and then look away and just really control my emotions um cuz like when if he’s competing and I and I’m not I can fully be like completely engaged and and able to enjoy the moments like when he wins I feel like I feel like I win because you know um obviously we done tons of training together we grew up competing in uh same same middle school same high school and wrestling and stuff and now we’re professional athletes competing on the same team and um uh now we’re keep competing on the same day so it’s uh quite an amazing experience to share something like this with my brother did your mom drank a lot of milk when she was pregnant with the two of you I got the breast milk and uh and jro got the simil act so I think that’s why this is why I’m smaller than Nicki Rod mom did not I’m blaming this on Mom Nikki Rod’s bigger than me because I didn’t get milk straight from the the tit this is the problem he’s I’m 51 he’s 63 230 bro I’m I’m trying out here I hit a nerve it looks like this is a discussion you guys have had before so if you could pick the next match for each other who would you pick for the for your brother uh for for J R I picked um Tian DOL bro I think that’s a phenomenal phenomenal match you know he he just went out there and beat Taza at uh at wo he’s got great accolades and it’s a really tough matchup uh stylistically for for tinan uh I think for Nikki it would be good to see him fight uh marali uh but it’s tough like I maral is like super touch and go like he’s like saying stuff about how he wants to fight Craig first and all this it’s kind of confusing he said he said Niki Rod wasn’t uh like signing the contract or something have you heard anything about this yeah I don’t know what um I don’t know what he was talking about but indeed maybe a year ago um Flo grappling sent me a contract to have a match against maral which I signed and then he all of a sudden backed out so I guess he’s like kind of turning the tables making an imaginary contract saying that I don’t know guy likes to say a lot of words I just want to compete uh let’s show up and get her done that’s all I got to say so is that who you want next then um yeah I mean my goal is to be number one pound– for pound uh in the world so you know I have a list of guys um maral’s on the list um Hugo’s on the list k darte um Mason fower is on the list as well so you know I want all the matches that will make me undeniably the best Grappler in the world besides your brother who had the best and besides yourself who had the best match tonight ah I mean uh Cody’s match I don’t know who he fought but Cody Steel’s match was like super Scrappy that was very entertaining uh and then it’s hard to look past Craig Jones just not having any sort of camp and submitting someone in under two minutes or like around him it’s absurd it’s so frustrating I do so many things right and this guy just shows up and gets it done but yeah cig Jones Cody still very impressive performances I pretty much agree uh yeah Cody a great match and again just to reiterate Craig Jones literally just travels the world for six months agrees to have a match shows up in Vegas submits one of the one of the best Grapplers in his weight class um in under two minutes it is absurd shouldn’t be happening um and I’m quite jealous but great job B Team B team go goes undefeated here at USC fight pass and uh make sure you guys subscribe to our B Team jiujitsu YouTube channel where we put out quality content and uh buy our merch a last question for me when you two are rolling together who wins the most the most rounds I I think we mentioned this before but I try to rip my head off or rip his head off uh every time we train uh and every time it’s unsuccessful um so yeah he wins most of the time honestly I watching Niki Rod’s match tonight was like pretty seemed pretty similar to how uh our rounds go in the training room uh yeah yeah I mean it’s tough rolling with Jay just because we know each other’s game plan like like it’s hard to surprise somebody when you just have hours and hours of training uh with each other so we kind of anticipate you kind of know each other’s game plan uh but yeah it’s always a tough round and yeah for when it comes to my match against Roberto jrod was the absolute best uh training partner in preparation for that match because just he has non-stop move they both have non-stat movement they continuously attacking um and they go from good position to bad position to offensive mode uh constantly so um so yeah it just really helped me prepare for that match and uh you know it was a very hard fault win obviously I won with like six six points to zero but um you know I really wanted the submission unfortunately I didn’t get it but um next time going for the sub thank you Andy thank you Rod this one uh congratulations on on receiving your black Bell it’s it’s been it’s been a few months since you received it I just wanted your know it’s a big deal I just wanted your thoughts on finally receiving it yeah pretty great to receive a black belt in about five years of training Jiu-Jitsu obviously I was a I was a wrestler you know quite a different sport and quite a different lifestyle but um yeah five years of Jiu-Jitsu and I’m officially a black belt under Craig Jones and Nikki Ryan and uh you know it’s a big big name to live up to you know I have a lot of uh students back at home rooting for me looking looking up to us and uh you know I’m a black belt but I still have tons to learn I feel like just nowadays I’m kind of um kind of uh starting to Rebrand myself as not only a wrestler but you know somebody that can pull guard and get on top of of opponents and pass not only with a body lock but like you saw me do some high stepping and some some circling to north south to pass guard today so really trying to implement different techniques and uh you know although I’m at the top of the Spar itself T to learn and um you know I’m just chipping away at that uh the technique aspect obviously I’m athletic and I’m um I’m pretty tenacious out there but uh technique is King and I’m doing my best to get as technical as possible so you going change your nickname to the first degree black belt Hunter yeah that’s what they say uh people are asking me like oh are you still the black belt Slayer or are you just the Slayer I don’t know it is what it is if you’re if I’m a I’m either the black belt Slayer or the Slayer the nty king nowadays some people call me um rodzilla rot lightning it is what it is bro um is ADCC still the plan 8cc double gold absolute weight class and the heavyweight division gold medal as well that’s the that’s the goal and that’s uh that’s what I will acquire this summer congrats man thanks boss you guys just share the stage on the UFC fight past Invitational my question to you guys is is there something left on your guys’ list that you want to share together maybe another card or what would that be both win ADCC medals would be nice um same year would be really cool what about you yeah like he said uh win winning winning simultaneous ADCC Golds as uh as brothers uh in the same year I don’t think that’s been done before um we know the Vos one of the VOS won8 CCC gold and the other one um I believe medal or something like that but uh to have brothers both win gold in the same year that would be absolutely outstanding so that’d be awesome I agreed and just one for you Nicki Rod what do you make of Roberto Jimenez as a competitor seems like you’ve shared some good amount of mat time with him he just never gets out of your face he never quits so what do you make of him as a competitor he’s a very respectable athlete you know like uh obviously I’m a bit bigger than him um and you know he’s been uh doing the sport for quite quite a bit longer than I have and and uh he’s just a very intelligent Grappler he’s offensive and the the best part about him like obviously has a great gas tank but he he uses the gas tank you know what I mean like like he got tired out there but he didn’t quit and same thing with me I got tired but I didn’t quit and and you know it made for fireworks it was a very offensive match in in both directions and uh we got into some Sicky situations and you know we toughed it out and it was quite tiring and I’m just happy I got the my hand raised I’m a bit disappointed I wasn’t able to submit my opponent um but nowadays you know I went from winning previously winning tight matches to now I’m winning in dominant fashion by scoring a lot of points and very soon I’ll be conquering my opponents via submission congratulations you guys thanks he said he talked highly of you all right I take back everything I [Laughter] said so how soon would you like to if let’s say that you get him would you do a camp then or would you still kind of roll in or would it depend on when you get the fight I mean honestly I’d have to put in a pretty good camp for him I mean these guys are quite big you know what I mean like Mar gy weighed I think 232 um levado was 227 me when I’m not on a bender I’m at best 212 you know so it’s like well we’re giving up 20 pounds for these gentlemen so it’ be a tough one to take on any of these big guys would you ask them to cut weight I just ask for more money I think okay I think that’ll sweeten the deal uh last one for me uh just a fun one what’s the biggest problem in Jiu-Jitsu right now uh I mean you guys know when you do an interview you have to listen to these people that’s the biggest problem you know can you be more specific I I always say steroids and autism that’s what our sport is you know that doesn’t settle the public to uh thank you hey Craig uh I heard that there’s this rumor out there that you were the one that stole G Gordon Ryan’s truck is this true absolutely he left it in the driveway he left the keys in the car and he left all his weapons in there he’s going through menopause right now so he’s a bit emotional that’s what lured him down to the southern border he’s very passionate about defending the southern border like most elderly people in America so what what what were your plans with the truck were like did you just want to take it for a day and give it back or were you trying to sell it or what’s up uh I mean he’s a generous guy likes to share a lot of things so he let me just have the truck for a day but obviously I was always gonna give it back to him makes sense um and uh everyone I’ve talked to says that I’m I’m sure you’ve asked about it so many times but you versus Gordon is the biggest match that can be put on right now is that something that’s going to happen at at before you stop grappling I mean who knows we I had a blood pressure reading last week that was through the roof you know you never know when this show is going to end but again if the money’s good for sure I’ll take that match you know obviously I’ll need therapy for the trauma of having to listen to him talk in the pre-fire interviews but if the money’s good I’ll do it is H ADCC something you want to do this year I don’t think so you know what I mean like UFC Fight Pass pays very very well obviously otherwise I would wouldn’t be doing it but ADCC is four matches for the chance of winning $10,000 you know like I’ve gone through a list of things I could sell my underwear and make more money than that I’m selling dick pills on Instagram I make more money than that like they make a lot of money from ticket sales because they post about how many tickets they sell they’re going to sell 18,000 tickets they have streaming right deals with flow grappling they were meant to be on fight they on Flow grappling now it’s like can I have a little bit of money you know like I’ll blow 10K at the Afterparty if I win that thing congrats Craig you’re already in the Vegas steamed outfit so what is your favorite part about Las Vegas probably leaving to be honest that’s probably the biggest Joy is when I realize how much money I’ve spent how bad I feel when I get on that plane I think get me the out of here do do you know when to stop when to stop well I have a flight at 8: a.m. so we got about a 5: a.m. window where we better so up packout bags fair enough good luck thank you what’s your game of choice uh drinking I don’t know obviously there’s a few gentleman’s clubs around here that have robbed me many a time you know we’ve had a few fraud alerts on the card hey Craig uh I’ve covered quite a few boxing shows and some MMA but this was my first Jiu-Jitsu event so I’m a bit unfamiliar with some of the terms can you explain what a nose beer is No Beer mate with that accent you well and truly know what a nose beer is and nobody wears that hat unless they’ve done it for you is is a nose beer a good base for Jiu-Jitsu more so than steroids and autism I mean I said this last week I said I think being gay is the best Bas for Jiu-Jitsu you know but nose beers do quite well give you a bit of confidence before the match [Laughter] thanks