Welcome to the debut episode of ‘The Open GuardCast Jiu-Jitsu Podcast’, which is a project dedicated to promoting jiu-jitsu professionals. Tune in each week, usually Wed. at 2pm CST, for interviews, current events, & analysis of everything going on in the world of jiu-jitsu and submission grappling! Your host is Danny O’Donnell. In addition to hosting this podcast, he is an MMA journalist contributing here at Bloody Elbow, as well as at 'Black Belt Mag'. O’Donnell himself is a BJJ black belt who trains at Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Phoenix, AZ. We are debuting the show at ‘Episode 121’, since we are picking up the pod which has already been running awhile now under its own steam. Over time, we will have all previous 120 episodes uploaded into our OGC Playlist. This week, Danny’s guest is Professional Jiu-Jitsu Athlete, Rene Lopez, who competes in the Light FW Division, & recently placed third at the Worlds 2021. At 0:58 — Q1: Can you talk about your preparation for the Worlds and just how your matches went? At 2:22 — Q2: How heavy did you get (prior to your latest training camp — during quarantine)? At 3:37 — Q3: Maybe you could talk about (your match with Malachi Edmond) & some of the other matches that were memorable for you from Worlds this year? At 7:16 — Q4: Is it any different preparing for those tournaments having all those miles on your body? At 9:40 — Q5: What advice would you give to someone who maybe starts at their mid-twenties, but they still want to be an elite competitor? At 11:08 — Q6: Can you talk about how you first got interested in the sport, and what it was like when you started? At 12:51 — Q7: Other than the Mendes brothers, do you remember who else some of the big influences on you were, when you were like white through purple belt? At 15:05 — Q8: Who else were the competitors that you liked to watch, outside those guys (you just mentioned)? Was there anyone who really inspired you? Maybe like in the next generation after Cobrinha? At 16:11 — Q9: Do you remember ever thinking like at a certain point in time, “I want to take this seriously, I want to be a professional and I want to compete as much as I can?” At 18:38 — Q10: What were some of the challenges after you decided to compete and do the sport more professionally, like financially, was it difficult for you to find a way to live your life and pay your bills? At 20:36 — Q11: What advice would you give for someone who is trying to find the right training environment for them, one that they can train at long term and really grow into their abilities? At 22:28 — Q12: What kind of environment do you want to create for your students? What are some of your long term goals with your Academy? At 26:15 — Q13: What was your opinion on how the jiu-jitsu scene shifted after the pandemic to a more super fight approach and less tournaments? At 27:37 — Q14: What are some of the things you like about the IBJJF Rule Set & is there anything you would change if you had the ability to do that? At 29:40 — Q15: Do you see yourself ever doing an ADCC Style tournament or any No-Gi Who’s Number One (WNO) style tournaments? Is that one of your goals? You can follow Danny on his brand new twitter — @DannyOD_BJJ, or he can be found on instagram — @dannyod_bjj. The show’s insta is @openguardcast, it can also be found on Facebook. Be sure to tune in for next week’s show, and learn more about the world of jiu-jitsu, on Wed, Feb 2nd, at 2:00pm CST. If you enjoy our shows, give us a “heart”, share & subscribe on whichever BE Presents Podcast Channel happens to be your listening platform of choice: YouTube, iTunes & Apple TV, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to Bloody Elbow Presents; that way you’ll always be the first to get all of BE’s daily MMA offerings. For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on all of our BE Presents channels.