Welcome to ‘The Open GuardCast Jiu-Jitsu Podcast’, which is a project dedicated to promoting jiu-jitsu professionals. Tune in each wk, Wed at 2pm CST, for interviews, & current events 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 the Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Phoenix, AZ.
Recently, we introduced a jiu-jitsu current events portion of the show. This week we were joined by our guest Moses Solis, a brown belt under Jay Pages.
The current BJJ events we discussed were:
1. The role of submission grappling at UFC London — At 0:48
* Muhammad Mokaev (6-0) DEF. Cody Durden (12-4) — At 1:37
* Paul Craig (16-4) DEF. Nikita Krylov (27-9) — At 4:34
* Gunnar Nelson (18-5) DEF. Takashi Sato (16-5) — At 8:44
* Paddy Pimblett (18-3) DEF. Rodrigo Vargas (12-5) — At 11:33
* Tom Aspinall (12-2) DEF. Alexander Volkov (34-10) — At 18:05
2. Debuts of Mica Galvao & Diogo Reis at the Curitiba International IBJJF Open — At 23:51
3. Tainan Dalpra & a potential rematch with Mica Galvao — At 25:47
4. Diogo Reis growth potential — At 26:31
5. Upcoming events — At 28:43
* WNO - Who’s Number One flograppling Event Fri, Mar 25 — At 28:46
* AJP Orlando Event on
Fite.tv Apr, 16 — At 28:59
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Our guest interview this week was with Owen Livesey:
Owen is a black belt in judo & a gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games representing England. He’s also a jiu-jitsu brown belt, highly respected coach & instructor. He discussed his judo background, his super fight matches with GrappleFest and Polaris, and his recent instructionals on the ‘Grapple Club’ & ‘Jiu-Jitsu X’ platforms. — At 30:08
Q1: How did you get started in judo and what were you doing in sports before you started judo? — At 30:48
Q2: Are there any other judo players you can think of that crossed over to jiu-jitsu successfully? — At 34:52
Q3: What was it like training with Kayla Harrison, did you get to do any live rounds with her? — At 38:26
Q4: Do you remember when you made the decision to focus on no-gi jiu-jitsu competition rather than judo? — At 40:24
Q5: What was it like to be at such a high level in your sport but not be supported by your country you were representing? — At 48:05
Q6: How would you compare the process and types of sponsorships that are available for jiu-jitsu competition and the type of support you can get from the jiu-jitsu community vs what you could get when you were in judo? — At 52:41
Q7: What do you think the growth prospects are for jiu-jitsu? How do you see the sport just in terms of making a living as a competitor? Do you see a future where you can earn a living without opening a school and survive off of competing and winning big prize money? — At 57:16
Q8: Is my research correct that you have an MMA record of 2-0 but no record of any amateur fights? — At 59:45
Q9: MMA is not something you are looking to get back into or have any sort of career in? — At 1:01:41
Q10: With both of your recent instructionals what were your goals with them and what you felt like you could add to the jiu-jitsu community from your judo and wrestling experience? — At 1:04:20
Q11: Now that athletes are being forced to wrestle & do takedowns more often – we are seeing those skill sets maybe aren’t as highly developed as we thought they were… — At 53:54
Q12: What competitions do you have going forward? — At 1:10:49
You can follow Danny on twitter @DannyOD_BJJ, or insta @dannyod_bjj. The show’s insta is @openguardcast, or the same name on Fb. Owen can be found on insta @owenlivesey & the gym is @carlsongraciehull.
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VIDEO BROADCAST of the show via BE YT:
https://youtu.be/j8Pn_snJBQ4