Submission Fighter Magazine
Interview With: Paulo Guillobel

So do you ever wonder who may be the next big star, guy or girl, in Jiu Jitsu? Who is the black belt that is going to set the record for the quickest submission or the most technical? Well as I sat and watched this Jiu Jitsu player from the RCJ Machado's at a no gi tournament I knew I was seeing one of those guys. Paulo pulled off a flying triangle from the guard and was able to secure it and the armbar to win the match. I know stuff like this only happens in the movies (smile) so I sought out Paulo to see what his secrets were. What he told me kind of surprised me and I hope you get something out of reading his interview the way I did talking to him.

SF: I'm here with Paulo Guillobel out of the RCH Machado in Torrence. How long have you been training with the Machados?

PG: I have been training with the Machados for one year and eight months. My whole life I have been with Rigan's coach and one of his instructors. And it's almost basically the same family. I know Rigan, Jean-Jacques, Johnny, Carlos, and Roger since I started Jiu-Jitsu.

SF: How long has that been?

PG: Fourteen years ago.

SF: Holy cow! How old are you now?

PG: I'm 27. The reason I came to the United States is to improve my training with Rigan, I knew he was an amazing coach, also Jean-Jacques. I came over here to improve my Jiu-Jitsu and train hard and get more wrestling skills for no-gi tournaments, for vale tudo, for gi tournaments and all kinds of tournaments.

SF: Are you thinking of going to No Holds Barred, vale tudo?

PG: Sure, I'm looking forward to that. First, I'm waiting for a good time to start training hard for it. I have been training, but not that hard. Right now, I'm teaching and training. But when I find a good competition to go to, then three months before I'll start training. I don't know which one I'll go for sure. It can be king of the Cage, the UFC, or also in Japan. I have to see if someone wants me to go over there, how to set it up, and then see about my plans.

SF: What makes you want to go to NHB?

PG: First, I have done it before in Brazil, and I won. And all my life I have liked this kind of fight. If you are a fighter, it gives you and edge on the competition. Like, if you're a surfer, you go surfing in Hawaii. If you're a fighter, you need to do No Holds Barred, right? That's why I came. I think that's a major task for a fighter. The reason I want to do this is to make it one of my styles of competition. I can make this my focus.

SF: Incorporate everything then, gi, no-gi, NHB, everything?

PG: Basically, if I want to go NHB, I'll go straight to NHB. But never forget about the gi and the no-gi. I plan to go to Abu Dhabi. I think Abu Dhabi is going to be every two years. The next one will be in 2003.

SF: Is it going to be every two years? Is that what they are saying?

PG: Yes, that's what I think.

SF: You are going to go in two years?

PG: No, no. The Abu Dhabi is going to be in two years. That's what Rigan was telling me about. That's a shame.

SF: I wonder why.

PG: I don't know why either.

SF: You competed in the last Machado tournament about a month ago. You did very well. You pulled off a technique from the guard; you actually pulled a flying triangle from the guard. How did you do that? I mean it was amazing.

PG: Basically I was straining over here at the academy and one day I just saw the possibility to do this position. When the guy is in my guard, sitting in front of me and with arms straight, the guy has a good guard; with the no-gi you spend a lot of time passing the guard. The time that I was fighting that guy, his guard was a tough guard. I felt the guy had a sharp triangle, long legs and all of this. I thought it would be better to stand up. I stood up one time, he went for the right position I was expecting and then I just jumped into the triangle. I was training to sometimes jump to the triangle and sometimes jump straight to the mount. Depends on the position of the other guy. I feel like the position came naturally. I haven't seen this position before, either. Sometimes, I have an idea, when I have a technique, and long time experience, you can create a lot of things. Jiu-Jitsu gives you the chance to do that, different from the other martial arts. You have a couple things to do that you have to do good which means you can't create and go to something else. With Jiu-Jitsu you can, because you fight on the ground. You have better mobility, better motion. You can do whatever depending on if your body can handle it or not. This flying triangle was adapted from the triangle and from the jump to the mount, going over the legs and I felt this was a good position for this. And I did it.

SF: Pulled it off.

PG: Basically. Over here I was submitting guys from this position at the academy. It was an expected position and I had it in my drills.

SF: So you expected to do that? You expected to pull that off?

PG: Yes, I had this factor of surprise for this one, if I really needed that. I was trying to pass the guard. If I had the possibility to pass the guard, I would for sure go straight to the side-control and then to the mount. But sometimes the guy gives you the chance to do something quicker and finish the fight right over there. That's why I think you have to look for quicker submissions. When I fight I think about that. When I fight I don't think about points. I think about submissions. If I didn't submit the guy, the victory is not the same.

SF: That's kind of the philosophy of my teacher, to go for submission not points. And it seems a lot of tournaments go that way.

PG: We teach like this. We teach during the training to go for submissions. When you are trained to go for the submission, go after the submissions, you develop your submission. Know what I mean? Like different kinds of setups, and different kinds of positions, you can create positions because you're looking for that. But when you go to a competition, you also have to worry about the points because whoever gets the most points is going to be the one who is going to win. Basically, during the training, the whole year we are thinking about the submission. But closer to the tournament, we start thinking about both ways, to get points and to submit. You're already sharp on the submission part because you have been training that. And then you adapt your game a little bit to do both. Go for the points, but looking with your other eye for the submission. First make your points, and then the submission. If you lose in the fight, go after the submission. If you feel the chance for a submission, go for the submission. That makes the fight fun to watch.

SF: Are you planning on opening a school out here?

PG: No. My plans here are to work with Rigan. Rigan's my coach and I'm under him. Wherever he goes, I go with him. Right now, I'm in Torrence and Pasadena, because Rigan has two schools. I don't plan to open an academy with my name because I feel good with the way I am right now.

SF: That's amazing, because a lot of people would sit there and say yeah, I want to open my won academy. I want to get this going on my own, do my own thing, and want to make my own name. That's actually very humbling.

PG: I believe I'm going to make my name fighting. I don't care about making my name teaching. Before I'm an instructor, I'm a fighter. And the closer I am to my coach, the better. I don't want to go open an academy and be away from my training. Think about raising my name and be a good instructor. For sure I have my students over here. They know what kind of class I give. But I came over here to add to the academy and tat the same time we work like a team. The Machados are the guys that teach me, who give me the chance to know and give me their knowledge. I think the best I can do is stay with them.

SF: That's really good. Like I said, a lot of guys would jump at the chance to go open their own school. I feel the same way though. I've been with Pedro Carvalho for three years and I would never leave him. He will always be my instructor, no matter what. That's the way I feel. Even if I were a black belt, I would stay with him. It's good to know someone else feels that way too. What exactly are you looking at doing? I know you want to do NHB. You want to do Abu Dhabi. You're competing in the next Machado tournament.

PG: My goal is to compete in every tournament. I'm going to compete at the Machados. I'm also going to compete at the Pan Americans. If I have to go to Brazil, I'm going to compete n the Mundial. The more I compete, the better for me. I can compete every week and be the happiest guy in the world. But of course, if you go NGB, you cannot compete every week. It has to be at least every two or three months because you need the time to train again and to recuperate.

SF: That's really a main focus for you now, is the NHB? You said you fought in Brazil, right?

PG: Yes. I fought in Brazil once. There was a tournament over there and I won. I had one fight and one victory.

SF: Was it a tough fight? What was the fight like?

PG: It was a difficult style. The guy was a good boxer, but didn't know grappling. Once I put the guy on the ground it was kind of easy. That's how Jiu-Jitsu is. Right now, at least in Japan and the United State, people know a little bit of everything. It's harder. You need to be more prepared. You go over there with your Jiu-Jitsu but you are going to fight a wrestler who knows how to prevent Jiu-Jitsu. You go to shoot a guy that knows how to prevent that, you have to be twice prepared. Good in standing, good in punching, good on the ground and takedowns. I'm not a good kicker and never will be. My goal is to be good in boxing and wrestling. Whatever I do, just be sharp.

SF: I'm not a good kicker either. Striking, ok but kicking, I kick like a girl. When do you want to try to go into NHB? I didn't expect this out of you. This is the one thing I wasn't expecting. I expected you to go straight sport. Paulo this is incredible.

PG: When? I think the end of this year. I am going to see if I have some competition over there, go to King of the Cage.

SF: Can they always reach you here at the Machado academy if they wanted to get a hold of you? Is that the best way to get a hold of you?

PG: Sure. I'm always here.

SF: Is this the only thing you do then? You just straight train Jiu-Jitsu and teach Jiu-Jitsu or do you have another job outside of this?

PG: No. Just Jiu-Jitsu.

SF: Must be good to do what you love to do.

PG: Sometimes good, sometimes hard when you have to teach the whole day and your body needs to recuperate. And I have to train. It's not that fun. You get tired physically and mentally.

SF: What about nutrition?

PG: I'm 27 now. Since I was 16 I have been doing a special diet. For eleven years. I cut out red meat. I eat it once every two or three months. I stick with fish, chicken breasts, and more fish. I don't eat sugar, yellow cheese, or juice. I called it a little bit, not completely the Gracie diet developed by Carlos Gracie. But not the whole thing. I want to do the whole thing, but there are a couple of things I want to mix better. Sometimes I mix a couple of foods that you can't with this diet. Basically, I don't eat yellow cheese, milk, sugar, don't mix acid fruits with food. But sweet fruits I will mix. I would like to have a Superman diet like protein every day because your body needs a lot of protein. And when you don't eat red meat, you need this protein.

SF: What do you weigh in when you fight?

PG: 170. I want to get to at least 175. But right now I'm 170. I got stuck. I eat a lot, but when I'm training I do a lot of cardio and that doesn't give me the chance to gain weight. Right now I'm focusing on my endurance. I want to make my endurance 100% and to get ready for all kinds of tournaments.

SF: What do you do to train for your endurance?

PG: I mix things. Like every day I do a cardio, but every day a different thing. I never repeat what I do. One day I run, the next day I ride bike, the next I swim, the next day I run on a treadmill, and the next day I dot the stair stepper. And then I come back to the first one. Doing it like that you are working your whole muscles. And at the same time, working different things. Your body becomes addicted to that thing, you're working it, everything, different reactions to everything. At the same time, it's a different kind of workout; every day pushes you more and more. I try to go at least 30 minutes and maximum 45. And that's always after the workout, lifting weights and everything. Sometimes after training, because to work the cardio after things, works like acid.

SF: I look forward to seeing you in the next tournament. Are you looking for a super fight?

PG: No, no. Next, I go into division. I like the division better. In the division, you fight more. Super fights, you only fight once. I want to go to fight. I want to compete for five or more if possible. I always go and put my name in the division and maybe sometimes in the open division. The reason I didn't put my name in the last open division, because everybody went out.

SF: Because everybody knew you were going to be there.

PG: Nobody gave any importance to the open. Said ok I'm not going to fight it. Just the skinny guys fought in the open. It was funny. Maybe the next one I'll fight the open, just so I can fight more. Like I fought three times this time, if I put my name in the open at the next one I can fight like six.

SF: I'll definitely be looking for you next time. Than you Paulo, I appreciate it.

PG: Thank you.