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Robert Drysdale was born in the USA and moved to Brazil with his family at the age of six. As a teenager, Drysdale returned to the USA to attend university in Las Vegas, where he began training in BJJ with the Lewis-Pederneiras (Nova Uniao) association.
It was soon evident that Drysdale was a natural at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was during that time in Las Vegas that he decided he would dedicate himself fully to training, competing and teaching the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
After he returned to Brazil in 2000, where he lived until 2008, Drysdale owned and operated a Jiu-Jitsu Academy in the town of Itu, Sao Paulo. While in Sao Paulo, he trained with the Maromba Club and later with Brasa Jiu-Jitsu Club, an elite team of world-class Jiu-Jitsu fighters that boasts some of the world’s best Black-belts. He trained several times per week with his fellow teammates at Brasa Jiu-Jitsu headquarters in downtown Sao Paulo, and in 2004 received his Black-belt from Leo Viera.
In 2008 Drysdale returned to the USA and is currently teaching and training in Las Vegas, Nevada, home of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the new Mecca for Mixed Martial Arts training.
His cutting-edge technique has been recognised by seasoned fighters from a number of disciplines, which has afforded him opportunities such as coaching Frank Mir’s team on The Ultimate Fighter 8 TV series, personally coaching Mir in Jiu-Jitsu for his UFC fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, training Vitor Belfort for his Affliction match-up against Matt Lindland, and coaching fighters based at Extreme Couture gym.
Drysdale recently took time from his busy schedule to talk to Blitz about these successes:
Rob, firstly thanks for taking the time to talk with us. For those who don’t know Robert Drysdale, can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you started BJJ training in the first place?
Like so many others, it was [because of] Royce Gracie. I saw him fight and thought, ‘Wow, I want to be able to that’. I was about 15 or 16 at the time and living in Brazil, so I went to a class. I will remember it forever because I got to train with a girl about my age and she kicked my butt. She kept getting me in holds that I couldn’t get out of and tapped me out lots of times, even though I was trying as hard as I could. All the guys were laughing at me but that was the start of it; there were no tricks, she just beat me.
From there, I started training with Lewis-Pederneiras, Steve da Silva and then Leo Viera. These guys saw some potential in me and pushed me to train and compete. They put a lot of time into me and with the fact that I loved what I was doing, it was easy to train all the time.
You have an impressive competition record. How important is competition in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
I feel it is crucial. It ties in so many things. You have to worry about the actual fight, the time, the referee, it is all related. In the middle of the fight you have to be able to concentrate and focus. You are doing maths for the points, playing chess and adjusting your strategy all the time.
Do you find that your successes are putting increased pressure on you to perform?
Yeah, there is pressure, but I think that is a good thing. Without a doubt, the heaviest pressure is the one I put on myself. I don’t care if I am fighting in front of my mom and dad or 50,000 people, I am there to win and if I don’t perform, I answer to myself. If you win every fight you think you are perfect, so losing is good for you, because you learn more. The last time I fought Roger Gracie I lost to him. That loss has been my focus and the source of a lot of motivation for me, so the next time we figh, I will beat him.
What defines your style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
I always enjoyed spider-guard. I have long legs so it made sense to fight from there, but it was always my intention to fight MMA, so that game didn’t fit for no-gi [grappling] and MMA so well, so I had to modify the way I fought. I like to submit people and that is my focus when I fight and train. I know it is a bit unconventional, but I will quite often put the submission before the position, but I think that is a product of the quality of my instructors. I trained with guys who had a half-guard I could never pass, so I started to concentrate on finishing them from their half-guard instead.
Jiu-Jitsu, submission-grappling and MMA all seem to be evolving at an extremely fast rate. How do you feel the styles of the current competitors differs from the style’s stalwarts like, Royler, Royce and Rickson Gracie?
It all started with these guys; if they hadn’t done what they did, we wouldn’t be here. They laid the bricks that I walk on today, but I don’t think that much has changed with the style. We have a lot more competitions now but you look at guys like Roger who still finish fights with an arm-bar from the guard or a basic cross-lapel choke. The big difference is the conditioning; fighters are athletes now, as well as martial artists. Five-years ago, no-one did conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu, but now you have to if you want to be competitive.
There seems to be a trend for the grapplers to compete in Mixed Martial Arts. What do you feel is the secret for a successful transition?
A lot of people seem to think that just because you are good at grappling then you will be good at MMA. I don’t think this is true; you have to prepare for what you are fighting and modify your style. You still fight to your strengths though. I do a lot of boxing but I am never going to be a world-class boxer; I want to be able to defend myself enough to use my main skills though. You see a lot of guys that have very good Jiu-Jitsu but it’s very different to be able to use BJJ when you are getting hit, and you have to be used to it. Prepare for it and trust your Jiu-Jitsu.
Having run Jiu-Jitsu schools in both Brazil and the USA, what do you think is the key to effective teaching?
I think you just have to love Jiu-Jitsu. I don’t care what camp you are from — as long as you love the art and are a good guy, I will train with you. I love teaching because when you teach, you learn. It forces you to look at your technique and figure out not only what works, but why.
Your teaching credibility is increasing at an incredible rate. Do you have any comment on your recent work with Frank Mir for his fight against Nogueira or Vitor Belfort?
Firstly, let me say I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to help prepare these guys. It was great fun, but it was also good for my MMA motivation. I trained with them every day and honestly felt that if they could do it, so could I.
How did you feel watching Mir defeat Nog and Vitor’s 32-second KO of Matt Lindland?
Honestly, it was a bit frustrating. They both had great preparation and they were both ready and able to have won the fight on the ground. They did not get to show their full skills. From the corner perspective, when the fight is standing up, the striking coach does the talking, and once it hits the mat, then it was supposed to be my turn — I didn’t get to say anything!
What are your upcoming competition plans?
I am so busy at the moment, I have preparation training camps for ADCC [Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission-wrestling World Championships] and there is next year’s Pan Am’s and Worlds, as well as my next MMA fight to prepare for. On top of that, I am getting a ton of requests to train other fighters and still maintain my school here in Vegas.
Hypothetically, if you could fight in the ADCC against any competitor in history, who would it be and why?
Ha! That is already happening. I am in the superfight in the next ADCC against Roger [Gracie]. That will be great and as for why — he is the best in the world at the moment, so who better to test my skills against?
Lastly, do you have any plans to come to Australia?
Of course, I would love to come down there and I will. It is just a matter of when, but I will make it down. Let me get my fight with Roger out of the way and we will talk.
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