Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
This is the official podcast of the Bulletproof For BJJ movement. Hosted by JT & Joey. Each episode the founders break down problems that Jiu-jitsu people experience, giving guidance and tips to improve your training for BJJ. With the goal of helping every body on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu path reduce their chance of injury, improve their strength and mobility to become more resilient.
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Adele Fornarino: The Next ADCC Champion!
Have you heard of Adele Fornarino? She is shaping up to be Australia's first ever ADCC Champion! In this very honest chat JT goes deep with Adele on all things, competition, training and the ADCC. She came to BJJ early in life at the age of 10 years old. It was a total accident! From what it took to become a competitor, coming up as feather weight girl and just wanting to punch on! Her competitive spirit has taken her to the top of the World Championship podium and she reveals the hard decisions she has had to make to become 1 of the Best in the world. She also opens up about what it is like to travel and train as a jiu-jitsu professional and just what it takes to make that dream a reality.
From being the smallest person on the mat to dealing with pressure of big matches Adele shares her mental approach to BJJ and staying focused. JT and Bulletproof for BJJ has programmed Adele's Strength and Conditioning program in her lead up to the ADCC and she let's us all know that she is coming for the Gold with Big Daddy Energy!
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A good martial artist does not become tense but ready. Essentially, at this point the fight is over.
Speaker 2:So you pretty much flow with the goal.
Speaker 1:Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power. I'm ready. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another Bulletproof for BJJ podcast. I am JT and I'm here with the grand champ, the big daddy, adele Fornerino. Welcome, adele. Round of applause.
Speaker 2:What's going on, jt? How you doing man.
Speaker 1:Adele, I'm so happy to have you here and for those of you who don't know, this is round two Because this was not recording. But here we are. Let's keep the enthusiasm. I bet she's had a chance to warm up. It's bright and early in the UK.
Speaker 2:Yeah, catching me before my morning coffee.
Speaker 1:It's tough. It's tough, you know, but I'm on my 20th coffee so I hope to share the energy with you.
Speaker 2:I think the caffeine is coming through the screen right now.
Speaker 1:I'm doing my best, I'm trying to radiate, I think for anyone out there. If you have never heard of Adele Fornerino, you're crazy. You have clearly not been paying attention. And really Adele is someone who I have admired. You know, I've admired actually since I've seen you, since you were really young, actually just killing it, and I'm like who's that girl? Who's that girl just kicking ass. And I think for people out there if they don't know, I want to just quickly do a little summary of some of your achievements. Obviously not all of them, because we've only got so much time on this podcast, but I think what really stood out to me was Brown Belt no Gi Worlds like that. I was like whoa, all right, here we go paying attention now. And also I mean silver in the Gi at the Brasileiro, which I think is an Australian first. I don't think any other Australian woman has achieved that.
Speaker 2:I don't think any other Australian woman. I think that there is a silver medal or a bronze medal sitting around in the males division somewhere. I remember somebody telling me about it, but I can't, for the life of me, remember the name.
Speaker 1:Hodgkinson, I think may have got bronze or silver at the Brasilaria, but don't worry about that guy, let's worry about you. Silver at Black Belt, no-gi worlds, which is epic, and then also Grapple Fest champion, pan Am's gi champion, euro no-gi champion. And all these achievements you, you know so early in your career. I mean, it was your um debut year, right? 2023, is that right?
Speaker 2:yeah, 2023 was my debut year. So I received my black belt at the very end of uh 2022, so in december 2022. So 2023 was my debut year and you know I wanted to hit the ground running on that and hit as many competitions as I could. And you know, I wanted to be a part of the Gi season, wanted to be a part of the no Gi season. But no, I was very happy with my debut year, you know, had a very good run, had a lot of success through that. But you know, for me it feels like I'm only at the very beginning. I'm only at the very start of my career. You know, I was lucky that I got into jiu-jitsu quite young, so I started jiu-jitsu when I was, you know, 10 years old. I've been training consistently through that time. So by the time I got to my black belt I was kind of ready and raring to go to hit that black belt scene. But it's definitely just the tip of the iceberg right now.
Speaker 1:Definitely just the beginning. I guess the the really exciting thing is I mean, you've you've had so much success and you're just getting started, but, uh, without jumping ahead, the under 55 kilo category at the adcc, that's, that's, that's something to look forward to right here, that's, that's coming right absolutely it's.
Speaker 2:It's an absolutely stacked division, you know it's. We knew that the the female divisions were going to be we're going to be very good and going to be we'll have a lot of talent in there and have a lot of depth in there. But you know, definitely this 55 division is like full of amazing talent, like end to end. You know we have the best girls in the world at those weight classes in there. But it's a stacked division. There's so many different styles in that division. There's so many you know different generations almost in that division Got Bia, who's a little bit, who's been around for a little bit longer than you know myself, or you know Jasmine or Alex Enriquez. So there's very interesting possible matchups to come in that division.
Speaker 1:So exciting, but I do want to go back. I want to go back in time, back to the start, because whenever I speak to any person who loves jiu-jitsu, who's dedicated their life to jiu-jitsu, they always have an origin story and even though you might have told it before, um, I would love you to share it with our listeners. How did you get started in this crazy thing?
Speaker 2:for me it was. It was just pure luck, like I, I didn't know instantly that I wanted to do jiu-jitsu, wanted to be an athlete, for that matter. Um, I so, when I was like nine or 10 years old, I made the decision that I was going to grow up and I was going to be a police officer. Um, so I wanted to kind of do everything I could to prepare myself so that by the time I was, you know, actually an adult, that I'd be the best police officer that there ever was. So I made the decision that I was going to, you know, start learning laws and things like that. Part of that was I was going to do a martial art. So I would have 10 years to get really good at that martial art so that I could use it later on in life.
Speaker 2:And it just so happened that jujitsu was the closest gym to me. Like a jujitsu gym was the closest gym, and that's why I picked jujitsu. It had nothing to do with actual research on what martial art was good or what martial art was this or that. If a Krav Maga place was closer, I probably would have done Krav Maga. If a karate place was closer, I probably would have done karate, but jiu-jitsu just happened to be the closest place and I was really lucky that I walked into a gym.
Speaker 1:I walked into dominance and dc was there and he was the kids coach at the time and he was just an amazing coach. He was incredible. I mean great coach, but incredible yeah absolutely so.
Speaker 2:He he definitely like piqued my interest and kept me engaged and kept me loving it, and to this day, you know, one of the first things he taught me was an armbar from close guard, and something that I remember to this day is a is an armbar from closed guard, and something that I remember to this day is an armbar from closed guard, and it hasn't really changed that much between then and now. Um, and I was, you know, I was motivated to to train as much as I could. At the time I was probably one of the only girls in the class so I wanted to beat up all the boys. I wanted to, you know, be the best in the class, doesn't matter, like if there's girls or boys, I just wanted to kind of beat everybody.
Speaker 2:But I remember when I first started I had no idea what jiu-jitsu was. I was asking DC every second day when we were going to start hitting things and when we were going to start taking the pads out and do more like Muay Thai and boxing and things like that. But he would always be like oh, it's not really that kind of martial arts, but maybe one day we'll get somebody in and you can hit some pads, but yeah, that's. That's pretty much the origin story.
Speaker 1:It's pure luck yeah, and I think that's. That is the thing for many people in jiu-jitsu like their friend took them along and they actually didn't intend to start and then their friend quit and they stayed, or like yeah, exactly galini, she just wanted to fight. She's a feisty human and so, yeah, it was like how can I learn to fight? You know, like she was just down to get after it, you know.
Speaker 2:So yeah, absolutely that's so cool and so for yourself.
Speaker 1:At what point? Because I know that you did play football, like soccer, and at what point in your journey did you go? I'm going to do this Like I want to be a champion. Let's go at this 100%. When did that kind of come to you?
Speaker 2:Well, like I was very lucky as a kid, my parents kind of let me do any sport that I wanted to do. So when I was younger I started doing swimming and then I did tennis and then I did AFL for a little bit and then I got quite heavy into soccer. It was kind of like if my brother did it, then I wanted to do it as well, kind of thing. But for the first little bit of my jiu-jitsu training I was doing soccer and jiu-jitsu at the same time and I like could balance both, could juggle both. But then it became like I wanted to do more jiu-jitsu. So I was dropping soccer training sessions to do jiu-jitsu and I was pretty much only playing on the weekends rather than actually doing the training sessions leading up to the matches on the weekends, which most of the most of the girls in the actual team didn't really appreciate. They wanted me to be coming to the training sessions if I was going to play.
Speaker 2:But I I feel like I just I got more enjoyment out of jujitsu than I did out of soccer.
Speaker 2:I really liked doing the soccer matches but didn't want to do the training for soccer and that became a little bit unfair for some of the girls, um, but around about I want to say 14, maybe 15, when I, when I properly started competing, started doing things like local national competitions and started traveling around Australia a little bit more. I think that was kind of the tipping point for me, that that I wanted to take it a little bit more seriously and, and you know, compete more regularly and train up for those competitions. So soccer definitely took a step in the back burner. But by the time I was 16 and I went to my first world championships as a blue belt to do geek world championships as a juvenile and I came back and I won that and I just saw how big jiu-jitsu was in America. That was the tipping point for me of I'm going to commit everything to this, I'm going to train as much as I can because I want to be back at these major events and, you know, win these major events again.
Speaker 1:but that was that was when I made that decision of like I'm gonna go full pelt into jiu-jitsu yeah, that's awesome and I mean, goodness, some people make that kind of a decision without winning any kind of a championship. So I mean, looks like there was some evidence for you to be confident that you could do well at this thing, and so you trained under DC. But you also trained with Link and Dave Hart is your coach.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know.
Speaker 1:Dave. Well, and the Dominance crew shout out Dominance, mma, absolutely. You have also trained at when you're training internationally. You've trained at AOJ, but you are now you do your camps and training at Atos. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yes, yep, if you guys are watching the video, you do your camps and training at Atos, is that right? Yes, yep, if you guys are watching the video, you may see a window cleaner that's going to pop his head down in a minute if you see it in the background. That's what happens in London. This is live people. I picked the one day where they're cleaning the windows outside, but you may get a special guest from a window cleaner.
Speaker 1:It's live action. This is real. It's not exactly.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, so for me, I spent a lot of time in america. I spent a lot of time competing in america, I spent a lot of time training in america. So I wanted to find kind of a little bit of a home base here in america where I could consistently be coming back to a gym and a space that number one, like I could, I could, uh, have a good relationship with the team there and the coaches there. So, um, I could, you know, give to that community and not just take from that community, but also, like the training's fantastic overseas. The training's really good because they've they've had jiu-jitsu for a little bit longer they have access to those really high level athletes there. Um, I did try out aoj and had a really, you know, great experience with um, with their competition crew. They're very, very good at what they do, very, very technically proficient um.
Speaker 2:But I think I spent some time at Atos before my brown belt worlds and really enjoyed the style of competition training that they did and just the overall culture at Atos. I think that they train very hard. They know how to train very hard, they know how to get work done, but they also know how to enjoy the process, how to have fun when they're on the mats, how to socialize with each other, and I really enjoyed that aspect to training as well. I train jiu-jitsu because I love jiu-jitsu. I train jiu-jitsu because it makes me happy, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just somewhere that would make me a good competitor, but also somewhere where I actually properly enjoyed my time, and Atos definitely was that space for me. I like the vibes there and I really like the crew there yeah, awesome, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know, I've spoken to many people who've trained there. Um, I I haven't trained there, but I definitely intend to sometime in the you know near future. I always had jt, you'd love it there, man always good vibes well, I'm not, I'm good, I'm good friends with Josh Hinger, you know, and you know, obviously I've got massive respect for Master Andre Galvão.
Speaker 1:You know he's a legend in the game and you know they've generated so many champions from that team since even the early days when Atos was back in Brazil, you know. But um, today's episode is brought to you by Parry Athletics. They are our preferred apparel sponsor. They've been sponsoring the show for some time now and they do the best gear in the game. They do the best training shorts for the gym or on the mats and they always have awesome designs for all of their custom rash guards.
Speaker 1:Now, if you would like to get yourself some Parry Athletics gear, we can get you 20% off when you use the code bulletproof 20. That's right, folks. You get 20 off when you use the code bulletproof 20. Get some you. Can you talk to me a little bit about, because this is maybe something that most people are not necessarily aware of? You are, you know, one of the smaller people on the map and there are some big monsters at that gym, at many gyms as, yes, if you're an under 55 kilo human, male or female, you know you're on the smaller side. How have you, how have you found your experience, not only as a female jiu-jitsu person, but a smaller human on the mat. How have you found that? Have you found?
Speaker 2:your competitive nature has allowed you to overcome obstacles or like what's it been like for you I think for me like definitely the competitive nature that I have yeah, definitely like the competitive nature that I have um makes me push a little bit harder, like I, I don't like winning, I don't like, sorry, losing exchanges because, and I don't like having that excuse of oh, I'm smaller, um, I, for most of my jiu-jitsu journey, I've had to focus a lot on technique because I couldn't overcome people with strength, I couldn't overcome people with size. So I think that being a smaller competitor makes, like, forces you to be more technical, forces you to look at jiu-jitsu a different way, to get a little bit more creative with the movements that you're using. You know, utilize levers a little bit better, utilize like framing a little bit better. Utilize levers a little bit better, utilize like framing a little bit better. Um, and I, like I'm I'm kind of, in that way, grateful that I am smaller and and for most of my jiu-jitsu journey, was the smallest person on the mat because I had to get creative. I was forced to get creative and that, in turn, has led to like in what I feel is is quite technical jiu-jitsu, um, and now I'm at the stage where I don't feel a need to roll with people significantly bigger than me anymore. I feel like, especially because I have such a jam-packed competition calendar in a year.
Speaker 2:I just don't take risks to get injured. I don't feel the need to humble the 120 kilo white belt male that's just stepped on the mat. I don't feel a need to do that anymore. I probably did do that quite a bit when I was like a blue and a purple belt, just to kind of you know, show these guys that smaller females could definitely beat them up. But I don't feel I need to do that kind of stuff anymore. So I'm definitely a little bit more picky with the partners that I choose. I don't risk injury but, um yeah, I think there's so much benefit of being a smaller person on the mat. I think that in the long run, in the short run it can be really frustrating because you're just getting manhandled all the time, but in the long run it pays off because I think you come out the other side of that having really good technical jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, that's like a really that's a cool perspective. Yeah, I love that. And so how has your preparation been? Because obviously I've chatted to you a fair bit on and off over the last kind of 12 months or so, looking at your prep and what you're doing and just asking you questions and seeing what's going on. How do you feel coming into this ADcc, which is only you know what, four weeks away?
Speaker 2:I feel very good. I feel like this is a very different version of me coming into this adcc compared to coming into the last adcc. I feel like the last adcc in 2022, I was very much just happy to be a part of the show, happy to be there there, happy to be experiencing those things. Um, I think I was enjoying all the cameras and all the lights and the stadium and all that kind of stuff and just being in the same room as some of these high level girls and guys, you know, being in the warmup room and seeing all these incredible athletes. I was kind of taken aback about seeing these people that I watched and have been watching for years and years.
Speaker 2:But I didn't go into ADCC in 2022 with the idea that I was coming out a champion. I didn't truly kind of feel that I was at that level. Yet I definitely had a lot of self-doubt, definitely didn't have a comparison to make because I'd never actually rolled with or competed against any of these girls on this level. You know I was 22 at the time, I was brown belt, um, but compared like then to now, I've had the experience on the mat with these girls. I've had the exposure to these high level competitions, these like having an audience like that. I've had experience to traveling and competing, things like that, so I definitely think that I'm coming in a better athlete, I'm coming in more confident, I'm coming in with more expectations of myself, knowing that I am at the level with these girls and knowing that I can come out of this competition with a, with a gold medal, and maybe even think about jumping into the absolute and trying to double gold with that medal and maybe even think about jumping into the absolute and trying to double gold with that.
Speaker 2:You're not here to take part, you're here to take over.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go exactly got that, got that daddy energy. That's what I'm talking about exactly, man, exactly. That's the way and so you recently were on who's number one? Uh, against a very tough opponent who maybe people might have overrated compared to you. Maybe you know. Talk to me about that experience and talk to me about all of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like I definitely was not the favorite coming into that match from all the things that I saw kind of outwardly on social media. I try not to look at that kind of stuff. I try not to look at betting odds or, you know, when people put polls up on Instagram stories I try my best not to, but curiosity sometimes gets the better of me. But I definitely, you know, outwardly, wasn't coming into that match as the favorite but knew that I backed myself in the sense of I know that my jiu-jitsu is good but I also know what and how to win some of those matches. We did our research, we kept an eye on what strategies we could implement to come out on top. We knew that it was going to be really hard to make her want to engage. It was hard to make her want to do jiu-jitsu and that's, I think, what was so frustrating. And internally I was quite frustrated at that because I just wanted to have an interesting match.
Speaker 2:You know, with events like who's Number One, it's not about just winning, it's about putting on a performance for the audience. People are paying for the stream, people are paying to to sit there and watch these matches. So it's very much about like make it interesting for the guys that are there, um, but it's really hard to. It's really hard to do things like that when the other person's not wanting to engage, not wanting to to do jiu-jitsu, but wanting to kind of scrape by on a win, um. So we knew that it was going to be difficult going in. I think the main thing for us was just not to get frustrated and to stay quite like calm and composed and just kind of stick to the course, stick to the game plan, and then that was gonna, that was gonna, uh you know, result in us taking home the win yeah, and so it was a, so you kind of went very different match to the other one you kind of went in for like a mini scissors takedown kind of deal, Like that was fucking cool.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about that.
Speaker 2:We had to get creative on just how to force engagements, especially with the standing engagements. She just didn't really want to come in. She was like going arm drag to kicking at my ankle to try and foot sweep and it just wasn't. She just wasn't engaging. So I'm like, well, I have to get creative.
Speaker 2:I did ask, so galvao and brianna were brianna saint marie, um, who's an absolutely amazing competitor but an absolutely amazing corner as well, just, you know, an all-around good human. So definitely a massive shout out to her. Um, she is one of, I think, one of the best competitors in the world. Gi Annogi, I think that you know she's definitely a good shot at her ADCC performance this year. But I had Brianna.
Speaker 2:I asked Brianna to go ask the referees just to double, triple, quadruple, check that. You know, flying scissor takedowns were legal about 10 minutes before I actually got out to the mat. So I kind of thought about it. I'm like, oh, if she doesn't engage, I'm just going to, I'm just going to go for it, I'm just going to see, see if we can get a scissor takedown, see if we can just force some kind of engagement.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, midway through the match she wasn't engaging, she was standing, so I was just trying to, you know, get my timing right on. Didn't get super deep on it. I wish that. You know I've got a little higher up on her knee, but she's a little bit shorter than me so it was difficult to get underneath, um, but sometimes you just got to pull the trigger on things like that. Sometimes it's. It's just a bit of fun to get out there and try different things, but it it was, it was a last minute little addition to the strategy no, that's cool, you've got to just go for it, right, and I think that's that's an amazing thing.
Speaker 1:Uh, that's something I admire about you, um, that you just you just fucking go for it, man. And that's like if we look at your adcc trials, uh, run, you know, you're just fucking jumping on shit, like you're like give me that back, give me that. Oh, come here, like you, just just like you know what I mean, and that's, that's, that's fearless, like that's. You want to see that. And so I think that's another reason for, at least from my perspective, why people are excited to see you is because of that.
Speaker 2:So I think sometimes you just got to back yourself in those exchanges Always a hundred percent back yourself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Do you think that there may be an opportunity for you for more super fights on different organizations or cards?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think that. I think that right now the focus is definitely ADCC and off the back end of ADCC I'll be a little bit more active on some other super fight cards as well. Um, you know, we've got some things, we've got some things in the work, we've got some things happening behind the scenes to organize later on this year. But you'll definitely be seeing me on on some other fight cards, maybe some other rule sets, maybe some other countries as well. Um, you know, showcasing the same kind of dangerous jiu-jitsu that I like to be showcasing. I think my favorite style of rule set is the submission only. I think it works really well for my style of jiu-jitsu. I like submissions. My game is very submission-orientated, so my whole thing is wanting to finish matches and wanting to give the audience interesting matches. But there'll be some fight card announcements coming pretty soon.
Speaker 1:Cool, so potentially a bit of a Misa revenge match.
Speaker 2:What are we thinking here? It's always close man.
Speaker 1:We've got to see how ADC I think you got ripped off at the, at your. Did she win by an advantage or some bullshit like it was.
Speaker 2:She won by an advantage, a couple of advantages from like guard pool exchanges where the advantages came from. I was winning the entire match. I was winning by points. The entire match got a really tight straight ankle lock that rolled her off the mat. So as soon as I locked it up, she started spinning and ended up spinning off the mat. So that was clearly quite tight. But, yeah, just made some errors in that match. I think I was so tunnel vision on the ADCC rule set that that led me to just make some mistakes.
Speaker 2:But I definitely want that match back. I've been asking for that match for quite a while now in Nogi. I think she she's been holding on to that um WNO 115 belt for for quite some time now. I think it's almost over two years that she hasn't actually fought to to retain that belt. Uh, and I definitely, like I'm very much interested in that match, but at this, this stage, I just I want Maesa to match in the Nogi and there's absolutely no disrespect for her. I think that she's an incredible athlete. She's clearly amazing because she has multiple, multiple, multiple world titles behind her. So it's not a call out out of disrespect or out of like.
Speaker 1:No, I'm calling her out. She doesn't deserve to be there. I'm calling her out on your behalf. I'm calling you out, my son, it's definitely. You're scared. You don't want this adele smoke. You don't want the adele daddy energy keep running, sucker.
Speaker 2:That's what I say yeah, I'm glad you can do the call out for me. That works out well. It's very easy for me. I definitely love that For my very comfortable apartment here in Australia.
Speaker 1:But no, I would love to see you take that win back because I felt like it was unfair the verdict on that one.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things that definitely motivated me. I think the Brazilian Nationals loss was something that kind of really kept pushing me to chase all these dreams, to chase these goals and just kind of reinforce that I'm on the level with these girls. Because it was such a close match and she's a multiple-time world champion and I know I'm up there with her. I definitely want that match back. But yeah, we'll have to see how ADCC pans out as well, because she's in that division, so we'll see what side of the bracket she's on. We'll see if we end up actually meeting in ADCC under that rule. Set so many what-ifs at play at the moment. But either way, having a who's number one match with her would be amazing. Having a match on a big platform where a belt's actually up for grabs would be a pretty amazing thing. I think that stylistically it's a good viewer match. It would be interesting to watch. I think that the amount of technical jiu-jitsu that could be implemented would be really good. I don't think there's going to be any stalling.
Speaker 1:I think there's going to be start to finish good technical jiu-jitsu That'd be good I do want to talk about Do you find you get thirsty at training? I do. I do all the time. I'm a sweaty human and I need to hydrate. Now the biggest problem is, by the time you're thirsty, it's a little bit late. You need to hydrate and that's why we got Sodi.
Speaker 1:Sodi is sponsoring the show. We've got all the colors of the rainbow, great flavors here. We've got salty citrus, salty pineapple, salty berry and, my favorite, salty grapefruit, and they will be releasing two new mystery flavors soon. So why do we need this? It's going to prevent our muscle cramps, it's going to help our energy delivery and it's also going to mean you're less tired, which is an advantage when you're training. If you want to maximize your jiu-jitsu and feel good when you're rolling, you need to get sody, and when you purchase, enter the code bulletproof 20 at checkout for 20 off. Oh yeah, I want to talk about the adcc, because I want to throw back to uh, the last adcc where you matched up first round with fion Davies. Talk to me about that match. Talk to me about that experience.
Speaker 2:It was like the whole ADCC experience in 2022 was an incredible experience, like being a part of such a massive show with so many people watching and there was so much like build up and hype, for it was, in of itself, an incredible experience and kind of it's what, uh, jujitsu athletes jujitsu professional athletes dream of of being a part of um I, we knew, like we had some ideas about what the bracket was possibly going to be whether it was going to be me and bianca, basilio, me and fion they were kind of the two possibilities. Because I was one of the the lowest seeds coming into that because, again, I was. I was just at the beginning. I hadn't really stamped my mark on on anything significant at that stage, um, so I knew I was going to be coming in at a low seed but, uh, then you know, the announcement was that I, that I got fee on, so we did, you know, our last little bit of prepping for that.
Speaker 2:But she, it was her year, like it was her year start to finish. She did an incredible job of of staying dominant in not ADCC, but across the board and all the other different rule sets as well. We knew that she was going to be a hard one to beat, but she also she came off coming second in the previous ADCC. So she was motivated, she had the experience in that way. But it was a very like big indication for me that again, like I'm at the level, I could feel it when I was on the mat, when I was actually competing against her, that I had the potential of being able to win this match.
Speaker 2:But I think by that stage when we were out there was a little bit too little, too late having that realization. I didn't have the confidence before stepping onto the mat. I only gained some of the confidence while I was like midway through the match. Um, but that you know. I fed off that and have used that as motivation now for the past two years leading up into this adcc to just kind of, you know, reinforce the idea that I can, I can take out anybody in this division in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and do you look for me when I look at that match and I think about, like typically, where you fight as a weight category, did you feel there was like a bit of a? Size difference between you Like did you feel that?
Speaker 2:physically it's definitely difficult. It's definitely difficult coming. So some of most of the girls in that 60 division were coming down to 60 and then some of us were coming up to 60. So at the time I was working with um Jordan, the fight dietitian, to pretty much increase calories, make sure I was eating like as many calories in a day as I possibly could without making myself sick to try and increase my weight. Um, and, exactly exactly like on paper, it seems like fun, it seems like I'll eat, eat anything you want. All the time in like like practically it was very uncomfortable drinking smoothies with avocado and peanut butter and like all things that just like are so heavy on your stomach. And you know I'm I, I eat a decent amount of food, like I eat a lot of food, but we were like doubling what I was eating. We were trying to like hit it 4 000 calories and it was just it got painful by the end of the day, and then that sounds like my kind of a diet that's probably what you're just naturally eating.
Speaker 2:Jt, that's probably what you're eating on the daily 4 000 calories is like you know, it's a normal day for you for me it was like um, 4,000 calories is a normal day for you.
Speaker 2:For me it was like Exactly For me, 4,000 calories in one day is fine, but to back that up every single day back to back, I was waking up not hungry at all, needing to eat a big breakfast. It was hard to put on the weight and then by the time ADCC swung around, I still wasn't 60 kilos, was still like under 60 kilos, um. So it was definitely like that way it was. It was hard to to put on the weight. It was hard to be one of the one of the girls that was sitting under. You know it's. It's silly to say that you can't feel a difference. You can like the. If the girls are coming down from 65 kilos to 60 or even higher than that, the weight that's sitting on them is just pure muscle at that stage. So they're just like quite strong. So the 55 division is definitely the perfect division for me. I think it sits in that weight range where I could drop a singular kilo and be sitting there very comfortably and not really change much in the diet. And now they've even added day before weigh-ins, so that makes it even easier, so I can make myself a little bit heavier and then just kind of sweat out a little bit to be down at that 55 division. I was definitely really excited.
Speaker 2:I can definitely understand how some of the girls that fit more comfortably into the 60 division could have been frustrated about the change in weight classes, but at the end of the day it's another female weight class. It about the change in weight classes, but at the end of the day it's another female weight class. It makes sense because it divides the weight categories into. You know, if you look at IBJJF we're now sitting at like rooster, light, feather and feather in one division. What would it be? Light middle. I don't actually know all the other divisions, but it sits with like more or less two to three divisions in each of the three ADCC divisions. So I think logically it makes sense. But I can definitely understand how some people were not happy about it.
Speaker 1:Hey man, when I saw the change I was like that's Adele's division, 55 kilos. Adele's division, she's coming for that title. I just I knew it.
Speaker 2:It's got my name on it. I was funny enough actually in. London. When I heard the announcement for the 55 Division, I was actually in London at the time. So it's just you know how things have kind of full circled. Now I'm back in London getting ready for ADCC, doing some training here. It's all just looped around now.
Speaker 1:How fortuitous. Now I want to switch gears a little bit here because I mean, like I said, I'm such a big fan of yours and I know that you have done way more media recently, which is great to see with your own experience, ask you probably more personal with on your journey in jiu-jitsu, because there's like there's plenty of great people in jiu-jitsu, but there's there can be some jerks as well. You know, um, and I don't know how it is, because I I totally understand that the, the female community within jiu-jitsu is so much smaller and it's growing, which is awesome. But have you experienced any discrimination at all? Just, I mean, you, uh, like, obviously you and your partner need, you're very like, um, proud and open, and that's amazing, right, and, and I admire that have you experienced any discrimination, um, in that regard at all in jiu-jitsu?
Speaker 2:um, I think, like, for I've been very lucky in in when I've come into jiu-jitsu and when I've come into that stage, so when it comes to like sexuality wise with with me and my partner, um, I haven't actually experienced any, any discrimination. I think part of that is also because, you know jiu-jitsu, there are a lot of of, you know, lgbt within within the jiu-jitsu community. Um, so it like we make up a decent proportion of the jiu-jitsu community, so there's a lot of us around and that have already kind of set the foundations into what's appropriate and what's you know, how we should be respected and how we should be treated. Um, there's not many gyms that I've walked into or, in fact, there's no gyms that I've walked into where that has caused any issues.
Speaker 2:Um, even, I think jiu-jitsu has this very interesting mix, especially from, you know, american, brazilian side of things, where there is a lot of people that are quite heavily religious in jiu-jitsu and then you get a mix of people where they're part of the lgbt community.
Speaker 2:So there's this mix of people that maybe wouldn't normally kind of socialize or or, you know, be around each other, that are socializing with each other and hanging out with each other and and friends and you know it brings those two communities together quite well. Um, but with being a female in the jiu-jitsu space again, I think that there are so many people that have come before me that have really set those foundations in how females deserve to be treated. You know, live jars is an excellent example of that, where she was. She came before me and was a very big advocate for more divisions in female like, more female divisions in general and equal pay and, you know, showing that female jiu-jitsu athletes can teach seminars and be quite, you know, well regarded in in teaching seminars. So I've kind of come in at the back end of all those things that have come before.
Speaker 2:exactly jess fraser, with with a gig, has has come in and and set some massive foundations with that as well, to to boost the, the female, that, the presence and the respect that the female jujitsu has in the community, um, and I definitely want to continue advocating for that.
Speaker 2:I think that fair pay is a massive one. I think that you know, making sure that females are regarded as having good seminars and good coaches I think is really important. You still see, sometimes females that have really good accolades still aren't head coaching in spaces where I feel like they should be, still aren't head coaching in spaces where I feel like they should be. You know you're getting male athletes that haven't, that don't have the same accolades, that are kind of coaching just because they're probably getting the spots more because they're males more than anything. So you're still seeing that now. But I think it's definitely changing and hopefully in the right direction, where there's just not any discrepancy, there's not any discrimination in that way. I think that we're definitely getting there, slowly but surely we're getting there. And ADCC, with the equal pay, is definitely a big one. Having equal pay for the divisions and equal pay for the absolute division, like that's a big step in the right direction division like that's.
Speaker 1:That's a big step in the right direction. And you know, like I, I think you know the adcc is. You know, regardless of all the different things that have happened in the last six months, the adcc is still the premier event, right, whatever you might say, um, but interestingly enough, and I just this is just like I'd just like to get your opinion what is your take on the cji and essentially what that may have done to maybe put pressure?
Speaker 1:and I'm not saying this, I'm not saying this in a controversial way, I'm just saying like jt, you're gonna get me canceled, man no, no, no, no, because, look, it's completely different for you as an athlete who's trying to be an adcc champion, right, but it is interesting to note that athletes are getting paid, certain wheels are turning, changes are being made and you are deep in that process, so I'd love to hear it from your perspective.
Speaker 2:I think that in general, in every single market you see it around the world competition is a key part of pushing the market. It's a key part of pushing for progression in any kind of sense. So to have Craig step in and be pushing for, you know his leading thing was pushing for more pay and that kind of stuff. And when that didn't happen, when he didn't get the response he wanted, he went about it a different way. And you know whether that way be controversial, because obviously it's not only just taking athletes from ADCC but also it's being done on the same day. It's that kind of thing. He's done it in a controversial way but it has led to results, in my opinion, where ADCC has now stepped out and are now, you know, obviously supporting the athletes a little bit more, paying the athletes a little bit more, obviously supporting the athletes a little bit more, paying the athletes a little bit more.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things of would that have been happening anyway, maybe, maybe not. Like, would have the pay been increased, like and equalized anyway between males and females? Whether CJ was a thing or not, it's really hard to tell. We were advocating for the like. We've been advocating for that for a while and with the addition of the 55 division it was it seemed possible that the pay was going to be equalized regardless. But it's just interesting to see what's going on. It's interesting to see how a little bit of drama is kind of hyping up both events. At the end of the day, it's even if even if you're against adcc, against cjr, you're still listening, like, you're still paying attention to what's going on, you're still hearing who's in the divisions, you're still like, you're still tuning into all the drama, and I think that drama is like drama is gonna increase eyes. I think both events are gonna be massive, but I definitely think that that adcc is gonna be like bigger than it, than it ever has been yeah, t-mobile arena is incredible.
Speaker 1:I mean being there last time at thomas mac and just seeing, you know whatever 12 000, 13 000 people, you're like this is a stadium. And then I even I was very fortunate, I actually got to speak to Mo um at the after party and he might have had a couple drinks, but I was just chatting to him, you know, for some reason he felt he's having a good time.
Speaker 1:He knew me yeah, he's having a good time. But you know, like I just got just five minute conversation, you know, and he was like yeah, man, we're gonna go bigger, we're gonna go bigger, man, I'm telling you. And he's like it's gonna be like nothing anyone's ever seen. And I was like, wow, okay, he's like. He was like he gave me the big wink and he's like t-mobile arena, bro, and I'm like all right, cool, cool, high five, all right, cool.
Speaker 2:And then he definitely, like he has all those, he he knows what he wants and he knows how to get it and he knows what he needs to do to get it. And that's, you know, something I absolutely respect like he's pushing the, the sport, to a wider audience. You know, we're not. We're now not just getting the audience of jujitsu athletes, we're getting a wider audience. That you know. We're getting ufc fans that are now tuning in to see what this whole jujitsu thing's about. We're just getting. We're growing, we're building.
Speaker 2:I think, for jujitsu to increase and it's in how professional it is and, in general, how much money is in the sport. I think that involves bringing the biggest possible audience we can like. We need to think bigger. We need to think like how can we make this sport bigger in the long term? And part of that is big stadiums. Part of that is bringing a wider audience. Part of that is, you know, bringing famous people in to again boost the, the kind of reach of these events. I think mo's always done an excellent job with that. He's always had a very ambitious and very big vision for jiu-jitsu in general and he's the kind of guy that's not letting anything stand in his way to to chase that ambition no, that's, that's awesome and so excited to see you there.
Speaker 1:We'll be there cheering you on, looking forward to seeing you holding that adcc strap, standing on top of the podium. 100 percent, um, yeah. But I mean I just just to kind of bring us to a close here. I mean there's a lot of reasons why I admire you and your jiu-jitsu so much. But I think being smaller is hard because, look, I'm a 90 kilo guy and you know it's hard for me. So I can't even imagine what it would be like to be 55 kilos and then also just be in a minority in terms of being a woman on the mat amongst men. And I know it can be really stupid sometimes with how kind of prideful men can be like.
Speaker 1:I can't let this woman beat me and which is all just you know bullshit, which is crazy, right, Because they'll just, you know, just they won't necessarily roll that well, they'll just try and just strengthen, you know. But what I would like to ask you under this idea is what would your advice to be to another young person, male or female, but they're on the smaller side and they're thinking about jiu-jitsu. They've just started. What would be some advice that you could give them to kind of help them?
Speaker 2:I think that you know I I always uh motivate people to do jiu-jitsu I I think it's an incredible martial art, especially for smaller females, especially for females in general. I think it's the most realistic form of self-defense that females can have in general. I also think that it's incredibly good mentally to kind of build that confidence. You know my partner. She started a little bit later on in life and I've been able to see firsthand the impact that that's had on her and how much more confident she feels about herself and how much more confident she feels about her ability to take care of herself, like physically handle herself, if God forbid anything ever happened. I didn't have that perspective because I started when I was quite young, so in my adult life I didn't know any different. I didn't know the difference between knowing martial art and not. But I can see it firsthand in my partner. I can see that it's it's made a very, very like big positive impact in. In that, I think for females that are just getting started, I think a key thing is uh having a space where you have appropriate training partners so you know whether that be a friend that's gotten you into it, whether that be you've gone into the space and you can see that there are some smaller females there.
Speaker 2:Like making connections with those girls, I think, is really important because a big part about jiu-jitsu is fostering trust in your training partners. You're putting a lot of trust in somebody. You're putting yourself in very precarious positions where you're trusting that when you tap, they're going to let go, they're going to look after you, they're going to make sure you're okay, they're not going to put you in harm for the sake of putting you in harm partners. So if somebody is rolling too hard, being able to verbalize that is very important. If somebody that you know rolls a little bit too hard and you maybe don't want to roll with that person, having that conversation is really important, like being at okay, saying no, um is is a really important thing as well. Um yeah, they would be the main things, like picking out good training partners and just being really open with with how you're feeling when you're on the mats. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, adele, I'm pumped man, I'm I'm so excited. I have been so happy to see all of your success and excited to see more stoked that we, bulletproof, get to help you in whatever small way we can on your absolutely, you know, just unstoppable ascent, because that's why I just that's how I feel about it, I think that's the thing I get very inspired and I'm just like, you know this, this is like this is like thanos, we're going to click those fingers. It's kind of unstoppable.
Speaker 1:So obviously there's so much hard work behind the scenes, but we are so excited for you. We will be there in Las Vegas. We'll be cheering until my voice is completely gone.
Speaker 2:I want to be hearing you from the crowd. I'll be coaching, dave will be up. I need to be hearing you, man I'm honestly very, very pumped, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:I'm super pumped to be having the bulletproof team behind me. You know it's made a massive difference in my training and in my ability to be able to consistently do this training camp. Part of that is looking after my body, and you guys do an amazing job with allowing me to continue training and continue making sure that everything is where it's supposed to be and nothing's broken and nothing's hurting. But yeah, I'm stoked to have you guys. You know I'm very excited to be wearing the logo with pride out there on one of the biggest stages in the world.
Speaker 1:Well, humbly, I thank you and, on behalf of everybody listening to this, we look forward to your future success. Thank you, adele.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much, JT.
Speaker 1:Cheers.
