BJJ Emotions and FlowGrips present:
Flow Entrevista (Flow Interview)
Subtitles: Lara Lobo
Hey guys we're here today with someone who doesn't even need an introduction: Mahamed Aly.
First of all I would like to thank him for being here, we know the World Championship is near
and the preparation is intense but he found a space in his agenda
to be interviewed by us. So let's get started.
First of all we want to know a little bit about your childhood, where were you born and what did you like to do?
Thank you guys for the opportunity of being here with FlowGrips doing this interview.
It's a beginning of a project that I know will work out perfectly because the guys
are extremely organised. Even though the guys are relatively new to Jiu-Jitsu and are very young,
I can see proper organisation here, the guys have three cameras recording
I'm live on Facebook at the same time
it's just beautiful to see their hard work and commitment.
I like being surrounded by serious and hardworking people who work to achieve their goals.
To answer your question, I'm from Rio de Janeiro and I lived in Caxias until I was 9.
After that I live in Jacarepaguá and was raised in Gardênia until I was 17 years old
and from then I lived in the gym, until today.
Now I live in the US, I have my house and my family so all is good.
When I was a child I liked to run and mess around, like most children.
The only reason I would go to school is to play, to mess around.
I didn't like studying, I didn't have the patience to listen to important things
and I never gave the proper importance to studying.
I only understood what studying was in high school, when I was 15 years old. So that's it, it took me a while
to understand how important it was but when I was a child I didn't really care about that.
And you were always in the martial arts world, right?
I tried a few things. I did Capoeira and Kung Fu when I was a child so yeah I tried a few things.
But I only fell in love with Jiu-Jitsu.
I fell in love with it and decided to dedicate most of my time to it.
And it worked right? It's been working, yeah.
So when you started practicing Jiu-Jitsu, who was your idol?
Who did you look at and think "that's who I want to be when I grow up"?
I think that when you start Jiu Jitsu everyone thinks their Sensei is the best in the world
so I loved my instructors: Brigadeiro e Paulinho.
I believed they had the best Jiu Jitsu in the world. And they do! The guys are awesome!
But when I started to understand competitive Jiu-Jitsu,
Roger was the guy that I saw myself in. Even though I was small
▪ Laughs ▪
I was small at time! I already liked Roger. I mean was small, I was 15 years old, and I already liked Roger!
I used to watch his highlights 24 hours per day.
It's impressive because, not only him but Rodolfo as well, they made black belts world champions look like
white belts, you know? When I saw Roger fight or when I saw Rodolfo fight, it was like watching a one man match
It looked like there was no point in the other guy being there so it was beautiful to see. I know there is
a lot of effort put into it, because there are people who practice their whole life and they don't get to that level.
I mean, 99.9% of people practice all their life and never get to that level! So it's truly beautiful.
You fought for Team Nogueira and...
Then you changed to Lloyd Irvin right? How was this change viewed by your peers
and by people who practice with you? Did they take it well?
When I left Brigadeiro, he stopped talking to me for years.
I dreamt of doing MMA
and Brigadeiro wanted me to fight MMA without doing boxing.
I told him: Brigadeiro, there is no way, I weigh 90kg. When I was 16/17 years old I already weighed 95kg.
I used to tell him I had to do boxing
and he would say "you will, at the right time"
I didn't really agree with him
and by coincidence, my friend who was a physical trainer took me to Team Nogueira to have a look.
When I got there Minotauro gave me supplements,
money for my travels, all so I could train with them.
I thought: Supplements? Money for travel?
I used to cycle on an old bike for 25km to get to the gym.
Actually the bike was lent to me by Brigadeiro at the time because I didn't even have a bike.
So when I heard that I thought "this is another level".
Obviously that not all instructors have the means to give their students supplements
or to give them those conditions.
The thing is when I heard that I thought "this is where I want to be".
I put everything into Jiu-Jitsu
and into my training and I want to be valued.
So I spoke to Brigadeito, he didn't really agree with me
and I kept practicing in both places, at Team Nogueira and at Brigadeiro.
But it got to a point where I was so involved with the guys, Rodrigo and Rogerio,
that I stopped going to Brigadeiro.
From that point we stopped talking for a year.
However, when I was world champion for the purple belt (for the first time), Brigadeiro was in California.
On that day he was really rooting for me and I that made me cry and we were fine after that.
But it's very hard to change teams you know, very hard.
It's one thing that is still not common in Jiu Jitsu.
Even though it has been changing,
people still don't take it in a good way. I think it's wrong!
I don't think anyone should be forced to like someone's training.
You can be the best instructor in the world
but the student might just not like the way you train.
I don't think there is better or worse, just which training fits you best.
Some people like to run to warm up, some people like drills, some people like to stretch,
some people like to train for two hours, some one hour and a half…
some for an hour.
Some people like to train at 6 in the morning and some at 8 in the evening
and some people like to train the whole day.
Each school/gym is going to work in a particular way and I think the student will either fit in or not.
Almost no one is lucky enough to find the best gym for them at first.
I think the gym has to have the same goals as the student.
Many times gyms are focused on competing and the student doesn't want to compete,
they may just want to have fun, to get some exercise in.
Sometimes the gym is focused on Jiu Jitsu as a hobby or as self defence but the student wants to compete.
There are various scenarios. Sometimes the person just wont fit in with the other people at the gym.
So about Creonte and that thing they say about having to stay in the gym they started forever
I think that is close minded and that it hinders those who wants to thrive.
It just doesn't exist in any other sport. Football isn't like that, professional careers are not like that.
If you don't like the company you're in and you get a better offer you just go.
So I think it's silly and very old school.
And also learning from other people, right? Exactly, I think it's silly!
I think everyone should do what makes them feel good. But obviously you have to man up!
You have to talk to people and be open about it because everything gets sorted when people talk.
But I don't agree with judging someone for changing gyms.
And why did you choose to do Jiu-Jitsu at Lloyd Irvin?
I fought my first Jiu Jitsu world championship in 2013 and I lost in the semi-finals.
It was then that I realised that I was doing it the wrong way round: I left Jiu Jitsu for MMA.
In 2012 I didn't practice Jiu-Jitsu.
In 2013 I decided to attend a championship
and that's when I won. When I won, I was graduated to the purple belt
and the Jiu Jitsu fire inside me started to burn again, you know?
I thought "It's time to go back to Jiu-Jitsu"
so I started saving money, travelling
and then I went to the world championship and I lost at the semi-finals.
That's when I met Lloyd - he saw me fight and liked me.
We started talking but he spoke English so all we did was exchange names and Facebook
because I didn't speak English.
So we started talking via Facebook and nothing more.
I never thought that one day I would move to the US "what a crazy thought! that wasn't going to happen to me!"
That's when I started training all the time, going to every championship; loosing some and winning some.
This is when it hit me: "I need Jiu Jitsu". I was practising MMA,
a serious team but completely focused on MMA and not on Jiu Jitsu.
Most of the people that trained with me didn't even wear a Kimono, ever!
So I was wearing myself out practicing MMA and helping the UFC guys but I wasn't focused on me,
I was focused on them.
So then I decided I needed to try. I went to Abu dhabi and from Abu Dhabi
I went straight to Lloyd. I was there a month and I won the world championship.
After that I started going there, staying for a month and coming back home.
Then I would go back and stay for two months and come back home.
And then I went for 2 months and I stayed for a year and a half… And I'm still there.
Apart from training, resting and training again, what are your tips - that 3% extra - your secret
that you would like to share with everyone that practices really hard and that dreams of achieving
your level of technique?
I believe that there is one thing that you just can't replace with anything.
You can change how you train, even if you're hurt you can train your mind;
you can always change your body, if your leg is hurt you can exercise your arm for example.
But if you don't believe in the work your doing,
if you don't like your team, if you don't have faith in what you do
some people see it from a religious point of view and some people from a scientific point of view
but no matter how you think about it, your confidence
will always be the most important thing you know?
So I think that above it all and before you do anything, you need to believe in yourself.
For example, in my case I lived in such a tiny street that a car would barely fit.
When it rained I had to put a plastic bag on my feet so they wouldn't get completely dirty from the mud.
When you looked up all you could see were wires and you would leave the house wondering when
there would be a short circuit and the whole place would set on fire.
I had faith that I wasn't going to live like that forever you know?
I had faith that one day I would open the window and I would be in a nice place.
I have no problems in being from the favelas
but like they say: you don't choose where you are born but you choose where you die.
So it's all a matter of attitude.
When you believe in what you want,
when you have faith, that's when things happen. God will give you tools - there will be a nice instructor,
there be people to help you but you must be focused and you must believe in yourself.
There is no point in training a thousand times per day if you don't believe you are capable.
So I think that believing in what you are doing is the most important thing!
On Facebook and Youtube we always hear people talking about warm ups
and how that is old news and that it is not needed anymore. What do you think about that?
Do you warm up? Do you think it's necessary?
Dude I hate warming up! I've always hated it!
I've hated it since I was a white belt.
In fact, when I was a white belt I though I knew everything
"do you really think that if I do 50 sit-ups, 20 push ups and 50 star jumps, I'm going to improve anything?"
that's how I thought at the time.
But today I know that building a career is the same thing as building a house:
you have to lay one brick at a time.
There are studies that show that the more you do something the better you become at it,
you will not only improve the technique but your actual muscles and general physique.
When you do something your body feels it and it reacts better to it the more you do it.
So escaping the hips (shrimp movement) is very important and it's going to really help you.
Warming up is also going to really help you and it's going to prevent injuries.
I have hurt myself many times because I didn't warm up, you know?
The more you learn, the more you know your body and you will understand
that everything that happens while you train is for a reason.
So when you've been training for one, two years, you don't know anything.
Sometimes you need 30/40 years to develop your training method,
until you feel you are the best in that specific method, you know?
So warming up is very important and it has to be done. And even if it is not important,
you don't want to be that guy that arrives fresh and ready to train when everyone else is tired, you know?
So I think you have to follow what is being proposed to you.
Speaking of training, we all know that you are the ultimate best at stretching.
We have a guy that after training does all your videos.
So tell us, what does a week of training look like to you, what do you usually do: Jiu-Jitsu, the gym…
Well, people change right? We are changing all the time. At the beginning
when I started training, I wanted to train as much as I could, even when I was tired, even exhausted.
I studied, I worked and did Jiu Jitsu and I wanted to be training no matter what.
I fainted a few times at the gym because I was too tired!
I've trained (and this happens still today) and I get a fever from training so much, you know?
That is not healthy. Obviously that an athlete's life is different to someone that only trains as a hobby, right?
But I just love training as much as I can and for as long as I have the energy to.
Before, when I started not having the energy, I used to associate it with laziness.
I used to think "I don't feel like exercising and that's because I am lazy. I am not going to win the championship,
I'm not focused" - but no! It's your body talking to you.
Many of those times I was very exhausted and my body was telling me to rest
and I would continue training and I would hurt myself, you know?
So today I am trying to increase the quality of my training rather than the amount of times I do it.
I try to prepare myself physically, to do Jiu-Jitsu, but I don't have specific rules, it just depends.
For example now I am preparing myself for the World Championship, I was training for Berkut last week.
I was training from Sunday to Sunday, do you know what I mean?
But sometimes I rest Saturday and Sunday and sometimes I take Wednesday off to rest so it depends.
I think that if you have the energy to train then train
but if you feel tired then go to the gym and stretch. Go to the gym and do a drill,
try to rest actively which is also very important.
Talk to your instructor which is even better than listening to me saying
"you have to do this and you should do that".
Everyone has a different body, different genetics and a different lifestyle.
So you you were saying before that you prepared yourself for Berkut.
How is it just before the competition? Do you decrease the intensity of your Jiu-Jitsu training
so you don't injure yourself or do you continue as always?
The only championship I decrease intensity for is the World Championship.
I prepare myself the whole year for that championship so I don't let the last week ruin it, only because
I'm nervous - sometimes you are anxious and you end up doing too much or too little.
I mean, even an ingrown toenail can affect your performance in a championship, you know?
Especially if you take into account that everyone is very well prepared for the world championship.
So yes, I do that for the World Championship. I have taken the week before the competition
just to lose weight, to travel or to put my head in the right place because I believe
that I won't get particularly better in one week. On the contrary, I can let my muscles recover
and they will be much better prepared because they're not going to be tired, you know?
All the micro injuries I may have will recuperate and I will be 100%. However, for the other competitions I train normally
I like to look at the other competitions like a practice because my objective in life is to be world champion.
I don't train to be a Pan champion or an European champion,
I train to be a world champion, do you see what I mean?
So I actually stop to be able to travel, for example,
I had to cross the Atlantic to come to the European championship
so I take a break but not like for the World Championship,
but for the World Championship I try to focus the best I can.
Now we are going to do something a bit more upbeat - a word game, something different.
I am going to say a word and you are going to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind, ok?
Let's do it: Family
Is everything
Dream
Life
Training
Lifestyle
Jiu-Jitsu
Dedication
Lloyd Irvin
Tutor, my sensei, teacher
Brigadeiro
My sensei as well, teacher and my tutor
Motivation
Discipline
Victory
I don't know...
I don't know, victory is…I have to elaborate. I think victory can't be the reason for anything
because victory may not come,
despite everything. You can prepare yourself as much as you can and not win, you know?
So sometimes we set victory as our goal, like a false illusion of happiness and that is not true.
Victory is a result of many things, of many variables and victory is the consequence of a defeat.
For one person to win the other has to lose so I don't like live my life thinking about being champion
or in being victorious because I know that I already am.
It is very difficult to talk about this because people might think you have to think that way,
that you must achieve victory at any cost and that is not true, I don't like that.
Some people will sell their soul to win a championship and I don't think it's worth it.
You have to live according to that of course but it shouldn't define who you are.
If it's not today it will be tomorrow, right? Exactly!
Winning doesn't make you victorious and losing doesn't make you a loser, you know?
They are two distinct things - I think you have to go after it but you don't have to kill yourself to get there.
Sorry for… It's OK, it's OK!!
Gold
Victory
Strategy
To win
Fear
Is necessary
Brazil
Home
USA
Work
To compete
To live
Kimono
Armour
Food
Important
And finally, black belt
Effort
Well guys, we've come to an end of the first part of our interview, the second part is awesome
and if you like this interview and want to see the second part then please go to our Instagram page: @flowgrips
Visit our page, check out our work and follow us. Once we achieve 200 followers
we will post the second part of the interview for you, you will love it!
Don't forget to like this video to support our work.
Thanks guys, OSS!
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