266 - ADCC and IBJJF World Champion Yuri Simoes on Switching to MMA

Yuri Simoes is a two time ADCC World Championship, a two-time IBJJF black belt Absolute No-Gi World Champion, and a two-time Pan American Champion.

In our chat we go deep into developing the motivation required to train at such a high level, the importance of self defense, how he took down a Olympic Judo champion in competition, and much more.

I hope you enjoy it!

00:44: Growing up in Brazil
03:07: Training self defense
05:38: On making BJJ your way of life
10:08: Judo and BJJ cross training
14:40: Yuri's match against Travis Stevens
17:30: On making the switch to no gi grappling
20:42: On coming to North America and training with Caio Terra
27:54: Is it OK to train at different schools?
31:06: New jiu-jitsu vs traditional jiu-jitsu
36:25: On switching from no gi to MMA
38:04: What made Yuri so stubborn?
42:25: Dealing with major injuries
49:50: Biggest adjustments in switching from jiu-jitsu to MMA
51:33: What's a typical week of MMA training?
59:59: Good days and bad days of training
1:02:56: Signing to fight with One FC
1:04:58: Where to follow Yuri

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Thanks!

Stephan Kesting