You made your brown belt debut at LA Open, winning gi and no-gi gold. What were some of your takeaways from your brown belt debut?

“I felt great competing at LA open. It was a good test for me to measure the progress I’ve made since Europeans and the result matched the work I’ve been putting in. It was also cool to finally compete in an IBJJF no-gi division that allowed me to do leg attacks. I’ve been studying them for awhile now, so it feels good now not being held back by the rules from showing my complete no-gi game.”

You’ll be at lightweight at Pans among some great athletes like European Champion Thiago Saboia and Worlds bronze medalist Gabriel Cardoso. Can you talk about how’ve you’ve studied your opponents being that you’ve been a brown belt for such a short time?

“I’ve always been big on studying and being the most prepared I can be for any challenge. I’ve sat with my professor to look at the division for Pans and we’ve analyzed the different strategies and approaches for the possible matches in the bracket. I have five matches in a tough bracket of competitors and I will do my best to put on a show of technical jiu-jitsu. AOJ actually just released an instructional on this called “Game Theory” which shows the behind the scenes of how we view studying matches and opponents.

How have you implemented toe holds and kneebars into your training?

“My game is already submission-oriented so I think any added submissions to the ruleset will be beneficial to my style. I’ve been working leg attacks for awhile now since I’ve been preparing for the biggest no-gi events. So since getting promoted to brown belt, I’ve been practicing different ways to implement those skills to the gi.”

What are some techniques you’ve been working on in training that we can expect to see at Pans?

“You can expect to see a complete game in my matches, attacking from both top and bottom and relentlessly searching for the submission.”