You dropped down to middleweight for Worlds, a weight class you used to compete in. What was your motivation to change weight classes?

Yes, I was thinking about it since the beginning of the year. After Europeans I spoke with my nutritionist about going down, so it was already planned. After competing in another event where I was already cutting weight, I decided to just keep going down to middleweight. The motivation was because I wanted to challenge myself to go back to the weight class and it was also a goal that I had been planning!

How has the process of making weight been so far? Did you have a lot of weight to lose and how did it affect your training?

It’s been great so far and everything is going right. I dropped most of the weight that I needed to and I’m still feeling very good. I can’t complain. I'm just following the plan! I didn’t have much weight to lose since I am eating very clean, something that I wasn’t doing very often. So my weight dropped down fast and it didn’t affect me much since I’m still training with everyone and feeling normal. So I think it didn’t affect me at all!

Middleweight is a stacked division. How do you feel about matches with Tainan, Tye, and Mauricio Oliveira?

Those are some tough matches. I’ve never fought against Tye and I’m sure it would be a crazy match up. It would be a battle for sure! I’ve also never fought against Mauricio. I know he has a very solid game and has beaten some good athletes, so I think would be an interesting match because of his style of fighting. I feel excited for a match with Tainan. We fought a couple times and have some history in the colored belts. After that our paths changed. Since then he has improved a lot and so have I. He’s in a great moment right now, but I feel very confident and ready to face all of them and any of these matches are going to be wars for sure!

You had a win over Tainan at purple belt but have not competed against him since as you two have been in different weight classes. What do you think about Tainans performances at black belt and what do you feel will give you an edge over him?

Yes, he’s put his name at the top of the mountain and has been dominating for a minute, no doubt. It's been very impressive. I think my style and my way of fighting is to never give up and always go forward. This will make the difference in this match.

Watch Jansen compete at the 2023 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships this Saturday, exclusively on FloGrappling.