Sevan Matossian (00:02):
All I heard was I thought a seriously way. I put my headphones on. I thought your mom was talking to you about girls. She’s like, I thought she was like, now, Jay. Now, listen. You’re not Jewish, are you?
Jacob Rodriguez (00:13):
No,
Sevan Matossian (00:15):
But you’re just from you just, just seem like it. Cuz you’re from Jersey and there’s like a blend there. Jersey culture and Jewish mom culture.
Jacob Rodriguez (00:21):
Uh, shit. I
Sevan Matossian (00:22):
Forgot. I don’t know.
Jacob Rodriguez (00:23):
I dunno.
Sevan Matossian (00:24):
It, it just sat with just the way you said it. Your mom was on the phone to gossip.
Jacob Rodriguez (00:28):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (00:29):
She telling, was she telling the world how great her sons are? Oh, you brought my coffee. You’re fucking queen. Thank you. I was just like freaking Good morning, dude.
Jacob Rodriguez (00:40):
Good morning.
Sevan Matossian (00:42):
My name’s se like the number seven.
Jacob Rodriguez (00:45):
All right. Nice to meet you.
Sevan Matossian (00:48):
I, I I’ve been riding your brother’s jock for a little while here.
Jacob Rodriguez (00:51):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:52):
Yeah. Like bugging him. Like you gotta, you gotta DM him like five times for every one on the show. Yes. Four text and five DMS. And then he appear like the special, uh, Nick rod. But he is cool about it. You know what I mean? It’s like he doesn’t, he doesn’t even care. Like just, yeah, you just bug him enough and then he shows up You, you you’re you’re you’re are you tripping
Jacob Rodriguez (01:18):
For what?
Sevan Matossian (01:19):
I don’t know anything. Is it like, are you like, God, I don’t really wanna do this podcast. Feel like I should. And they told me I should do a podcast. No,
Jacob Rodriguez (01:27):
No, no. That’s all cool. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:30):
Okay. I want, I want to, I want to show people who don’t know. I know I’m gonna get in trouble for this, but fuck it. Who cares? Let’s see you go to share here. Share screen Chrome tab. J rod. Here we go. Okay. Your signal’s great. Your signal’s great. These people, Here we go. That’s you with the shirt on, right?
Jacob Rodriguez (02:19):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:26):
Do you know right here? Do you know right now? Like uhoh it it’s over for this dude?
Jacob Rodriguez (02:33):
Uh, no, no, I, you don’t know. You don’t even know until the moment he tapped. No, I had no clue.
Sevan Matossian (02:39):
Wow. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Looks horrible. And what, and what’s he feeling right here, Jay?
Jacob Rodriguez (02:52):
So right here, uh, I didn’t, I didn’t have the submission, like fully locked up. So I had taken my other hand and like took my knuckles and put it in his throat to like help suffocate him. And that’s what like ended up like helping me finish the submission.
Sevan Matossian (03:10):
Oh. And I saw in a training video, I saw Craig Jones do that to you.
Jacob Rodriguez (03:17):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (03:18):
You, you were on top of him and he, and he pushed you off of him. Yes. Using these words very slowly and gently, but yes. Maybe not gently is not the right word, but Yeah. And that’s where you picked that up?
Jacob Rodriguez (03:30):
Yes, fucking Craig did.
Sevan Matossian (03:33):
Wow. And, and that’s legit.
Jacob Rodriguez (03:37):
I mean, it’s, it’s like, it helps finish submissions if it’s like a submission like that. Like I, this, the choke wasn’t fully on, but with the extra help of my knuckles, that’s what like, like really like makes him suffocate.
Sevan Matossian (03:54):
It, it, it, without that, how is that move supposed to stop him? Is it supposed to be his own arm pushing into him? Him or how how’s that move supposed to stop
Jacob Rodriguez (04:02):
Him? The buggy choke is like, you’re basically the, the side of your body, his head and his arm goes in between your like right by your lap and you underhook your leg and uh, like lock your, uh, lock your hands and lock your feet.
Sevan Matossian (04:20):
Yep. I can see it
Jacob Rodriguez (04:21):
Here.
Sevan Matossian (04:21):
Yeah. I can imagine at least the backside.
Jacob Rodriguez (04:23):
Yeah. So it usually comes on fast if it’s locked up like fully, but he was able to like, Verle his way out. So it wasn’t fully like tight. So I wasn’t gonna get the finish without the, the knuckles.
Sevan Matossian (04:38):
Which part of your body would’ve if it was in tight and it was in deep and imperfect, which part of your body would’ve choked him out.
Jacob Rodriguez (04:46):
So
Sevan Matossian (04:46):
Your LA
Jacob Rodriguez (04:47):
Basically my lat. Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (04:49):
His throat. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And would his arm still be right where it is?
Jacob Rodriguez (04:54):
Yeah, his arm, his arm. And his head would just be a little bit deeper in like more into my, my side.
Sevan Matossian (05:01):
Okay. But there’s nothing for him to complain about. He can’t be over there being like, Hey, put his, he put his, his fist in my throat.
Jacob Rodriguez (05:14):
No, that’s legal. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (05:16):
Got so cool. And that’s your seventh match?
Jacob Rodriguez (05:20):
Yeah, that was the final.
Sevan Matossian (05:25):
Wow. And do you know that kid right there?
Jacob Rodriguez (05:28):
Um, The, the kid I went against.
Sevan Matossian (05:33):
Yeah, right there. The dude, yeah, right there with his shirt off.
Jacob Rodriguez (05:36):
I’ve seen him on a who’s number one before, but I don’t, I don’t like know personally or I’ve never seen people for that or anything.
Sevan Matossian (05:44):
And then, and then, and then Craig Jones runs out here and gives you your purple belt.
Jacob Rodriguez (05:47):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (05:51):
That’s, it’s, it’s kind of crazy. It’s a little overwhelming, right?
Jacob Rodriguez (05:54):
Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was, I didn’t even know how to like, uh, like interpret getting the belt, but, uh, at the, at the time, but, uh, yeah. Yeah, the win was, was fucking crazy to win like that in the finals is like ridiculous. A lot of people like say that move, the buggy choke is like stupid and like the bullshit, even, even Craig. And I say it, but, uh, it works sometimes.
Sevan Matossian (06:23):
Um, does he know, how does Craig know to have a purple belt there? Does he just travel with a suitcase of belts?
Jacob Rodriguez (06:31):
Um, I think, I think Nick, Ryan had told him, like, had told the guys like, oh, if I win get like, bring like a purple belt in case I win.
Sevan Matossian (06:41):
No shit.
Jacob Rodriguez (06:42):
Yeah. I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. Also. Uh, my teammate Damien had also, uh, gotten his belt, so they probably said the same thing for him.
Sevan Matossian (06:52):
And did, did he win also? He qualified.
Jacob Rodriguez (06:54):
He, he, he didn’t qualify, but he took third. He got, has built on the podium.
Sevan Matossian (06:59):
Um, the dude who qualified who’ve qualified. So, so a D C, C is Abu Dhabi, something championship, combat championship,
Jacob Rodriguez (07:10):
Something like that. I have no clue on No
Sevan Matossian (07:15):
Clue. I just go on floor and mash people. Yes. I don’t know letters. Um, uh, so, so the people who’ve qualified from your camp, um, the, the B team are, are, uh, Nick, Ryan, uh, your brother, Nikki Rodd. Uh, Ethan Stein. Am I saying his name? Right?
Jacob Rodriguez (07:32):
Uh, CRE Stein. I think it’s, it’s
Sevan Matossian (07:34):
Pronounced CRE Stein.
Jacob Rodriguez (07:35):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:36):
Where’s he from?
Jacob Rodriguez (07:37):
Uh, he, he’s from,
Sevan Matossian (07:38):
It’s a nice Jewish
Jacob Rodriguez (07:39):
Name and I’m pretty sure. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:41):
Good Jewish boy. Uh, uh, Jay rod. That’s you? Jay Rodriguez. And, uh, Craig Jones. You guys have all qualified? Yep. And, and where did your brother qualify at?
Jacob Rodriguez (07:51):
Um, well, Nick placed in, uh, the last, like worlds, like right. He, uh, back in 29, he won the, uh, west coast trials, the same trial as I won this year. Um, and then he went on to the world tournament and, uh, placed, he took second. So I think because he took second, he got an automatic invite, so he doesn’t have to do any of the trials.
Sevan Matossian (08:14):
Oh, that’s nice.
Jacob Rodriguez (08:15):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (08:17):
Um, is, is when you automatically qualify? I like that. So, oh, wait. So does that mean next year? You’ll automatically qualify.
Jacob Rodriguez (08:23):
Um, I would have to, I would have to do like really good at this tournament. The, the, the world tournament September in order to get invited, like I would have to play for like beat some really good people, you know?
Sevan Matossian (08:38):
Okay. How, Hey, how old are you?
Jacob Rodriguez (08:41):
Uh, 20.
Sevan Matossian (08:42):
And how old’s your brother?
Jacob Rodriguez (08:43):
Nick is 25.
Sevan Matossian (08:45):
And are there any other, uh, Rodriguez children?
Jacob Rodriguez (08:48):
Yeah, we have a, uh, a younger sister. She’s 15.
Sevan Matossian (08:54):
Does she wrestle?
Jacob Rodriguez (08:55):
Uh, she wrestles here and there, but it’s more just like a, like a hobby kind of thing. You know, she just does it for fun. Stay in shape and stuff.
Sevan Matossian (09:04):
I had, um, I had a Olympian on a couple days ago. Um, David Taylor won.
Jacob Rodriguez (09:09):
Oh my God.
Sevan Matossian (09:10):
He won the gold and Tokyo. Yeah. And his, his current, his current wife, he, um, he, He wrestled her when they were 10 years old. That’s at a tournament at a tournament. Yeah. And he said he was terrified because he like, didn’t want to get beat by a girl. And then, you know, like 10 years later he saw her on Facebook in the, as her out and they’re married. Wow. And they have two kids now. Yeah. Crazy. That’s awesome. Do you ever wrestle any girls growing up?
Jacob Rodriguez (09:39):
Actually, no. I’ve never wrestled a girl, like in, in practice I’ve, uh, like gone against a girl, whatever, but never in competition. Never in high school or anything like that.
Sevan Matossian (09:52):
Um, is it, um, is it, is it weird going against to girl? Like, there’s less places like, like my kids do jujitsu and, and I’m like, it’s always like, oh, the teacher always be like, put your hands on their chest. And I’m like, well, I guess it’s okay when you’re five.
Jacob Rodriguez (10:04):
Yeah. Yeah. Um, it was, it’s always kind of awkward cuz um, you don’t wanna like
Sevan Matossian (10:11):
Creep out at all.
Jacob Rodriguez (10:13):
Yeah. Yeah. You at all, you don’t wanna creep them out. You don’t wanna like hurt their too bad. Cause I’m not, I’m not, I don’t wanna like tone it down a bit to, uh, like go get a girl. Like I feel like I should treat her equally, but at the same time, I don’t wanna like, you know,
Sevan Matossian (10:32):
I was just think it’s such an, it’s such an intimate sport. It’s so it’s so crazy. Like some of those videos you guys have on the, um, uh, uh, on, on your website, on the B team website, you guys showed just a lot of, just like one on one, just guys rolling and just kind of being patient with each other and working. And it’s like, it’s, I mean, your body, like, I’m not that intimate with my wife. I mean, you are like pressed up against someone now that I think about it too. The, the, the women that I see training at my, not the little kids, but the women that I see training at the academy that my kids go do, I’ll usually see them training with the same men over and over. It’s probably like men that they feel comfortable with men who aren’t like creeping on ’em and shit. And, and it seems like most of the girls are really attractive too. There’s there’s not like, I don’t know. Yeah. I guess maybe just cuz they’re healthy fit girl.
Jacob Rodriguez (11:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. It’s uh, it varies also just like let them roll with who they wanna roll with some, some people in general, some people like don’t feel safe, rolling with some people like, oh, this guy might like try to hurt me or whatever. So go roll with who you feel, but like safer with you. You don’t want to be like overly cautious of like, like if I get an arm bar, like, like if Craig armbars me and I’m gonna like take extra like 10 seconds to try to escape, like I, I know he has my arm fully extended. I know he, he could break my arm in a second, but I feel comfortable with, with him, you know, he’s, he’s a safe person to roll with. He’s not just gonna rip my arm. He’s gonna let me try to escape and stuff like that. So
Sevan Matossian (12:08):
There’s, there’s tr there’s trust there. Yes.
Jacob Rodriguez (12:09):
Yes. That’s that’s uh, there’s a lot of trust in BT in, in general.
Sevan Matossian (12:13):
Is that unspoken or, um, like you just like you learn that through, um, having those moments with those guys or, or do they tell you head of class? Okay. Jackass is no one hyper extends someone’s arm.
Jacob Rodriguez (12:24):
Yeah. I mean, uh, like some classes like at the, when we first started training at B team, uh, and they started doing the classes stuff. There’s like certain rules at B team, just so no one gets hurt. There’s a lot of common, uh, things, common moves that people try to do that, uh, could lead to injury. Um, so like something like a, like a scissor sweep, it’s not really, uh, allowed at BT B because there’s like, you basically, you’re dropping your entire body on their knee and if you do it wrong, it could, there could be like serious injury. So,
Sevan Matossian (13:01):
So if you’re gonna practice that with someone it’s just you and the other person will go off to the side and be like, okay, Hey, we we’re gonna practice this just intelligently. Yes. Because it still has to be practiced. Right?
Jacob Rodriguez (13:10):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you plan on putting it, you know, using in your arsenal then definitely. But, uh, it’s, it’s more of a, what you and your partner are, are comfortable with.
Sevan Matossian (13:23):
Um, you’re, you’re in Jersey right now.
Jacob Rodriguez (13:25):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:26):
But home for you is Austin. You’re there.
Jacob Rodriguez (13:28):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:29):
And, and do you live with your brother?
Jacob Rodriguez (13:31):
Yeah, so I, I live with Nick, uh, right now I’m just like with, at my parents’ house.
Sevan Matossian (13:37):
Um, because just visiting vacation or spring break or,
Jacob Rodriguez (13:42):
Uh, was just visiting family, seeing my, my family and my, uh, girlfriend.
Sevan Matossian (13:46):
Oh, oh, you got one of those too? Yeah. Holy cow. What does she think about? Um, all of a sudden, well, let me go back a second. We’ll come to her. I gotta get right. A girlfriend. And I wanna talk about the purple belt too. Yeah. I mean, you you’re a blue belt before you were a purple belt.
Jacob Rodriguez (14:01):
Uh, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (14:02):
And how long did you have your blue belt?
Jacob Rodriguez (14:05):
Um, I had my blue belt. Got, I don’t, I don’t know. Less than a year. Like,
Sevan Matossian (14:13):
So you got it there at the B team? No,
Jacob Rodriguez (14:15):
I had gotten it when I was training here in Jersey. I, I had moved to Texas and started training maybe like six or seven months ago with B team. But uh, maybe like a, a year before that I started training jujitsu and I maybe two or three months into training. I had gotten my blue belt
Sevan Matossian (14:36):
Do, how do do adults go? They go white,
Jacob Rodriguez (14:39):
Uh, white, blue, purple brown. And then black.
Sevan Matossian (14:44):
Okay. You guys, my kids. I think there’s like two whites, three gray. Then there’s a yellow, then there’s a green and that’s
Jacob Rodriguez (14:51):
Confusing.
Sevan Matossian (14:52):
Yeah. It’s a lot. It’s a lot shit. But I guess they kind of do that just to keep the kids like
Jacob Rodriguez (14:57):
Organized,
Sevan Matossian (14:57):
Engaged, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Else your kid wouldn’t get a belt for like four years.
Jacob Rodriguez (15:00):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:02):
You, at least now they can get like a new belt every year or so. Yeah. So, so tell me, tell me about growing up. What, what, what sports, what were the first at athletic sports things you did?
Jacob Rodriguez (15:13):
Um, so I think I was really, really young. I think the, one of the first few sports I did was, uh, football. I did it for like a year or two. I was really, really young though. And then the flag
Sevan Matossian (15:27):
Football or even,
Jacob Rodriguez (15:27):
Yeah, like,
Jacob Rodriguez (15:29):
Yeah, I think like flag, I, I really, I honestly have no clue. It’s been so long, but, um, I did like a year or two of that. I didn’t really like it. Um, and then Nick started doing wrestling for like a year or two before that. So I saw him, uh, wrestling and I was like, oh, that looks cool. I’ll I’ll do it. Um, and then I was probably like five, six years old when I started or maybe like seven or eight years old when I started doing, um, wrestling, like, uh, for the high school or for the, you know, kids in middle school and stuff like that.
Sevan Matossian (16:09):
And, and did, did you do it because your brother or did it?
Jacob Rodriguez (16:13):
Uh, I did it CU. Yeah, I did it cuz I saw him doing it and he liked it and I wanted to try it. So why not?
Sevan Matossian (16:20):
And he, five years is too old for you to have any like with him, right? No. If you’re, if you’re seven and he’s 12, he’s just mashing you.
Jacob Rodriguez (16:28):
Yeah. So he was like, yeah, I didn’t start training like with thumb until Nick was like a junior or senior in high school and I was in middle school and by the time I was in middle school, I started going to clubs and stuff and I was just like significantly better than all the kids at like my high school. So I started training with the high schoolers. Um, yeah. So that was like when we started like,
Sevan Matossian (16:54):
Wow, that’s interesting. Okay. So sort of the same pedigree, your brother, you, you, you, you really enjoyed wrestling and you had a good wrestling background. Yeah. That footage of your, um, I had never seen it before last night when I was digging through YouTube. Looking for videos of you, I saw that footage of your brother wrestling, um, was in 2021, the black dude who was an Olympic medalist.
Jacob Rodriguez (17:19):
Oh, um,
Sevan Matossian (17:21):
Man, he was good.
Jacob Rodriguez (17:22):
Uh, Jayden Cox.
Sevan Matossian (17:24):
Yeah,
Jacob Rodriguez (17:24):
Yeah, yeah. He’s an animal.
Sevan Matossian (17:27):
Wow. Yeah. A giant like butterfly, like huge and so fast and light. Yes.
Jacob Rodriguez (17:32):
He’s like he was flowing like wall. I was, I remember watching that role in person. It was like, he was so smooth, very smooth.
Sevan Matossian (17:40):
Uh, anyone who hasn’t seen that video or if you have, even if you have no interest in jujitsu wrestling, you should see that it’s two really big guys, uh, coming together. Tell me his name again.
Jacob Rodriguez (17:51):
Uh, Jayden Cox.
Sevan Matossian (17:52):
Okay. I thought he had a French name. Jayden Cox, uh, Jayden Cox and Nikki rod and it’ll pop up and it it’s, it’s pretty cool. So, so then you start doing wrestling and then eventually you become a wrestling coach?
Jacob Rodriguez (18:04):
Uh, no. No. Okay. Uh, I was wrestling, uh, I wrestled middle school and then I, I wrestled high school and then right after, uh, high school season had ended, um, I planned on going to jujitsu cuz by that time Nick was like a year or so in jujitsu and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with like college or like the rest of my life. Really. I and I saw Nick was like blowing up in, in Jisu and I was like, I’m a good wrestler. Why can’t I do that? Um, so the plan was right after the resting season end ended, uh, it had, uh, COVID had, had happened like the pandemic. So, um, there was, you know, we to stay all, all the gyms, clothes and stuff, so I couldn’t train. And then while that had happened, I got a job with my dad. I saved up some money and stuff. And a few months after that I started like training full time jujitsu.
Sevan Matossian (19:03):
How, how, how long did you take off between um,
Jacob Rodriguez (19:08):
Um,
Sevan Matossian (19:09):
Did you get fat at?
Jacob Rodriguez (19:11):
Uh, I didn’t get fat, but my cheeks were a little bit thicker, you know?
Sevan Matossian (19:15):
Um, what did, what did you do to stay in shape during that time? You must have you needed something didn’t you?
Jacob Rodriguez (19:19):
I, I didn’t train at all. Uh,
Sevan Matossian (19:21):
I had not even gym rat shit. Not even like a salt bike or bench press nothing. No.
Jacob Rodriguez (19:26):
I mean like I like probably lift here, there, but it was just like, my dad works so much. He’s crazy. Like we would,
Sevan Matossian (19:35):
What’s the job. What’s your dad do?
Jacob Rodriguez (19:37):
So he works at a warehouse. Um, and now he’s like, he like, uh, like runs a warehouse basically. But, um, he will like, the job is like at like say it’s eight, eight in the morning. Like job starts at eight. Everyone gets there at eight he’s there by six and it’s like two hours away. So we’re up at four driving two hours. We get there at six, he’s doing extra work. And then on top of that, we leave, uh, at the, at the same time as everyone else, maybe an hour late than everyone else. So we’re doing like three or more hours than everyone else. And I’m just like, I was, it’s crazy how much my dad works. He’s he’s insane.
Sevan Matossian (20:25):
And then you get home and you’re and you you’re exhausted.
Jacob Rodriguez (20:27):
I was dead. I was dead. We get home and he wants to do like other stuff and I’m like, dude, I need sleep. I need
Sevan Matossian (20:34):
Sleep. Oh man. Um, so you, and then at some point you’re like, I ha I’ve had enough of this. I’m gonna, I’m gonna try to, I’m gonna try, I’m gonna save money and I’m gonna, I’m gonna somehow make the, get a bus ticket, make the leap to Austin.
Jacob Rodriguez (20:48):
Yeah. So, uh,
Sevan Matossian (20:50):
Is he, is he egging you on, is Nicky egging you on like, yo dude, you gotta come out here or is, is he kind of like taking to leave it?
Jacob Rodriguez (20:57):
Yeah, so he, like when he got there, uh, he wasn’t telling me like before he had moved, but when he moved, uh, like a week or so into when he moved, he was like, dude, you, you have to come here. Like he, he really wanted me to come. So, uh,
Sevan Matossian (21:17):
For him or for you or for both, is he like missing his family and missing his brother? Or is he like, dude, I love my brother. And there’s great opportunity. He’s gotta get on this bandwagon too. Yeah, I
Jacob Rodriguez (21:26):
Think was mainly the, the opportunity thing because training is so good out there, but uh, also, you know, family, he misses his family. We all miss our family when, when we’re in Texas. So
Sevan Matossian (21:39):
Yeah. Um, I thought, I, I thought I heard somewhere. You were a wrestling coach. You never, you never taught at the high school or the junior high?
Jacob Rodriguez (21:47):
No, I’m mean I taught like when, uh, at studio 84, which was when I first started training it, that was like the first place I, I trained at in Jersey. That’s
Sevan Matossian (21:57):
That’s in where in Jersey?
Jacob Rodriguez (21:59):
It was in north Jersey or I guess like central Jersey, but it it’s closed now. Okay.
Sevan Matossian (22:04):
But,
Jacob Rodriguez (22:05):
Um, I had taught like a few classes or like right and classes here and there.
Sevan Matossian (22:10):
And did you like teaching?
Jacob Rodriguez (22:12):
Uh, it was alright. I I’m, it was like my first time ever teaching, so I was kind of like nervous and like, didn’t know how to slow things down, but um, I think actually being in Texas and like watching the guys teach and like just learning from them in general is, uh, like a good influence cuz I, they take things slow and like explaining things to people like, uh, like they’ve never heard of is like a good way to go about it because there’s a lot of details people can miss and uh, just going slower in general helps a lot. And I’m trying, trying to like replicate that in my teaching.
Sevan Matossian (22:51):
I, I, when I, yesterday I saw a video I hadn’t seen of your brother before, also where he was, he was talking about his training and basically saying that he does that. It seems like he really like will just sit, sit down with another guy on the mat and they’ll just work on one really specific thing at a time.
Jacob Rodriguez (23:07):
Yeah. So there’s like a lot of stuff off in jujitsu that can be easily overlooked, especially like as a wrestler, you’re just like, oh, I’m just gonna like, uh, like work this guy, like beat him up and then take him down whatever. But there’s a lot of technical stuff that goes into it, honestly. And it’s crazy to think about when you, like, there’s so much stuff that I’ve or realize that I see now that I’m with like, you know, the people I’m with Craig Jones, Nikki Ryan, like these guys have so much technique and I have no clue what’s going on and they’re just like loves above everyone else. And that’s, that’s where I’m trying to be.
Sevan Matossian (23:47):
Can you gimme an example? Is it, is it like if you’re dealing with the arm and how the wrist is going or is it like which toe you grab when you grab the foot? Or is it like, is it
Jacob Rodriguez (23:55):
Yeah. So like a difference from like, so say, uh, I’m on someone’s back, right. And your hand fighting and I’m trying to get there, their neck, uh, one thing, like the way you grab someone where you grab someone’s hand. So say, uh, my left hand is, uh, like trying to, to defend and they’re on my back. If they take their hand and grab here on my wrist, uh, I can, it’s a little bit easier for me to push out, but if they’re grabbing here, it’s, it’s much harder. For some reason you have much more control here. It’s like, uh, the longest end of the, the lever is easier to, to control compared to, to, to this. Yeah. So little things like that all over in every position. And I’m just trying to like take everything in, you know,
Sevan Matossian (24:50):
Is, is it hard not to overtrain there?
Jacob Rodriguez (24:53):
Um, it I’m
Sevan Matossian (24:55):
Just cause you’re so excited.
Jacob Rodriguez (24:57):
Yeah. So like,
Sevan Matossian (24:58):
Like when you spend too much time with the girlfriend, like leave her house and you call her right away, you know what I mean?
Jacob Rodriguez (25:04):
Yeah. So it’s, it’s kind of, yeah, it kind of is, um, we try to do, uh, like, like always one session a day, sometimes two, if not two, maybe we’ll we will lift or something, but um, there’s like three classes. And like, like for example, I had one day I had gone to, uh, I went to an 8:00 AM class and then, uh, Nikki Rodd had gone to, uh, the noon class and I, I was like, okay, I’m just gonna go see the gym while he’s at the noon class. Um, and then after I was done at the gym, they’re still training. I come back and I see them altern. I’m like, damn, I really want to train, like all these guys are having fun. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of difficult.
Sevan Matossian (25:56):
And, and, and do you guys police each other or, or I, I guess, especially you, did you feel like your brother looks out for you more than the other guys? Like he’s like, Hey dude, Hey dude.
Jacob Rodriguez (26:05):
Um, no, I mean, it’s, it’s all kind of equal, you know?
Sevan Matossian (26:11):
I mean, you, you, in that, in that tournament that we saw the, um, the a D C trials, you went at 88 kilograms. How many pounds is that?
Jacob Rodriguez (26:19):
Um, I think 88 is like one 90 or 1 95, something like that. So
Sevan Matossian (26:25):
You’re big.
Jacob Rodriguez (26:26):
Um, I’m not that big. Uh, I weighed in at like, it went like 83, 82 kilograms. So I was really light for the weight class. Like most people cut, cut weight, so right. A lot of the people I was, I was fighting, they were like 200 plus pounds and I walk around like 180, 180 5. So I was already giving up like maybe 10 pounds.
Sevan Matossian (26:50):
Why not go down a weight class too, too low?
Jacob Rodriguez (26:53):
77 was 1 69. And I didn’t feel like cutting the extra 10 pounds. I’ve cut weight all my life. I’m just like kind of tired of it. And also 77 was stacked. Like all the weight classes are stacked. There’s like over 200 people in every weight class. It’s, it’s, there’s gonna be some really difficult matches either way, but 77 had people like you, uh, Andrew Tackett, uh, or not Andrew, uh, willing Tackett one at 77. There’s Andy Vare. Uh there’s. There’s so many people, PGA bars. There’s so many like studs at 77 and 66 is 66 as well. Like Keith Corian, Damien and Anderson. Like there’s so many good people, uh, especially the, the lighter you go, you have to be more technical. And I thought the way my style is like resting wise and stuff, I think I thought I would be better at 88.
Sevan Matossian (27:51):
And in the trials, are you only separated by weight? Like, so there’s white belts, black belts just everyone’s in there.
Jacob Rodriguez (27:57):
Yeah. So there is no belt, like, uh, separation thing. And it’s only weight classes, which is, is great. You know, there’s I, GF is like, oh, blue belt worlds, uh, purple belt worlds. It’s uh, but like, then you see the, the people like me, I’m a blue belt beating black belt. So it’s like, does it really matter? It, it really doesn’t matter
Sevan Matossian (28:23):
What, what’s the argument to that, like, to, to someone, like, if I wanted to fight with you, what would I say to you? Be like, no, of course they matter, blah, blah, blah. Like, what’s the right.
Jacob Rodriguez (28:30):
I mean, the, only to me, right. To me, it’s like, um, the belt is O only, the only thing the belt means is how long you’ve been in, in the, how long you’ve been training to do.
Sevan Matossian (28:47):
So if you see a black belt, you know, he is like 10 or 15 years. Yeah,
Jacob Rodriguez (28:50):
Yeah. He’s bound to have like 10 or so years in, in jujitsu. Um, you see a blue bow. He’s like, okay, this guy’s new to jujitsu, but a blue belt can still fuck you up. So, right. Really doesn’t matter. Like I’m a blue belt technically, or technically I’m a purple belt, but I, I have, like, I have, uh, grappling experience, like all my life I’ve I’ve wrestled, but at the same time, it’s not like there’s so many high level wrestlers that don’t like that can’t tra transition into. Jisu like me and my brother have like, uh,
Sevan Matossian (29:27):
They cannot,
Jacob Rodriguez (29:28):
They can’t like it’s, I don’t know what it is. We like, uh, they just like, there, there might be better wrestlers than us. You know what I mean? Like, uh, I think pat, pat Downey was, um, at the, the last trials and he, like, he got subbed or something like it’s, there’s so many good, like really talented wrestlers that can’t transition into, um, ju JSU, like we have
Sevan Matossian (29:58):
Pat Downey, uh,
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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