We're Kicking It | The Stories Behind the Legends and warriors of Martial arts greats

Paulo Guillobel Martial Arts | World Jiu-Jitsu Champion & top fighter of his generation.

April 19, 2021 Jose Flores Season 1 Episode 2
We're Kicking It | The Stories Behind the Legends and warriors of Martial arts greats
Paulo Guillobel Martial Arts | World Jiu-Jitsu Champion & top fighter of his generation.
Show Notes Transcript

Jose Interviews Paulo Guillobel as we learn about his  outstanding career in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Winning or going to the finals in almost every tournament he has competed in, he is considered one of the top fighters of his generation.

Paulo was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the birthplace of Jiu-Jitsu. He began his Jiu-Jitsu training in 1988 with Professor Jorge Pereira, a black belt trained by Master Rickson Gracie. In 1996, at the age of twenty-two, Paulo was awarded his black belt. In 1997, Paulo also competed in his MMA competition and came out as champion. At the same time that Paulo was becoming a Jiu-Jitsu expert, he graduated and got a degree in Business from one to the top universities in Brazil. However, his passion for Jiu-Jitsu drove Paulo to keep up with his athletic career and also to begin his career as an instructor.

Toward the end of 1999, Paulo arrived in the United States. He had been invited by the world-renowned Machado family to be part of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team in the USA and to become one of their instructors. After arriving in the U.S., Paulo continued his winning streak in major Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and grappling competitions including the World No-Gi championship, Pan American Championship, U.S. Open, Grappling Games and many others. He is indeed an international master of Jiu-Jitsu. He is now combining his athletic skills with his business skills to teach children and adults.

Today Paulo has opened his own academy in San Clemente and expanded his involvement with the community teaching Jiu-Jitsu and promoting a healthy style of self-defense here in southern California.

  • 2 Times World Champion No Gi 2008 and 2011
  • 6 Times  Pan American Champion: 2015, 2012, 201 1, 2010, 2006 and 2003
  • 5th Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
  • Author of the best seller, Mastering The 21 Immutable Principles Of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu;
  • Certified by International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation
  • Studying BJJ since 1988
  • More than 20 years of teaching (since 1991)
  • Dedicates 100% of his time teaching
  • More than 50 titles as a Competitor
  • Born in Rio de Janeiro, birth place of BJJ
  • Business Degree
  • He is under guidance of 6x World Champion Saulo Ribeiro
  • His hobbies are surf, snowboarding, paintball and chess

Purchase Paulo's Book: Mastering The 21 Immutable Principles Of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Paulo Guillobel GB - 4:17:21, 10.16 PM

Welcome to the working in a podcast where I get the privilege to talk to the legends and words of the martial arts world. Today I am being joined by two time world champion and nogi. Competition. Six time Pan American champion, and author of the best selling book, mastering the 21 immutable principles of presidential

power gamma. Sir, how are you? Welcome to be here. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Wonderful studio, sir. You have an awesome studio. Thank you.

Yeah. So tell me a little about yourself. I'm born and raised in Brazil. Yes. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,

raised over there and then moved here to United States when I was 26. Okay. Started jujitsu in 1988. When I was turning 14, and you know, in the end, everything else, the history we're going to talk about here right now. Yeah. So any reason that you get into jujitsu, or just one day you showed up to a class or what happened there? No, yes, was a reason.

So when I was on 777, great.

Knock, I have a couple friends and neighbors in

one day, this group of people from the eighth grade, decided to look for some people to bully. And one of the kids there.

He knows my cousin. And one time my cousin asked something about me. And I said, I didn't like the guy. You know, I think it was a bully. And no, my cousin end up telling someone that told him right. So basically, the guy started to look for me, the school. And I was like, 13, he was 14. And he has a group of people. And you know, and they found me there. You know, I knew something's going to happen. And then I was okay. Now, man, I had to deal with this at the recess. So yeah, I went there. And then they, they kind of got me and did a couple things, like put me in the pillar and stretched me, you know, and, but the organic growth in front of everybody. And then, of course, was very embarrassing. And at that day was the day that I thought, Man, I have to learn how to defend myself because

at least if that happened, again, I want to take one with me here

to happen again. So that was the beginning.

And then I was looking for, you know, martial arts, you know, and I had some friends there, were doing Jiu Jitsu Jiu Jitsu wasn't

super big in Brazil back then.

But in my neighborhood, we have a couple of schools, great good schools. And so a couple of my friends were training in the place I used to hang out

with Mr. Joyce, period, and invite me over. So

one day, I actually got three other friends to go with me like, like, Okay, let's go together. Because, you know, like, we never been there. And, you know, like, real comfortable going, I wasn't comfortable just walking right in the school that I didn't know any mountain, most people, you know. So we got those guys. And they were start training. And I had a, I had a blast that day. And that day, I realized, okay, I think you're just for me.

And those trends that you have, are these still training or? Yeah, well, well, not all of them.

I started with four

foot one of them. And now I think is a black belt. That one I think, I don't know, I don't know if it's training anymore.

So I don't even remember Want one? Stop for sure.

I think two of them went to the point that they are either got brown belt to black belt.

And actually one of them actually, later down the road that he started he became my student. Oh, yeah. The ones that black belt today because now he's a black belt from somebody else in Brazil, because I moved here and all that, but

you know, what, once I became high rank, and he, you know, I was training more than him. He was training more like, you know, here and there. And one day that, you know, we end up end up being, you know, his instructor folded a bit. Oh, okay. Well, that's pretty awesome. So tell us you arrived at the studio and Riviera, Mr. Riviera. Was your instructor or George period? Oh, okay. Yeah, so he was your instructor. Yes.

That's where you got your black button. Yes. All right. So tell me more about him. How was he?

Well, he you know, he he was a student from the Gracie Academy Hickson Gracie.

When I started jujitsu,

he was he's 10 years older than me. So it was like a younger guy who was

24. And I was not 1314 Yeah. And you know, really good, really good instructor very, he, he really took jujitsu as

a self defense, right? Because back in the days, jujitsu isn't the competitions were there. But you know, just, above all, is a self a form of self defense. So, you know, he was really challenges I when we're kids, right, we were actually that some people think, you know, it was like, they didn't understand the methods that he was using. Because some some of the methods is really like, tough. For example.

He was like, defender of the jujitsu style, right? So if somebody else comes from another style,

I remember that. I was young, I was a yellow belt at a time. So I was like, 14 years old. And then I had some friends that were 14 some 13. And then if somebody comes from another school was like, This guy came and he was like, Oh, I'm karate and then this and that and say, Oh, can karate Okay, so I see this.

See those kids over there? Pick one of them. And then they get a look at the guy look at us. And once you have kids look at them, like pit bulls. And then he picked me and like, Okay, and then he's like, Okay, so we're gonna do this you're gonna go karate on him. And he cannot do anything on you but jujitsu he cannot point you he cannot kick you nothing just jujitsu so there how he was right. So one way and you know, the guy didn't notice so end up not taking down a beat me up a couple of times. But then what took them down a mountain and ended up like getting his arm and then was over. Yeah, but the hell he was. He was.

You know, we like always been challenged by by him by putting him in situations that

you know, we have to actually defend ourselves, you know. And so that was something that I know at the time was kind of scary, but he really helped me because that that gave me a lot of confidence. Yeah, by be able to do that. Like, I can use my martial art to defend myself. You know, I guess guys, even from all the martial arts that I always respect. Yeah. And

it's funny you say that, you know, he picked you from a karate base because I am a blue belt in jujitsu. But I remember the first time I tried it, I was like, there's a whole new world. I was getting dragged left and right. I was like a rag doll to everyone.

After that class, I fell in love.

I love to get to this is awesome. A whole new world. It's super awesome. And I can only imagine what just went through that day with you guys. And one. So going up the ranks. Do you have any Mark? Any favorite rank that you'd like to train under? Like, when you were on a blue? blue belt? product or anybody out that I liked to be at? Yeah. Well,

I in the beginning of real like my yellow belt.

yellow belt from the kid world back then. It was like a big deal.

Of course, orange belt was like oh my god, orange belt. Blue belts are like Oh, man And guys, blue belts. We can didn't see many blue belts around. Yeah, in black belt was like finding unicorns. Oh, right. So we see a black belt was used. It was like, oh, there's a unicorn over there. Because it can you know, there's not many at that time. Now. There's

basically they're the instructors of their schools. And that's it the students are mostly non black belts.

And so I remember when the became blue belt was something significant for me because

I think oh, I achieved that level that and I became a blue belt pretty early with 15.

Like, I was like, Can

a year and a half of jujitsu Oh yeah. Because it was being good it was being held to tournaments and and then my then my, my Sensei, just like

man, I gotta put you there, see what happens and so I went from yellow to blue. And then I for the first tournament I lost, and then I won the second two tournaments in a row and

And I'm okay, I guess I can do that as I speak teenagers. Oh, that was beating adults. Yeah. So blue belt is no belt, I have a lot of good matches. But, of course, I think my answer is kind of the answer that a lot of people have is a purple belt, right? The purple belt when you start like really having fun. You're like, now I have a game. Now I'm actually giving a hard time to the brown belts, to the black belts, you know? So you're then situation that,

you know, you don't have the weight on the back of being a black belt or a brown belt? What you have to shoot enough to really like No, do you know, put a good match against them? So that was a pretty fun belt. And I actually stayed there for a long time.

Well, just so the people can understand. It's not like your traditional martial arts where you rank up certain belt in jujitsu. It takes a while for you to rank up. Yeah. So you've been an instructor? What do you look for in four in order for you to rank up a student? Well,

yeah, look, first get that commitment, right? There's, the student has to have a commitment.

So if you put in a lot of time,

stop putting a certain amount of time and then start working, and then start looking more where he's got like.

So then I start seeing those, you know, the basic techniques that you need to know to

move on to another level, right.

You know, back in the days, I used to compare him training wise, well, how is he training well of those guys, but today? I don't do it that much. Because there's different kinds of students, right. So there's the student competitor, which like a different breed, like this guy's always on the mat training, Workout, do cross training.

And then there's like, the the guy that trains No, you know, like, as a hobby, right? Like it comes in twice, three times a week. I mean, that they they know, the time they come more to the weekly is like four times and

doesn't do a lot of cross training. Jiu Jitsu is everything. So it's hard to compare, you know, they'll be comparing apples and oranges, apples and orange, right? So in that case, that guy doesn't know this to learn his to getting good at jujitsu, he's still, you know, getting the techniques and understanding the techniques. So, you know, so I see the both ways and of the competitor, usually they end up getting faster because they, you know, they learn faster they, because you always focus on Jiu Jitsu. So if you focus on jitsu, 24 hours a day, you're going to get better Yeah, then the guy that just focus every once in a while, but we have also have to keep an eye on those guys do the guys that come like, you know, as a hobby, because they start getting better too. And they also improve the problem achieve the same level, you know, as the competitor guy, but they still going to be addicts, you still can make him into her integrate black belt. Yeah, we follow a knowledge that can pass the knowledge to other people as well. Yeah, and that's, that's pretty interesting. You bring that up, because that is true. You have the people that want to compete, and that are here 24, seven that are non stop. And then you have the people that do it as a hobby, or they just want to learn self defense does. So like you said, Did it take you a while to realize that or were you catching that early on when you started instructing? Well, I have been instructing from since like

93 whole, you know, because I started as a purple belt. I was teaching like the the privately now I teach a group of people in the morning that this class that was like six in the morning, no one wants to teach. And then my my instructor said, Oh, you want to teach

teach six in the morning? I don't care. You know, so with my class, my first group

and then I kept on going from there I never stopped.

Yeah, so I concentrate my say, yeah, it took me a while. But I am already thinking the way I'm saying right now for the last recent maybe

almost 20 years, you know, so he changed at one point he changed

but, you know, it wasn't right away right away. I was making like, just considering like, all this guy's stuff. He's got to get knocked out. So this guy got a weight and this guy go, you know, yeah, but I start realizing that people differently have different reasons and what I think what I was what I thought at the time, there wasn't as stuff

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