The BJJ Mental Coach Podcast with Gustavo Dantas

Augusto "Tanquinho" Mendes is the co-founder of the Soul Fighters Jiu-Jitsu Association, the 2019 ADCC World Champion and IBJJF Black Belt World Champion Gi & No-Gi. He shared that his discipline is a habit that he practices daily, and it's responsible for his success on and off the mats. He shared his ADCC experience, and my takeaway from the interview was when he talked about being hone...

Rory Singer is a third-degree black belt, a former UFC Fighter, and the co-owner of SBG Gym in Athens, Georgia. He talked about the importance of not comparing yourself to others. He also shared that you shouldn't try to reinvent the wheel, look for help, find mentors or people that can help with your journey. My takeaway from the interview came at the beginning of the conversation when I asked hi...

Roli Delgado is a third-degree black belt. Roli owns multiple martial arts schools, along with being a real estate agent and investor in Little Rock Arkansas. He talked about how jiu-jitsu teaches you how to handle failure better than any sport. He mentioned the similarity of dealing with undesired outcomes in jiu-jitsu and business experiences.  When I asked him about a piece of advice to sh...

Adem Redzovic is a third-degree black belt and the owner of three jiu-jitsu schools in the Chicago area and several other affiliated schools worldwide. He shared his mindset of the early days of his business, which was "There is no plan B", we have to make it. He talked about the importance of having a mission statement for your business, and my takeaway from the interview came when I asked him ab...

Ricardo Tubbs is a black belt and the owner and instructor at Da Firma Training Center as well as Da Firma Kimono Company. Ricardo did a great breakdown of the thirteen leadership principles from Collin Powell's book "It worked for me". He also talked about the importance of preparation. My takeaway came from the interview came when he spoke of "Giving back to the community," which inspired me to...

Brian Edwards is a first-degree black belt an the owner of Swampfox Jiu-Jitsu in Florence, South Carolina. He is also the owner of Brian Edwards Insurance Agency and Brian Scott Properties. He talked about the dedication and discipline necessary to run multiple businesses while raising five daughters with his wife. My takeaway from the interview came when he talked about Goal Setting, which inspir...

Today we have 2nd degree-black belt Malachy Friedman. Malachy is the owner of the ATT (American Top Team) Lowcountry in Charleston, South Carolina.   We talked about entrepreneurship, life, and we talked a lot about jiu-jitsu. Teaching and studying jiu-jitsu, Mindset, visualization, and injuries.   He has struggled with multiple delicate neck surgeries; however, his passion for teaching...

Welcome to episode 84, today we have the second-degree black belt Danny Savery. He is the owner and head instructor of Danny Savery BJJ academy. Danny also has 15 years' experience in law enforcement. He talked about his challenging transition of being a police officer to being a full-time academy owner, and the passion and dedication that it takes to start your own business. My takeaway from the...

Gustavo Gasperin is a 3rd-degree black belt under Fabricio Werdum. He is a three-time No-Gi Master IBJJF World Champion. Gustavo is the mind behind the website MMA Leech which is aimed at bringing BJJ and MMA content that includes multiple online courses and great free content to the obsessed student. He talked about the early struggling days of the MMA Leech and the persistence involved to take h...

Josh McLane is a blue belt from Robson Moura and the owner of Dogtopia of Westchase, a dog daycare located in Tampa, Florida. He talked about being passionate about your business; he shared the struggles that he and his wife found at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. My takeaway from the interview came when he shared about finding your strengths and focus on it, which inspired me to...

Welcome to the BJJ Mental Coach Podcast GD Thoughts.  This is the first time since May 2018, when I started the podcast, that I chose not to release an interview, but for a great cause. I'm recording this audio in December of 2019 to share with you about my last trip to Brazil where I had the chance to hang out with two incredible superheroes and to bring more awareness about the nonprofit or...

Kit Dale is an Australian Black Belt and the owner of  www.kitdaletraining.com  , which is one of the worlds leading online training resources for BJJ. He spoke about overcoming self-limiting beliefs that held him back for many years, and how mentors helped him through this process. He also talked about the importance of surrounding yourself with likeminded people. My takeaway from this...

Jeremiah Grossman is a jiu-jitsu black belt and serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Bit Discovery. He is a published author writing extensively on computer security. He talked about practicing leadership; he also shared about the importance of balancing work and family time, and my takeaway from the interview came when we talked about failure, which inspired me to title this episode...

Matt Baker is a 3rd-degree black belt, a gold medalist at the 2019 IBJJF Masters World Championships and the owner of two academies in Bakersfield, California. He talked about the passion that is required to run a business, how important it is to keep things simple, and my take away from the interview came when he talked about leadership, which inspired me to title this episode: “Be the lead...

Ari Knazan and Jason Rebsch are Jiu-Jitsu Black Belts and police officers. They are the co-founders of Invictus LEO Jiu-Jitsu Collective. Invictus’ vision is to help police officers and police departments worldwide adopt jiu-jitsu into their defensive training tactics and in turn, get more officers practicing jiu-jitsu. The podcast is dedicated to entrepreneurs, business owners, and high per...

Marcelo Ribeiro is a 4th-degree black belt and the owner of RMA Jiu-Jitsu Academy with two locations in Nolensville, Tennessee. He talked about the importance of consistency in everything you. He also shared about taking risks and my takeaway from the interview came when he said: “ANY CHANGE IS CHALLENGING”, which inspired me to title this episode: “If it doesn’t challenge...

Sean Fong is a brown belt from Gracie Barra, an athlete, Coach, and Motivational Speaker. He was an Australian Para-Olympic swimmer who set a world record in the 100M Butterfly Short Course in para-swimming and He is also a gold medalist at the Abu Dhabi World Pro of Para Jiu-Jitsu. Besides sharing his inspirational story of what happened to him when he was only seven years old that resulted in mi...

John Will is a black belt from Rigan Machado and Australia’s first Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt. He has been an instructor to various law enforcement and military organizations throughout the world and consults and delivers instructor training for more than 100 schools worldwide. He talked about some of the lessons that he learned from jiu-jitsu, He shared about the importance of knowing what you wa...

Vicente Junior is a 4th Degree Black Belt and the co-founder of BJJ Conquest, which has multiple academies in Maryland. He talked about running his association in the U.S. and in Brazil, he also shared about the importance of treating your business like is a business instead of a hobby, otherwise, you will be compensated financially as a hobby. And my take away from the interview came when we talk...

Hannette Stack is an IBJJF Hall of Fame and Co-Founder of Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu. She talked about how jiu-jitsu teaches you how to become more resilient in life; we talked about the growth and the fixed mindset and my takeaway from the interview came when I asked her how was her mindset when she came to pursue her dream in the United States, and her answered inspired me to title this epis...

Guy and Rob Pendergrass are black belts from Gustavo Machado and they are co-owners and operators of the Pendergrass Academy of Martial Arts. This was the first time I interviewed two people at the same time, and I believe that you will enjoy this format. They shared their thirty years of Martial Arts experience, they talked about treating your business like a business, not as a hobby. And My main...

Michael Zenga is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, and the co-founder of BJJ Fanatics, a premier source for instructional digital videos and DVDs in the world. I mentioned during the interview that it was the second time we talked about BJJ Fanatics in the Podcast. The first time was on episode number six when I interviewed the IBJJF Hall of Fame Competitor, Bernardo Faria, who is his business p...

Cris Rodriguez is a 2nd-degree Black Belt. She is the co-owner of Gracie PAC MMA in Tampa, Florida, the founder of Jitz University 2.0 and the CEO of Gro Pro Digital Marketing agency. She talked about the imposter syndrome, the importance of finding a mentor that is living the life you want to live, and the concept of the three “T’s” to success. My takeaway from the interview cam...

Rolles Gracie is a 4th degree Black Belt who owns and operates the Rolles Gracie Academy in Old Bridge, New Jersey and he is the president of Kasai Elite Grappling Championships. He shared how jiu-jitsu is a tool that everyone could use in their lives and that he became a good problem solver because of it. He also talked about how loving what you do won’t necessarily guarantee you success, e...

Marcio “Pe de Pano” Cruz is a 5th-degree black belt, a six-time IBJJF World Champion, ADCC world champion, and a UFC veteran. He owns and operates two academies in Florida. He shared how he transferred his competition mindset to business. He talked about taking responsibility and stopping blaming others for your own mistakes, something that he mentioned he did himself early in his care...