Carlos Diaz discusses WNO, ONE X | Kieran Kichuk Interview | Open GuardCast Jiu-Jitsu Podcast - 130
Welcome to Bloody Elbow Presents the ‘Open GuardCast Jiu-Jitsu Podcast’, which is a project dedicated to promoting jiu-jitsu professionals. Our guests this week are Carlos Diaz and Kieran Kichuk.
Welcome to ‘The Open GuardCast Jiu-Jitsu Podcast’, which is a project dedicated to promoting jiu-jitsu professionals. Tune in each week, Wednesdays at 2pm CST, on our ‘Bloody Elbow Presents Podcast Network’, for interviews, and current events going on in the world of jiu-jitsu and submission grappling!
Your host is Danny O’Donnell. In addition to hosting this podcast, he is an MMA journalist contributing here at Bloody Elbow, as well as at Black Belt Mag. O’Donnell himself is a BJJ black belt who trains at the Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Phoenix, AZ.
Recently, we introduced a jiu-jitsu current events portion of the show. This week we were joined again by our guest Carlos Diaz, a third degree black belt under Rafael Rebello and one of the organizers of this year’s AJP Tour - Orlando.
The current BJJ events discussed were:
- Who’s Number One (WNO) Results and Highlights — At 1:05
- Gordon Ryan taps Jacob Couch via submission (armbar) — At 1:37
- Mica Galvao def. Dante Leon via unanimous decision — At 10:36
- No-gi match debut: Nicholas Meregali def. Arnaldo Maidana via submission (armbar) — At 14:58
- Haisam Rida def. Elder Cruz via submission (rear-naked choke) — At 21:28
- Keith Krikorian def. Gabriel Sousa via unanimous decision — At 25:12
- Sophia Cassella def. Jessica Crane via submission (heel hook) — At 31:01
- Luke Griffith def. Joe Dierkhising via submission (rear-naked choke) — At 33:59
- David Garmo def. Benji Silva split decision — At 37:08
- Review of the event overall and possible next matches — At 39:21
2. One X (ONE Championship’s Tenth Anniversary Event)— At 46:32
- Atomweight Submission Grappling Match: Mei “V.V” Yamaguchi & Danielle Kelly battle to a unanimous draw — 46:42
- Middleweight Submission Grappling Match: Reinier “The Dutch Knight” De Ridder and Andre “Deco” Galvao battle to a unanimous draw — 49:08
3. Upcoming Events — At 59:32
- West Coast ADCC Trials - April 2nd-3rd — At 59:32
- IBJJF PanAms - April 6th-10th — At 59:47
- AJP Tour Orlando - April 16th — At 1:00:26
Our guest interview this week was with Kieran Kichuk
This week Danny’s guest for the interview portion was Kieran Kichuk. Kieran is a black belt under Team Lloyd Irvin and recently won the Emerald City Invitational 155 lb. tournament. We discussed his big win at the event, how he got started in martial arts, learning the leg lock game, and having competitive success later in his career. — At 1:00:27
*Disclaimer: The audio connection for Kieran was poor — so he does cutout throughout the interview every so often, but for the most part it is intact, so we are publishing it with this disclaimer that these issues were outside of our control — due to his connectivity issues. We apologize for that.
Q1: How did you get started in martial arts and jiu-jitsu? — At 1:00:46
Q2: Did you ever try MMA since you were a GSP fan or train strictly jiu-jitsu? — At 1:02:12
Q3: Did you start competing in jiu-jitsu right away too? — At 1:02:55
Q4: What was it like competing and training in Canada growing up? — At 1:03:22
Q5: Who were some of the black belts you looked up to when you first starting competing and were watching competition footage? — At 1:04:39
Q6: What drew you to Team Lloyd Irvin? — At 1:05:32
Q7: At what point in your jiu-jitsu journey did you start training with the team? — At 1:06:32
Q8: At what point in your jiu-jitsu career did you start having success in high level competitions? — At 1:07:25
Q9: Did you dive into heel hooks and leg locks early on or pick it up later along the way? — At 1:08:23
Q10: Did learning heel hooks have a big impact on your competitive success? — At 1:10:09
Q11: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into the heel hook game and leg locks, how should they approach that situation? — At 1:11:20
Q12: What was something that helped get you over that hump of not caring when you got submitted during training? — At 1:12:22
Q13: Did learning heel hooks have a big impact on your competitive success? — At 1:10:09
Q14: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into the heel hook game and leg locks, how should they approach that situation? — At 1:11:20
Q15: What was something that helped get you over that hump of not caring when you got submitted during training? — At 1:12:22
Q16: Can you tell us about the qualifying event you had to win to get into the Emerald City Invitational? — At 1:13:59
Q17: Can you talk about each match individually all the way up the bracket to the finals? — 1:16:01
Q18: Was this the biggest amount you ever earned from a competition? — 1:22:30
Q19: What, if anything, has changed in your preparation for the West Coast ADCC Trials compared to the East? — 1:23:46
Q20: Are there any particular matches at the upcoming ADCC’s that you are looking forward to? — 1:24:43
Q21: Who are some of the guys competing at the 170 weight category? — 1:22:30
Q22: Is there anything else competition-wise that you are looking forward to aside from the ADCC’s? — 1:27:42
Q23: You mentioned you have some instructional coming up, tell us about that... — 1:29:00
You can follow Danny on twitter @DannyOD_BJJ, or insta @dannyod_bjj. The show’s insta is @openguardcast, or the same name on Fb. Carlos Diaz can be followed at @losdiaz2531 and the AJP Tour at @ajp_usa and @ajptour & you can follow Kieran Kichuk at @lockandstrangle on Instagram.
Be sure to tune in for next week’s show & learn more about the world of jiu-jitsu, on Wed, April 6th, at 2PM CST, for Episode 131. We will have another fascinating BJJ interview, as well as current events going on in the world of jiu-jitsu and submission grappling!
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