Jorge Santiago, JZ's best friend

He was one of the first Brazilians to came to ATT (six years ago). He was also the first Jiu-Jitsu top guy to have courage to spend 3 months in Holland training Muay Today with 23 fights (16 wins and 7 losses), Jorge Santiago (1,85m/84kg) is being pointed as one of toughest guys of 83kg weight division. After four impressive wins in 2007 knocking out tough guys like Andrei Semenov (Bodog Fight), Trevor Prangley and Sean Salmon (Strike Force) and submit the experienced Jeremy Horn (Art of War), the best friend of Gesias Cavalcante, is ready to face another big challenge, the Japanese Yuki Sasaki (21-13-1). Very nice and humble Santiago talked with us right after a hard training session with his Muay Thai trainer Mohamed Owali. Check the conversation in the sequence.

How you started practicing Jiu-Jitsu?
I started training Jiu-Jitsu with Angelo Mandovani (Bustamante’s black belt). He took me to train in Murilo and then I went to AABB and started to train with Libório and when He came here (ATT), He brought me to came with him. By that time I was still a brown belt and had just win the Pan-American JJ championship. I started to train Vale-Tudo when I arrived in ATT, six years ago, when I was only 21 years old. Today I´m 27. Since than I did 23 MMA fights.

I’ve heard you and Gesias are like brothers. Do you live together?
Not now. Now I live in Coconut Creek very close to the academy with my wife and our 8 months old daughter and Gesias is living with his girlfriend. But we always came together to the gym, we have lunch together we do physical train by same time, that’s why people make jokes we are brothers.

I’ve heard you were one of the first Jiu-Jitsu fighters to improve the stand up skills in ATT?
When I started to fight in here in Hook´s shoot and AFC events I felt that MMA were improving and to be a top guy I should learn stand up fight, so I decided to go to Holland.

How you decided to go there?
Marco Aurélio went there. He met some guys from Gene Alckman (Drago, Melvin Manhoef, Badahari) and He told me that those guys needed someone to teach them Jiu-Jitsu, so I decided to go. By that time I was really interested about learning Muay Thai so I went there and spent 3 months in there. I taught a lot of Jiu-Jitsu for them but also learned Muay After this, I started to be more comfortable in the stand up fight.

Who was your best Muay Thai teacher in there?
Badahari, a very tall guys that already fought in K-1. I also got very close to Melvin Monhoef, whom I use to teach everyday and also Drago. Those guys I was together everyday. They were very inexperienced on the ground so I taught them in the ground in the morning and they teach me Muay Thai by night time. Today we are very close friends. They always came here to train Jiu-Jitsu with us and we always go there to train Muay Thai with them. Actually they helped Gesias a lot in the fight against Masato. The reflex of this hard train with them could be seen in my last fight. On 2007 I fought four times and won three by knock outs and one by submission. This is result of my train in Holland and also, mainly, by the excellent daily train of our striking trainer Mohamed Owali who is an amazing trainer.

I’ve hear a lot of good things about him. What’s the difference of Ali and the other trainers in your opinion?

He was four times world champion in Muay I should say that He has two very important points. First He teaches Muay Thai for MMA, He is pretty much focused in MMA rules, He don’t prepare his fighters for Muay Thai fights. Also He concerns a lot about improve the technique of each one of his students. Today for example I trained with him twice. In the morning He leaded a sparring stand up train correcting every details of my kicks and punches and tonight I trained only with him. It’s amazing the way He always finds mistakes in little details. When you train with him guy like that you always feel yourself as a beginner, but you also can feel improvement every week when you fight your partners in the ring.

What’s the difference of Muay Thai for MMA?
The fighter way of walking in the ring, the hand guard (because MMA glove are smaller) has to be closer. He also joined very well wrestling sprawls with knee clinching and He took away a little bit of the kicks, so I should say that his striking classes are pretty much focused in Boxing and the right way to move in the ring. Leg kicks are probably 40% of his drills.

What’s the secret of ATT?
I should say that the union between Andre Benkei (physical trainer), Ricardo Libório (ground trainer) and Ali (Muay Thai) is a perfect union. Besides being excellent professionals they make ATT like a family. Here there is no ego. Everybody is treated the same way. Even with all this excellent structure I should say that this family climate is the most important in our team.

What about Wrestling. Don’t you have someone taking care of take downs in the team?
Today we are working with Mike brown and Carmello, but I heard Libório is trying to bring a top guy, probably Darrel Gohlar.

What about your next opponent, the Japanese Yuki Sasaki?
We were going to fight when I were the champion of Strike Force tournament. It was supposed that we fight in the first fight of the tournament, but He had some problem with his medical exams in Japan  and He could not fight, so I fought the alternate Sean Salmon (UFC fighter). Now I’m happy that we will finally have the opportunity to fight in Japan, a place that I always dreamed to fight.

What do you think about him?
I liked very much his fight against Dean Lister I was in UFC in that day. He is a very tough guy to be submitted in the ground who likes very much the stand up fight. He is Typical Japanese fighter who feels comfortable in any place (stand up or in the ground).

What’s your game plan for this fight?
I have to look other of his fights and try to find a hole in his game, but as far as I could see in his fight against Lister, He is a very tough guy, like most Japanese fighters and I’m expecting a tough fight.

What’s the Japanese fighter you like the most?
I think Kawajiri is the most complete among all Japanese fighter. I admire very much his game. He is good standed up and in the ground. I love to see him fighting.