Three times BJJ absolute champion and seven consecutive times world champion on his weigh division, Roger Gracie is the biggest Jiu-Jitsu competitor of all times. Coming from a great performance at his Strikeforce debut and BJJ Worlds, the black belt spoke to TATAME.com about his next goals, his titles and much more. Check below the exclusive interview.

What does it mean to you to have so many titles on the absolute and weight disputes?

Man, to be honest, the feeling of winning this title is the same kind of feeling I had in every title I won. I’ve been dedicating myself to the sport for a long time, so the titles start to pile up… This was the seventh title on the weight dispute and the third on the absolute. The biggest motivations I have to fight aren’t the titles because, if that was the reason, it’d be difficult to keep myself motivated for training for so long… So, I believe that the most import thing is the passion for the sport, the feeling I get every time I’m on the mat, fighting your opponent… I believe it’s priceless, so it’ll keep me fighting for a lot more time.

What makes you different than the other athletes and keeps you on the top for so long?

I’ve always trained a lot, I always try the submission, and I always looked for perfection in Jiu-Jitsu. I’m never satisfied with a win by advantages, I’m not satisfied if I’m not in a good position… No matter the position I was on, I always have in mind a way to get rid of it and a way to try the submission in any position I’m on, I try to mount and to go for my opponent’s back… The fight is good if you move forward. If I didn’t pass his guard completely, I’m not satisfied. I always risk it all, that’s the way I think, so I believe that makes me move forward and always get better positions and submissions.

Last year you submitted all your opponents on World. This year you submitted almost everyone, except your opponent on the weight’s finale and there was no contest on the absolute dispute. How do you see your progress within this year, when you had a MMA fight?

I came here this year knowing I’d be a lot more difficult than last year, I didn’t train for eight weeks with a kimono for this fight and motivation, training and strength are fundamental for this sport. In my mind, this year I had a greater challenge to beat because I knew I wasn’t on my best shape. On the last fight I have no more strengthen on my grip, I was lucky he got tired too (laughs).

Are you coming back to MMA now?

I plan to fight the Worlds every year, if I have some other opportunity I’ll think about it, but I want to fight some MMA too.

And for this year… What are your plans?

Until the end of the year I believe I’ll have one more MMA fight. Maybe in October or November, it’s not set yet, but it’d be on Strikeforce.

What did you think of your first MMA fight, when you submitted your opponent?

It was a mix of what I’ve trained, the strategy I set, everything work out fine, I kept my distance, waited for the right moment to bring him to the ground, and everything went my way.

People are pointing you as the new representative of Gracie’s family not only on Jiu-Jitsu, but also on Submission and now on MMA. Do you agree with them? Do you feel pressured?

I don’t feel the pressure. There’re lot of Gracies that are dedicating and training, they’ll come up, surely they’ll make an appearance. There’s no pressure, I just do my job.

If you are the representative of the family is just a consequence?

No, naturally I carry the name of my family, so I already am a representative of the family, but every member of the family also brings with him our name every time he fights. For me there’s no pressure of representing the family name and that feeling that I have to do things in a certain way… But, of course, I’ll represent my family every time I fight.