Targeting ADCC, Bernardo mixes up training

Bernardo tries for sweep on Ceconi in Worlds absolute. Photo: Dan Rod.

The gold never came, but that doesn’t overshadow Bernardo Faria’s excellent performance at the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship. The black belt made it to the heavyweight and absolute finals, only coming up short against Rodolfo Vieira, who ended taking both gold medals. Now the Alliance ace is brushing up his game in Las Vegas and anxiously awaits a shot at the ADCC title. To make it happen, as he states, perhaps he has already deciphered the code to beating Vieira.

Here’s what he had to tell GRACIEMAG.com:

You didn’t get the gold this Worlds but, even so, what do you make of your performance? After all, you did make it to two finals…

Dude, unfortunately I didn’t manage to win it; I lost two finals to Rodolfo, who is to be congratulated, as he had an excellent championship yet again. At the time, over there, I was deeply saddened, as I trained every day to be able to be champion and, unfortunately, this year it didn’t happen. But that’s how it is… Thank God, even though I didn’t win, I did manage to have a good showing, had a lot of matches, beat big-name opponents, and, despite not being champion, I showed some good work, how much I trained, having made it to two finals.

Did you derive any great lesson specifically from this competition?

In my opinion, it all comes down to deserving it, and if Rodolfo has been winning it’s because he deserves it more than the others do. And deserving it isn’t just going to the academy to train, it’s eating right, sleeping well, training a lot, competing a lot, treating everyone well, having support from your family, friends and teachers; so everything is involved. So now all that’s left for me to do is dedicate myself more and more to come up with good results and be deserving of victory next time around.

In your opinion, what will it take to beat Rodolfo? What would be the best route to beating him, perhaps taking him down?

I feel that to beat Rodolfo you have to be well-rounded and preferably take the lead early on. He has really good base and coming from behind against him is really complicated. So, yes, I believe the way to beat him may be to take him down or sweep him early in the match. But to tell the truth, I don’t think there’s one way, it’s about working hard, training a lot, and being even more dedicated. Like I said before, I feel the winner is the one who was more dedicated.

What’s next for you as far as competitions are concerned? Could you be or have you been invited to the ADCC?

After the Worlds I came to Las Vegas for vacation and also to learn from one of the guys who knows most about Jiu-Jitsu that I know: Sergio Penha. He’s even taught a number of Jiu-Jitsu and UFC champions. I’ll stick around here the whole month of June to enjoy the city, train and learn. It’s awesome here. My wholehearted focus for the second half of the year is to compete at the ADCC; it’s always been a dream of mine to participate in an event like that one and I’m doing a lot of No-Gi training. Unfortunately, I haven’t been invited; I’m hoping to. I’d really like to be invited to take part in the under-99kg division. I’m going to train a lot, dedicate myself entirely to No-Gi training to, should an invite arise, go out there, put on a good show, and win it. My biggest battle will be to manage an invitation! I’d like to thank everyone who roots for me, and if anyone wants to contact me, my email is bernardorochajf@yahoo.com.br.