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BJJEE Rising Stars: Slovenia’s Miha Perhavec

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Miha Perhavec is a very deicated BJJ competitor that is taking the European BJJ and grappling circuit by storm. This soft spoken and humble individual is a killer on the mats. In this interview withBJJ Eastern Europe, Miha talks about what motivates him, his academy, BJJ in Slovenia and his upcoming erasmus exchange to Poland where he will be training at Alliance Warsaw:

1. Hi Miha, can you please introduce yourself to the BJJ Community of Eastern Europe? 

Hi, my name is Miha Perhavec, I’m from Kranj, Slovenia. I’m 21 and a blue belt in jiu jitsu. I’m also a student, I have one year left till my diploma in international relations. I train at Alliance »Red Eagle« Slovenia, under Neven Polajnar where I do both BJJ and MMA. My main titles are 3rd places in middleweight and absolute division at 2012 IBJJF European No-Gi Open, 2nd place from this years European No-gi in Rome, 3rd place at middleweight and gold in absolute at IBJJF Rome Open. I was also 4th at ADCC 2012 European Championship in Ljubljana… I also have an amateur MMA record of 11-1 with 10 first round submissions.

2. Please tell us about your Jiu-Jitsu story

I have always had a passion for martial arts, so I started training judo at age 9. I’ve trained it for about seven years and got my 1. degree black belt at age 16. I’ve always enjoyed the ne-waza aspect of it a bit more and lost passion for judo towards the end. I was a huge fan of MMA, so I wanted to try my hand at it at a local school. My first training I got knocked silly, but still loved it. I was told, that the training revolves around BJJ and that I should bring my gi and try it. After overcoming the shock of people with one year of training taking my back and choking me left and right I fell in love with it and I truly believe, this is something I will do for life.

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3. You have really blown up on the regional competition scene in the past year taking gold medals left and right. What triggered your success?

My success was triggered by first having a very competent coach in Neven and good sparring partners. It also has a lot to do with me dedicating a lot of aspects of my life to BJJ and not looking back. I sacrifice a large part of my social life, to be able to train eight or nine times a week. A small contribution is also my passion for healthy food and nutrition, that helps me recover and get stronger. I never let myself get out of shape as I find it easier than, having off seasons. Most of all I believe it is extremely important to compete as frequently as possible, at the highest possible level, to get experience, that is unachievable in the gym and to test yourself against the best.

4. Please tell us about your academy in Slovenia, Alliance Red Eagle.

My academy is relatively young, as it is just four years old. It was opened by aformentioned Neven Polajnar at request of Romero »Jacare« Cavalcanti, the famous Alliance founder. We have since expanded to three locations (Kranj, Ljubljana and Jesenice), where it is possible for each member to train up to ten times a week. We also work closely with Alliance »Black Dragon« in Zagreb, Croatia, which is run by Fabio Gurgel black belt Dubravko Čolić.

Alliance Red Eagle Slovenia

Alliance Red Eagle Slovenia

5. Last weekend, you got golds at the IBJJF Rome Open and European No Gi Please guide us through your matches.

Actually I got one of each medals in the end. At the Rome open I had my first fight against a very tall dude, that I finished with a modified guillotine. In my second I faced a very strong, short, stocky fighter against whom I made a big tactical mistake and found myself looking towards the ceiling with him on my back after a minute. I had to reach deep and get out of the horrible position and I choked him with a cross choke. My third fight was against a tough Italian guy and I won by an advantage. In the semi-final I lost to a guy named Michael Thomas I think.
In the absolute division I first beat a guy from the ultra heavy division I think, by bow and arrow. My second fight was against a tought Greek, I won 5-2. Semifinal fight was versus Stas Varshavsky, a monster from Moscow, who was beating be about 10-2, until I caught him with a baseball bat choke in the last seconds. The finals were versus a guy from Alliance Germany, also from the -94kg division. He was winning by 2 advantages and I tapped him with a triangle choke, literally in the last five seconds.
At No-Gi Euros I was free in the first round, won my first fight by arm triangle choke, second by brabo choke. In the semifinals I beat a Greek fighter by 2-0, from a double leg. In the finals, I once again faced Thomas, stupidly gave him my back and got choked.
As luck would have it, the computer paired us together for third time in the first fight of the absolute. I was determined to die, before losing to him again and I scored first, had him in a really tight guillotine, but ultimately lost by advantages. These loses make me happy in a way as they give me even more motivation to improve and to never let this happen again.

6. What is next for you and your team in 2013?

My team will surely grow stronger, once more prove to be by far the best team in Slovenia and among the best in the region. I think some of our guys also have what it takes to make it at bigger IBJJF events. As for me I plan to train even harder, improve. I made the decision, to use the Erasmus program, to study abroad. A sneaky way to say I’m moving, to train at Alliance Warsawa for 10 months under guys like Radek Turek and Kamil Uminski (with whom I spoke about it). I would be most happy, to be able to afford a trip to the Worlds and as many IBJJF events as possible, train around the world.

7. If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free

Big shout-out to my teammates at Alliance Slovenia, the guys at Alliance Croatia, all my friends! Also make sure to check out my sponsor Scramble (www.scramblestuff.com), they make awesome gis, rashguards and everything jiu jitsu.
Also shout-out to BJEE, I’ve been a reader from the first days and I think it’s important to acknowledge the contributions of this site, not only to grappling in our region, but globally!
OSS!

8. Thanks Miha and all the best!

Thanks a lot!