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BJJ world champion Augusto Tanquinho Mendes recently made his UFC debut and lost to Cody Garbrandt by TKO.

Tanquinho recently spoke with Tatame, and revealed that unlike many BJJ champions, he didn’t move to MMA because of lack of funds in BJJ, he actually was making a good living as a pro BJJ athlete.

Tanquinho took the opportunity to praise the financial aspect of Jiu-Jitsu in general, some organizations have been able to improve the cash prizes to athletes, as IBJJF recently made ​​and UAEJJF is already putting into practice for some time, with good cash prizes ​​offered the fighters. Tanquinho told Tatame:

“When I made the transition to MMA, I made a lot more money in BJJ. I had just been world champion in the Gi at black belt, so definitely Jiu-Jitsu gave more return me. But I wanted to test myself and have new challenges and motivations, and that’s what I did. I want to be world champion in MMA as well.

“It’s improving a lot. Of course it can improve further, but we are in the process. I believe IBJJF and UAEJJF are doing a great job, and gradually, athletes are more professional and act like professionals. It is not good for people to criticize the federation to reward more if athletes are poorly educated and still acting like amateurs, “

Jiu-Jitsu has always been a sport completely dominated by Brazilian athletes, but over the years foreign talent have started to win some major event . Tanquinho sees the rise of “gringos” being due to a greater dedication in training:

“Brazil has the talent but has laziness as well. The gringos, in general, have the mindset to work hard, because of that the result appears, and because of that, they will conquer Jiu-Jitsu, especially now that most of the great Jiu-Jitsu instructors and champions are here in the US teaching them. So it’s a matter of time before they dominate the Brazilians. Of course there are exceptions … they have several Brazilians who know the importance of training hard and train as much or even more than the gringos, so we are still champions. I believe that those who want to succeed in the sport have to devote to it and train hard, because, for example, I have never seen someone be world champion in IBJJF in black belt without being very well trained … the same thing in the other belts. it has to be more professional in everything from food to scheduling training, respect on the mat, to conduct at the competitions … It is the evolution of the sport. “