Allycia Rodrigues, the reigning atomweight Muay Thai world champion at ONE Championship, has started laying the groundwork for a transition to MMA.

In a recent interview with ONE, Rodrigues confirmed that she’s been training Jiu-Jitsu in preparation for a potential move into the cage:

I always go back to training Jiu-Jitsu after a fight.
Obviously, I need to keep up my Muay Thai training routine as well, but when I don’t have a fight scheduled, I can fit in Jiu-Jitsu training.

And the best part is that I train both Jiu-Jitsu and MMA at my gym, Phuket Fight Club.
This makes it easier to fit training into my routine.

While she hasn’t made a full switch yet, Rodrigues is already incorporating grappling into her schedule between Muay Thai bouts.

Her Brazilian roots and gym environment give her access to experienced training partners, which makes the transition more manageable:

My husband, Jose Neto, helps me a lot with my training, but there’s also Leonardo Souza, who is the Jiu-Jitsu teacher at Phuket Fight Club.

But there are other teachers and training partners, and it’s always great to train with all of them because they all help me a lot.
I only train MMA in the morning. In the afternoon, I train Muay Thai.

Still just 26 years old, Rodrigues has time on her side.
But even so, she admits that adapting to the new discipline hasn’t been easy:

It’s very different. Jiu-Jitsu, since I don’t have much experience, requires me to use a lot of strength, and that really wears me out.
In Muay Thai, my body is already adapted to the training.

So I think that’s the main difference today, and it’s what makes Jiu-Jitsu training so difficult and challenging for me.

 

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