Judo black belt and BJJ black belt and 2015 world and ADCC Open weight pro champion Claudio Calasans talks to BJJ Eastern Europe about the stand up game in BJJ, why he likes to pull guard, his toughest opponets and much more:

Hi Claudio, you have a very good standup game but we have seen you pull guard many times in recent years. Why is that?

Before I normaly started my fights on top and doing a lot of stand up, but then I started working on my guard to surprise my opponents. Since then every time I go to my Guard, I got better and got better confidence at playing on my back, so now I can choose to throw or play guard depending on my opponent.

As an ex top Judoka what is your opinion on the current Judo rules with all the restrictions for grips and less time for the ground?

In reality now they allow again more time for the judo athletes to fight on the ground. In my opinion this restriction of rules goes against the evolution of the standup fight; and at the end of the day that makes all the fights be a bit repetitive.

In your opinion, is it better for a Jiu-Jiteiro in order to improve his standing Jiu-Jitsu to learn takedowns that are specific to Jiu-Jitsu or to learn Judo on the side?

I think the best option would be to adapt judo techniques to your Jíu jitsu style of Fight.

What are your favorite judo throw combinations for Jiu-Jitsu?

When i am fighting i like make my opponent choose the way he is going to fall more than choosing a specific technique to throw him. I like to make my opponent walk in the mat and when I see the opportunity I make my throw.

Calasans took gold at IBJJF Asian Open in 2014.

When did you start to add footlocks in your game and what do you like so much about them?

A lot of times it is very difficult to just try and pass or sweep, i like attacking different submissions to make my opponent open spaces that will give me the pass or the sweep.

Who are the top 3 toughest opponents you have faced in competition and why?

Roger Gracie would be the toughest, because just from the beggining when I made my grips, I felt that if I would fall in a bad position, it would be nearly impossible to escape. Rodolfo vieira because he has a lot of strength from the beggining till the end of the Fight.
Buchecha because he is really big and heavy but moves like a lightweight.