BJJ black belt and multiple times ADCC winner Dean Lister in an interview with French website Pantarei.fr talked about his experience training at Atos BJJ in San Diego before the ADCC, and how he’d like to compete in the Gi again one day:
PR : For the 2013 ADCC you went to the Atos camp as a mean to prepare the competition. Why did you go there and how was the training?
They are also local and close to where I live, they have come to my academy and I have gone to their academy, was great training and we all got to share techniques and training secrets.. All those guys are my friends and most of us training for ADCC at the camp did very well at the competition
PR : The Atos camp was full of bjj beasts with a great weight range, going from the lightweight Rafael Mendes to the heavier ones such as Andre Galvao or yourself. How did you manage to train with such different partners? Did you go lighter on smaller guys or was the training at full blast?
It was full blast but yeah, against lighter guys I have to use different ways of rolling…. Not easier, just different… Also its important to not try to rely on my weight when training with a lighter opponent or training partner, that is an opportunity for me to work more on my movement.
PR : The Atos team is well known for his Research and Developpement philosophy, did you learn something new during this camp? What do you think about the so talked « Modern Jiu-jitsu »?
Yes of course, every day we were all learning and sharing secrets.. modern jiu jitsu? Well I don’t know, modern jiu jitsu is always growing and getting more complex… However I don’t prefer to specialize with Kimono, I prefer to improve my overall game of principles and strategy that works, with or without a kimono
PR : Your Atos Teammate Keenan Cornelius said in a past interview something pretty interesting towards the debate between new and old school jiu-jitsu, it was something along the line of « You can live by the sword but don’t complain if you get shot ». What do you think about it? Is the modern game so much better?
yes I agree with what he says, I like to take chances to get a submission but at times, it can cost me some points and even ast times to be in a submission hold myself… that is fine, because I am not a point fighter, I take chances in training so that I can have better victories in matches and fights… If I lose that is fine but every one of my opponents will have to defend several submissions… I would rather be respected than perfect
PR : Would you like to compete in the gi again in the future? At a metamoris or world expo event for exemple?
I feel one day I will compete with the gi, I just don’t like the rules that forbid me from doing footlocks…. Its like telling a mauy thai kickboxer that now he can just compete in boxing… Sure the kickboxer can box but you would be taking away most of his experience and weapons by making him only do boxing.
