The president of the BJJ federation of Bojan Mirkovic, talks to BJJEE about his background, his relationship with Fabricio Werdum, the BJJ Eastern Europe tournament and his upcoming seminar in Skopje:

1.Bojan, please present yourself to our community, where are you from, how old are you, what do you do for a living?

First of all thanks for inviting me for an interview, and compliments for the iniciative for starting an website about regional bjj. I think it’s an excellent idea and fully supporting it. I think our sport needs it. So, let me answer your question now…
My name is Bojan Mirković, I’m 34 year old Croatian, and I’m head bjj instructor of Werdum Combat Team for Croatia and Swizerland, bjj black belt under Fabricio Werdum. My occupation is economy, I’m engaged in international trade, but the job I really love is bjj
Privatly I’m father of one child – a daughter and one more to come very, very soon, a son. My daughter is 2,5 years old and already started to train bjj. My wife does bjj as well, so it makes us one happy jiu-jitsu family.

2. Please tell us how you got started in bjj , your bjj journey and how you met Fabricio Werdum?

Well it’s a funny storry, It all started somewhere back in 2000. When my friend and I started to copy-paste some positions from some VHS tapes of Mario Sperry and Minotauro, but it wasn’t really a seroius training since there was no bjj academies around in that time. So it was going like that for some time and I started travelling and seeking for knowledge all around at seminars and camps, and started to train with BTT in Spain, and finally I think it was 2004. I met Fabricio Werdum here in Croatia while he was giving bjj classes for Mirko Filipovic. We started training, communicating in God knows what language, since I didn’t speak any portuguese and he didn’t speak any english, but bjj language is universal and we managed to become friends very soon. It was quite an effort for im to learn english, so I went to learn portuguese to be able to speak with him, which today , I speak fluently. Than I got to know his bjj master Mauricão Miguel Pereira R.I.P. who invited me to Brazil for the first time, and this man totally changed my life. All the bjj basics, way of life, discipline, respect and all that goes with that, I owe to him, and until I’m alive I will thank God for sending him to my life and being like a second father to me. Unfortunately he was murdered, and both me and Fabricio were without a coach and a friend in a second, and all that 2 weeks before Fabricio’s fight against Minotauro. The team was about to collapse when finally Fabricio managed to organize all and put us back together and start his own team, which we make part of until today.

Bojan with Fabricio Werdum

3. Please tell us about the successful competitions that you run in Croatia.

Well, as Croatian BJJ Federation we run 3 competitions overhere in Croatia: 4 Rivers BJJ Open in Karlovac (october), East European BJJ Open in Zagreb (february) and NO-GI East European BJJ Open (may). Competitions are growing larger each time, and we had 320 competitors this february in Zagreb. Whoever was present could see that this is different way to run a competition, than is common in our sport. Our goal is to give attention to the competitor and to the sport. Far from perfect yet, but each time better and larger.

 4. You will be conducting a seminar in Macedonia at The Strongest-Roots BJJ in Skopje. Please tell us about what you will covering and what do you think about the Macedonian BJJ scene.

Yes, I will be visiting my friend Ivica Aleksovski and his team Strongest – Roots BJJ in Skopje/Macedonia 28-31 march this year, and we are planning to do small BJJ camp in Skopje. We first met last year in Zagreb for East European, and we became friends. Guys came again to train with us and Igor Pokrajac in Zagreb and we have good and friendly cooperation. When they first came to compete here, they took team gold and everybody was surprised. But those guys are real warriors and team is really strong and you can tell that Ivica is doing a great job overthere always seeking for new experiences and knowledge.
During the camp I will cover few important segments of competition BJJ, but also the traditional aspect of BJJ and some MMA segments. I don’t do so many classical seminars of a few hours, I prefer doing camps or series of seminars. I believe that this is way better option to improve one’s game, and like to give attention to everyone in the group, and it takes more than 3 hours seminar.

Seminar in Skopje

5. Please tell us about your network of teams in Croatia and Switzerland

I can only say that we are one happy BJJ family, and as a coach I am so proud of that. We have two affiliates in Switzerland – Ruckus Mirkovic BJJ (Sam Dacic and Bahman Ali), Ronin fight team (Igor Dimoski), in Slovenia we have Gepard Mirkovic BJJ (Djordje Kesic and Zlatko Dzaferovic), Croatia Zagreb (Matija Gazdek and myself), Karlovac (Igor Labus) and a new one in Germany – Ehingen- Alemao Mirkovic BJJ (Michael Matzner). We are all representing Werdum Combat Team and our headcoach and sensei Fabricio Werdum. We are not so big team compared with some large BJJ associations, but we all know each other personally and we all train together and visit each other.

6. What is next for you and your team in 2014?

Our team is not only about competition BJJ, so our goals are not only set on competitions. I trust that everyone training BJJ should be able to defend him or herself in the streets, that if they chose so, everyone should be able to fight and survive in different disciplines like MMA or even judo. So, it takes much wider base of learning than only competition BJJ. We are one of the few teams in the region dealing with kids and this is one of the biggest rewards a coach can receive. Spending time on the mats with the youngest starting 3 years of age is something exceptional and I really love that feeling.  Some of them will compete, few will become champions, but everyone will be able to defend himself and take a stand in life. This is what forms a caracter of a young person and this is my main goal as a coach in this sport.

7. Fell free to thank sponsors or friends

Thank you and your website for being really supportive in all our projects, Eastern European BJJ community for trusting us and attending our competitions. Special thanks to my team and all the guys who help me each day in bringing the ideas into life. Oss!