If you haven’t heard of the name Jared Dopp before, you will now. This purple belt under Rafael Lovato Jr had a breakthrough performance at the last ADCC where he eliminated Amir Allam, Vinny Magalhaes, and Leo Nogueira. In this exclusive interview with BJJ Eastern Europe, Jared talks about his BJJ journey, his studies in chemistry, and his future plans. He is certainly a rising star that you should watch out for. 

Hi Jared, can you please introduce yourself to the BJJ Community of Eastern Europe? 

My name is Jared Dopp, I’m a 24 year old purple belt from Oklahoma City. I currently work as a front desk person at Rafael Lovato Jr.’s academy in Oklahoma City, although I’ll soon be going back to college for a second bachelors in chemical engineering. My biggest titles are 2012 Pan Am double gold at blue belt, 2012 blue belt gi and no-gi world champion & 3rd in both absolutes, 2013 purple belt world 2nd place, 2013 ADCC 4th place.

Please guide us through your Jiu-Jitsu journey.

My jiu-jitsu journey is a little different than most I believe. I started learning in 2005 when my cousin was teaching it to police officers for self-defense. At the time we just wore t-shirts and shorts, and I could only make it a few weeks out of year because of my involvement in high school sports. I started training in a gi in 2008 I believe and went to a seminar to get my blue belt from Renato Tavares. I was in my first year of college and taking a shot at MMA when I tried my first tournament. In late 2009 I decided I was going to play college football so I took 2 years away from any martial arts training to pursue that at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. Unfortunately, football wasn’t working out and I missed martial arts so I started going to boxing a couple times a week after football practice. I did some of that and trained with the local amateur MMA guys until one of them introduced me to Griffin Phillips in early 2011. Griffin was also a blue belt and had received his from Rafael Lovato Jr. I started competing again and eventually trained only BJJ with Griffin at Texoma BJJ.

You are also working Towards your PHD in Chemistry right?

I graduated from college with a degree in chemistry in May 2012 and moved to OKC to train with Rafael, while working toward a PhD in chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to juggle all the PhD and jiu-jitsu while making the drive from Norman to OKC, so I decided to put my studies on hold for a year. Now here we are!

Jared Dopp vs Joao Gabriel. Photo: Kinya Hashimoto

How was your training in the build up to ADCC? Did you change anything from your regular training camps?

The training for ADCC was really intense. I was doing a lot of extra rounds to get used to the 10 minute time limit and spending extra time on leg locks since I haven’t had many chances to use them in competition. Those were the biggest changes because of the rules for ADCC but we also started wrestling a lot more with Brian Picklo. Picklo was an all-american wrestler at Michigan State as well as an Olympic Judo alternate, so we were definitely prepared.

You fought some big names at ADCC, what was your mindset when facing them?

First I want to say that competing against those guys was an awesome experience and I’m looking forward to the day that I can face them more often. My mindset was to not let it all get to me. They were all much more experienced than I was but I knew they couldn’t do anything to me that I had already been put through in training. I knew that I’d be stronger, and in better shape, so I had that confidence going into each match. I wanted to stay clam, prevent submissions, and look for any openings that I could capitalize on.

How would you describe your BJJ style and what are other BJJ players that inspire you?

I would describe my style as a very aggressive takedown/passing game. I like to play guard but I enjoy the challenge of working for the takedown then looking for the pass. I’m really inspired by Rodolfo Viera’s gi game. I enjoy watching/breaking down his matches and trying to emulate his relentless style.

What is next for you and your team in 2013/2014?

The next thing for us is No-Gi Worlds on November 2nd and 3rd, but we’ll be looking to bring a big team to the Houston Open in 2014.

If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free

Yes I definitely want to thank everyone who has supported me and made this possible: Rafael Lovato Jr., Justin Rader, Griffin Phillips, and Brian Picklo for being amazing mentors and training partners. I’d also like to thank my sponsors who have helped me along the way Do or Die, Kill Cliff, PR2 Systems, and Five Grappling!