so I’m really looking forward to those visits.


CF: Any guys competing in MMA this year?

DM: I’m sure that Ryan Robinson will be competing again soon and we are starting to see some great students coming through from his MMA class so watch this space.


CF: You guys going to Seni 08?

DM: We have a little surprise lined up for Seni 2008 so yes we will be there and going for the overall win.


CF: Both you and Simon Hayes are well established brown belts and black belts must surely be on the horizon. How does that make you feel, will you feel ready when the time arrives?

DM: That’s very kind of you to say but I’ve never been too concerned about belts, I’m more concerned with constantly improving my game and working on my weaknesses. I think if you focus too much on the belt it can hold back your development.


CF: Have you studied any other martial arts?

DM: Yes I have a yellow belt in TKD and another one in Nippon Kempo so watch out. To be honest I was always interested in having a scrap but found the discipline in Martial Arts too much to bear so when I finally found a martial art that didn’t have tons of kata and was pretty relaxed I was hooked.


CF: What’s your day job and does it tie in with your training schedule?

DM: I trade interest rate derivatives from home and I’m finished at 6pm so I have a pretty good balance between Family, work and BJJ. For me that’s the order of importance and I’m able to train BJJ or Judo at least 4 times a week so I’m happy with that.


CF: Is the academy still at the Boiler Room?

DM: The old academy based in Royal Oak was the original boiler room but it turned out that the current academy in Glentham Road also has a HUGE boiler in it. When I saw that I knew it was our new home.


CF: Have you any other clubs based in the UK?

DM: Yes we have a club in Tonbridge www.carlsongracietonbridge.net which runs on Sundays Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a fantastic club with a great spirit and I am very proud to have them as a part of the team. There are some really tough guys there and the team is growing all the time, it’s going to be a very successful team in the future that’s for sure.

We also have a club in Luton run by my good friend Walid Tadjouri who has been a fantastic training partner over the years. It’s a relatively new club but knowing the level of instruction from Walid it will be a very successful club very soon. www.carlsongraciemataleao.com


CF: Any clubs in Europe?

DM: We have a really close relationship with Carlson Gracie Hungary www.carlsongracie.hu that has been forged over many years. Again, we are so proud of our Brothers in Hungary and all they do for us, you will not find a tougher group of guys anywhere.


CF: Do you and Simon teach at the club? If so do you enjoy teaching or prefer to train?

DM: Yes we both teach at the club, I started doing it out of necessity but I’ve found it has made me take some big steps forward with my Jiu Jitsu so I’m very happy to keep doing it. However I also love to go and train at Wilson and Walid’s classes as well so the answer is that I still like both.


CF: Who coined the infamous ‘disrespect the legs’ chant, often heard at comps in the UK?

DM: Funnily enough the saying came from Ronaldo Campos many years ago when he was demonstrating an open guard pass at the club and part of it was described as “disrespect the legs” of your opponent. We were at a competition a few months later and the perfect opportunity to use that technique came up so Simon shouted “disrespect his legs” to try and remind the guy of the technique. People started talking about it on the internet and wondering what it meant so a legend was born.


CF: How important do you place competition in a jiu jitsu player’s development?

DM: For me it’s always been an important part of my development, win or lose. What I find is that if I make a mistake in a competition then it’s usually the last time I make it so from a technical point of view it’s very useful. There is always the little voice in your head warning you that you might lose and look stupid or make all your team-mates think you’re crap but that’s just your ego talking. It’s the same voice that tells you not to go on a Monday when you know the big monster from Poland will be there trying to rip your arm off. The fact is you need to confront that inner voice as much as possible and sooner or later you’ll realise that the fight isn’t against the other guys at the competition or the gym but it’s against yourself.


CF: Some guys never compete and are happy to train week in week out at the club; do you feel they miss something by not competing?

DM: At the end of the day this is just a hobby, none of us is going to make a living out of being a competition BJJ player so it’s not essential but they are missing out on something that will bring their game forward. However we’re all in this for fun so if they don’t want to do it I have no problem with that.


CF: Simon Hayes is currently holding court on the bjj.eu.com forum with his now legendary ‘CGJJ stories from abroad’ thread, posting tall tales of BJJ high jinks and adventures in sunnier climes. Have you any memorable tales to tell?

DM: I’ve seen and participated in many interesting matches at various clubs over the years but I’ll leave the storytelling to Simon, I’ll just end up getting myself into trouble.


CF: Dickie, thanks again for a great interview and best of luck on the competition circuit this year.

DM: My pleasure Carl.