At the age of 18, Cameron Diffley began training under famed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts coach Ricardo Pires at the Las Vegas Combat Club. Less than two months after he started training, Diffley entered his first competition at the Copa Pacifica. After experiencing competition for the first time, Diffley's obsession with Jiu-Jitsu began. He would mop the mats to pay his gym fees, while training day and night, six days a week.

After 6 months of training, Diffley received his blue belt from Ricardo Pires and Sergio Penha. Diffley would continue training under famed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor Sergio Penha, once Penha moved to Las Vegas to become head instructor at the Las Vegas Combat Club. During this time, Diffley was a training partner to MMA competitors Frank Mir, Heath Herring, Forrest Griffin, Brian Shepard, Rick Davis, Marcus Sursa, and Alex Schoenauer.

By 2006, he began teaching at Las Vegas Combat Club by taking over the role of the kid's instructor. Soon after that, he received his purple belt and started teaching the adult classes part time. In June 2007, Diffley started to come into his own on the competitive grappling circuit by taking first at the Pan American of Submission Grappling and third at FILA’s inaugural Team USA Grappling Trials in less than one week. Two months later, Diffley received his brown belt and started his own school Legion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

In 2008, Diffley became a household name worldwide, after serving as Forrest Griffin’s grappling instructor on the seventh season of the UFC’s reality television show “The Ultimate Fighter”, which is televised on the cable network Spike. In June 2008, Diffley would receive his black belt from Ricardo Pires after 5 years of training. Diffley continues to compete alongside his team at Legion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which has been a force on the competitive grappling circuit just as suddenly as Diffley made his own mark.

OTM was able to catch up with Diffley just a few weeks removed from his submission grappling Superfight win over 2x NCAA national champion Johny Hendricks to discuss everything from training, competing, and coaching to his thoughts on sport jiu-jitsu vs. fight jiu-jitsu, his experience as a coach on TUF 7, and professionalizing the sports of jiu-jitsu and submission grappling.





Bevois: Cameron, you started training Jiu-Jitsu in 2003 and got your back belt about 5 years later. What are some of the things that have helped you excel so fast?

Cameron: I tell my students when they start that cardio and a willingness to try what I am teaching them, without fear of failing, are two of the biggest keys in advancing quickly. I feel like those two traits, along with planning to be successful, will help your game to advance continually. By planning to be successful I mean be deliberate about your training: analyze your strengths and weaknesses, make a plan for practices, and keep a notebook. I think that writing things down helps you understand your thoughts better.



Bevois: The hardcore grappling fans have had their eye on you for a while, but now that you have been on television as Forrest Griffin’s grappling coach on TUF 7, do you feel more people have been gunning for you at grappling tournaments?

Cameron: To be honest I’m so busy paying attention to what is going on in my own head at competitions that I haven’t ever thought about it. I don’t think that my coaching on the show correlates to my grappling career. I still have a lot of goals to achieve before I am a top dog in the grappling circuit. Either way, I don’t feel any difference from my competitors.



Bevois: Is there any added pressure to perform now that you have achieved the rank of black belt faster than most Americans at a relatively young age?

Cameron: I don’t feel any pressure to perform for that reason. I feel pressure to perform, because I have a lot of goals in the grappling and BJJ circuits that I would like to achieve. In my mind getting my black belt was just the beginning in a long series of goals both as a competitor and as a coach.



Bevois: On the 9th of this month, you defeated 2x NCAA national champion wrestler Johny Hendricks at Grappler’s Quest – West right here in Las Vegas. The final score was 6-4, but it was the most exciting of the three Superfights. What are your thoughts on the match?

Cameron: I thought it was a good experience. It is always good when you can learn a few things and come away with the win. Starting the match I was looking to counter the outside single, or high crotch, but Johny came straight in with basic high single and sat me down. I was able to score with a sweep straight to mount. I made a mistake in trying to kick back to half-guard as he was escaping mount and he took me down again. He moves very well and is constantly adjusting not letting people’s grips get ahead. I felt like the top half-guard would have been a good place for me to control his movement and start to attack, but I went about getting there in the wrong way. At that point I had a lead, so I went about attacking from the bottom for the majority of the rest of the match. I feel like I only had one real solid submission attempt coming from the crucifix, but he did a good job escaping before I could seal the deal. Time ran out and I was ahead on the score, so I got to go home with the win.



Bevois: Johny is now slated to face Amir Sadollah in his UFC debut at UFC 101 in August. Amir will be dropping to welterweight and it will be his first fight, since winning TUF 7 a year ago. You were Amir’s grappling coach on the show and helped transform him from a kickboxer with no pro MMA fights into a guy who submitted the likes of Steve Byrnes, Matt Brown, and C.B. Dollaway twice. How has Amir’s training been going, since the two injuries he sustained since winning the show?

Cameron: Amir is such a hard worker, that I feel like he accidentally worked himself into a couple of serious injuries. He is healed up now and he is training hard in preparation for this fight. He is not going to be content, until he is as skilled as anyone else in every area of the fight game, so he is always training hard.



Bevois: Some people are pegging Johny Hendricks as just another collegiate wrestler like C.B. Dollaway, who Amir submitted twice on TUF 7. Now that you’ve had a submission grappling match against Johny, do you see this as a much different fight for Amir stylistically than the Dollaway fights?

Cameron: First, that is definitely not what Amir and I think, and we are taking Johny very seriously. I don’t think that anyone can call someone who won two national championships just another collegiate wrestler. I think that Johny