By Hywel Teague

When people say “modern jiu-jitsu” Gianni Grippo is one of the first people that spring to mind. The New Jersey native is an inverting, back-taking, berimbolo-ing, de la riva guard-playing machine, and his grappling skills took him to a podium places at this year’s tough World Pro tournament in Abu Dhabi. The featherweight grappler (70kg/154lb) trains at the Marcelo Garcia gym in New York city, but he’s in the UK right now getting ready for a tussle on Polaris 2. 

Grippo will face off with local grappler Tom Barlow, a black belt under Braulio Estima and Masters (30+) World no-gi champion. The submission-only match is set for 15-minutes no-gi, and Grippo is promising to give us a show on his way to victory. 

Fresh from ADCC, what can you say you learned from the experience and how do you feel looking back on your performance?
I learned from this experience leading up to the tournament and from the actual tournament itself is that it is very demanding both mentally and physically. I think I had a good idea of this going in but after experiencing it and witnessing the event in person I really saw the full extent of how taxing it can be.

To be prepared for this tournament, I feel like I had to push my body to near exhaustion but even while doing that I still felt tired after each match. The intensity of the whole event is something completely new and unexpected if you haven't had the experience before. If you don't work your mental preparation the tournament and atmosphere could be quite overwhelming.

Despite a result that left me without a medal I was overall pleased with my performance. I'm pleased because I felt like I did everything professionally leading up to tournament day. I stuck with a great training and strength and conditioning routine, never strayed away from my diet, mentally prepared properly, drilled specific weaknesses of mine until I felt comfortable performing them at any time. I was also pleased because I didn't allow a new environment to overwhelm me and affect my performance. I trained to be prepared for anything and I was able to do just that. Unfortunately I just ran into Cobrinha who was also very well-prepared and fought better than I did.

Yeah as ADCC seeds teammates in early rounds to prevent closeouts, that meant in your second fight you were put against 2013 champ Cobrinha, who’s one of the best-known and most decorated fighters in your division. You lost 3-0 to a guard pass, only conceding those points with one minute remaining in the contest. Looking back, how do you feel about that match?
When looking at the match, I see there were some missed opportunities on my part to score, but I don't have any regrets with how I performed. It was an honor to compete against someone like him, he really is an idol of mine. Now I look forward to moving on and learning from this and eventually go back to LA to learn from him again and pick his brain.

At Polaris on September 12th you’ll meet the UK’s Tom Barlow in a 15-minute submission only fight. Give me your thoughts on this ruleset and how you prepare for it compared to, for example, IBJJF or ADCC.
I'm really just excited about this match and that it is a submission only match. I feel like these matches are more fun to be a part of because you can let loose a bit more and be more daring because there's no risk of giving up any points. Of course you have to make sure to not do something completely ridiculous that leads to you in a submission, but besides that I feel like this will give me a good opportunity to really show my full skill set. I admit I'm not much of a big risk taker when it comes to point matches, but this I want to just let everything go and be as diversified as possible. I want to be a crowd pleaser for this one.

I want to be a crowd pleaser for this one.

At 23 years old, you’re considered part of the new wave or young generation of black belt competitors. What do you think you need to do to shrug off that label and be known simply as a world class black belt?
I think I need to continue to be consistent in my training and never allow any obstacles or set-backs throw me off course. At black belt there's going to be bumps in the road to the top. There may be discouraging days in training or days where I don't have it in the competition. What I can't let happen is ever let that put me down and think lesser of my abilities and potential. When success comes I have to keep working hard, and when failure comes I just have to work even harder. Just continue to have the belief in my training and in my system regardless of any good or bad day. I'll get where I want by just consistently looking to improve and work hard no matter what.

You’re primarily known for your de la riva guard game and your berimbolo attacks. What can we expect from you when you step on the mat to compete at Polaris?
You can expect to see a complete version of Gianni Grippo at Polaris. One that will have a plan regardless of what position we are put in; top, bottom, standup, good and bad positions. I like being known as a berimbolo guy because it's one of the coolest techniques out there, but I definitely want to show that I'm becoming much more than just a de la riva and ‘bolo guy.

Be sure to watch Grippo face off against Barlow LIVE this September 12th only on FloGrappling.com