David Camarillo on Jon Fitch fighting Georges St. Pierre - "I think Fitch will be the toughest opponent GSP’s ever faced besides BJ".

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MMAyou.com got to sit down with world-renowned trainer David Camarillo. Camarillo is the head instructor for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) and is also the trainer for many of the UFC’s top fighters such as Jon Fitch, Mike Swick, Josh Koscheck and more.

MMAyou.com: First, how are you doing?

Camarillo: Good, good.

MMAyou.com: For our readers that might not be familiar with you, please tell us about yourself.

Camarillo: Okay, my name is David Camarillo. I started martial arts when I was five years old, I started with Judo. I started Jiu Jitsu at age nineteen. I’ve competed all my life in both arts, world-level in both arts, black belt in both arts. Got my black belt from Ralph Gracie in Jiu Jitsu. Shortly after that I got a job teaching at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose and have been there ever since. Now I train about five, currently five UFC fighters, and some other lower level competitions like Strikeforce and others.

So I’m basically an instructor. I’ve also authored a book; “Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu” which is a mixture between Judo and Jiu Jitsu since I’ve studied both and I train fighters. That’s basically my job.

MMAyou.com: Nice. Is the book out right now?

Camarillo: Yeah, it’s been out for a while. It’s called Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu. It’s an unorthodox approach at doing something so Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu is my style of mixing Judo and Jiu Jitsu but it’s definitely unorthodox. It’s very aggressive.

MMAyou.com: How did you get into Jiu Jitsu?

Camarillo: I started when I was nineteen. I was very involved with Judo, my Dad was actually my first instructor and my Dad was very hardcore. He didn’t want me to step away from Judo for anything else. At the time I was training at Fresno State University and I suffered a knee injury and was only able to do ne waza which is the ground work of Judo. I saw Ralph Gracie fight in some fighting event and I went up to Pleasant Hill, CA at the time and took my first lesson in Jiu Jitsu. I kind of excelled pretty easily. Actually I thought it was very similar to Judo but then the more in-depth I got into it I saw the technical differences.

I just kind of picked it up. Ralph took me under his wing and taught me a lot, and stayed after class with me. I was there once a week at the time, doing Judo six days a week, so basically training seven days a week. They compliment each other really well. The time limit in Judo, you have limited time in the ground in Judo competition. The technical aspects I gained from Jiu Jitsu really helped my Judo career and vice versa. Most Jiu Jitsu competitors don’t really understand tachi waza which is the standing throws part of Judo. So I excelled at the two for a brief period.

MMAyou.com: Very nice. Your student Jon Fitch is set to face GSP next, please give us your thoughts on the fight.

Camarillo: Well of course I think we’re gonna win. I think Fitch will be the toughest opponent GSP’s ever faced besides BJ. GSP is one of the toughest opponents out there across the board as far as weight categories. He’s one of the most talented, most athletic, and we definitely have our work cut out for us but Fitch is looking extremely strong. He’s actually taken, we talk about steps, you need to get to another step and you’ll see a big difference in your game and Fitch has taken two large steps forward as far as his ability all around, his MMA ability. His Jiu Jitsu is really dialed in. His game is really solid. His striking, we have new striking coaches, his striking has actually changed, he’s a lot more mobile. And of course his wrestling has always been there.

His all-around game is real strong right now. So we’re looking forward to it. He was ready to fight earlier. He was ready before and he’ll be ready August 9th against one of the toughest opponents of UFC history. It’s gonna be a great fight and I think Fitch is going to do very very well. I’m very excited.

MMAyou.com: You’re friend BJ Penn has stated he would like to fight GSP next. If Fitch beats GSP we could see a BJ versus Fitch fight happen. Would that be a strange fight for you to corner and also how do you think that fight would go down?

Camarillo: Whoa man! That’s tough. That’s a tough question. I was actually at the UFC two nights ago. I was backstage with BJ after he beat Sherk and I figured he’d beat Sherk. His game’s just really coming to a head and I think his training is better then it’s ever been. I would have to say he’s even better then Silva as far as pound for pound the best fighter in the world. Of course I’m biased, he’s been a friend of mine for a long time but I wouldn’t want to see a Fitch/BJ Penn fight for obvious reason. They’re both my friends. Fitch is a good friend of mine now. I’ve known him for five years and trained him for five years.

I think if Fitch beats GSP then yeah maybe… It’s up to BJ, he might want to avenge the loss. That might be his motivation. If Fitch beats GSP his other motivation might take over as far as unifying the belts, not unifying, but taking the 55 and 70lb belts which I think again would be a tough fight for Fitch but of course I don’t want to see that fight happen. Maybe if there was a lot of money involved but we’ll see how that goes.

MMAyou.com: Good answer. Do you know who Koscheck is fighting next?

Camarillo: Yeah, Chris Lytle, I think he’s set to fight Chris Lytle. A very good opponent, very fast in boxing. I think Koscheck of course his wrestling is much stronger. I actually think his Jiu Jitsu is stronger, I actually think his hands are pretty equal. I expect a win out of Koscheck but nonetheless a very dangerous opponent. There’s no such thing as easy fights. There’s no such as fights we can awesome we’ll win even. There’s no such thing as fighting someone who’s not dangerous especially in that weight category and we got three guys in that category.

We have Swick fighting Marcus Davis. They’re all tough fights. Everyone’s got tough fights, there’s no such thing as an easy fight. You know AKA, we’ve been pretty lucky with all the talent that we’ve been bringing in but also the coaches are just extremely good; Javier, Crazy Bob Cook, Wincy, and then myself. We’re looking for the challenge. It’s gonna be fun.

Going back to Fitch/GSP, it’s not just a “Fitch is fighting GSP“. It’s the corners. We’re putting together strategies to beat GSP as they are putting strategies against whoever they fight. GSP always puts a great strategy. He put together a great strategy against Matt Serra and executed it perfectly and did exactly what he needed to do. Learned from his first mistake and we expect the best GSP ever but also I look at his coaches and I know his coaches. He’s got John who’s a great Jiu Jitsu instructor, probably the best in the world. To me it’s kind of a battle of masterminds. It’s not just Fitch versus GSP it’s the mastermind behind it. Of course I’m a cornerman and trainer so that’s my perspective on the thing. We’re kind of cooking up a recipe for victory in every fight we’ve faced.

MMAyou.com: It shows in what you guys have accomplished. How do you think Mike Swick will do against Marcus Davis?

Camarillo: I think that’s gonna be a tough fight. I think that’s an exciting fight. I think Marcus Davis is extremely dangerous, he’s heavy handed. There’s a standard, we always look at our opponent’s strength and we try to use our strength against that, either to combat it directly or to avoid it entirely and Swick is ready to do both. His last performance wasn’t the greatest thing ever and people were saying “Well it’s the weight” this and that and there’s actually no excuses. Sometimes you get in there and things don’t happen for you. I think Swick is done with the 170lb jitters. He’s ready to go. His training camp is awesome. It’s as good as last time. We’re gonna see a very fast Swick and very aggressive. The fight’s gonna be everywhere . It’s not just gonna be in a certain area. He’s ready to fight every where, that’s what he’s ready to do and that’s what you have to do at that level.

MMAyou.com: In closing is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

Camarillo: I think it’s pretty exciting having your site up, especially the volume you’re getting.

One thing is this whole MMA experience. I think the best thing out of it is not just the excitement; it’s very exciting. For example to see BJ when we were both doing Jiu Jitsu as white and blue belts and now to see him win the world championships; in the Mundials in Jiu Jitsu after being there, then seeing him win the title when he beat Matt Hughes and then seeing him win the title against Joe Stevenson, and then Sean Sherk the other night. It’s extremely exciting but I think beyond that the best experience for me is the connection with people. Guys like Greg Jackson, a really cool guy that I’ll have to corner against. I’ve done it before and had some victories, had some losses but it’s just the connection with really really cool people. So I guess I’m saying that there’s definitely more to this then the hype and the exciting. It’s really meeting genuinely nice rational martial artists with honor and respect.

For more information on Camarillo please visit http://dcacademy.info/. For more information on Camarillo's book "Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu" click here.

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