Behind The Scenes At The CJI 2 Trials

Ladies and gentlemen , I was down in Melbourne on the weekend training with Lachlan Giles . I've seen the setup , I have some insight and I want to share it with you . If you're excited for this because I know I am Team Australia is going to be banging . Yeah , I'm pumped for this .

Can you just clarify Giles Trials is Lachy Giles' team for CJI correct For the CJI ? So they've set up a three-quarter pit at the gym . They will be streaming it on the B-Team YouTube channel , so you all need to get up on that . It's a monster and this is why they are doing a 16-man selection for a free spot in the kind of top six , right ?

So that's tough . Which weight category is this for ? So here's the , the interesting thing , which a lot of people don't know , and I'll share this more openly . Or maybe I didn't understand it and maybe this you can benefit from my ignorance and my learning . They are looking for someone over 99 and someone

under 99 , right , right and . But here's the thing australia has a few big folks out there , but also there's a bunch of big folks who are not participating in these trials . So we've got some big men and then we've got some medium to large men and it's really who gets the most submissions . This is what it's all about . There's no winning by points . Really .

I mean , you , you could potentially do that , but if you're not submitting people , you're not getting picked . Yeah , it's a round-robin event , is it ? Yeah , and they've said openly we're looking at most subs win , most subs wins the spot . That's exciting , and so there's some really great people in there .

So I don't really want to count anyone out , but there's some people in there who are known for winning , but not via submission , yeah . So I was excited . I was down in melbourne , I went down for the leg lock camp and straight away I walk into the gym and I see kit dale just going to town on people and he's looking lean and mean .

It's the first time ever that I've been heavier than kit in my life , I think . Oh , wow he's . He's like a just . I think he's about 89 kilos . Battle of the heavy short man . The heavy short man , the broad torso . My legs might actually be longer than Kit's . Holy shit , he's got the killer mustache . He does have a very kind of .

He has a very unique body shape in that way Huge torso , massive , quite , like the Russian tank satellite yeah , similar , actually . Good analogy there . And kit is a phenomenal competitor . I think this is the thing people forgotten about kit . He performed so well . When it comes to competition , he does exceptionally well , but he's not renowned as a finisher .

It doesn't mean he can't submit people Right . And so here's the thing We've got a bunch of people coming into this 16 man , and so there's bets going on . Right now People are like I think it's what is it ? Shuffle or whatever , like some random betting website is actually taking bets on this stuff . It's pretty wild to me .

But look , tito , john Carl , which brings us to our newest sponsor of the show . If you're looking to just lose some money , so wait . So in this 16 man division , though , it's both under 99 and over 99 .

Yeah , right , because I , I think and this is not , this wasn't explicitly told to me they might be able to shuffle folks around once they've worked out who the team is . For example , let's say , they get someone who's maybe not as big . They could get them to go under 90 , right , and they could get um kit , we need you to fuck a shitload of cheeseburgers .

Get them to go up . Yeah , right , they're looking for attacks and skills because they need one representative at each

body , at each . That's right , right , right , right , that's right . So you know Anton Momenko . He's a , he's a beast . You know , he recently fought Kaya . He's . He performs incredibly well , right , and he's at on the leaner side of his physique , you know he's . He's not as big as he once was , but he's , he's a beast . Urosh is in there .

Hiptosh , josh , josh , we've got a Kenta Whoosh , queensland , yeah , yeah , great competitor , Kenta's going to be in there . Wow , he's more of like a sub-90 guy . I think he competes under 80 usually . Yeah , he's short but thick . He does very well with the bigger guys . I mean , fuck , kenta competed against Micah .

Yeah , that's right , didn't he , which would have been probably like under 80 kilos ? Yeah , potentially 77 , or whatever it was , 78 . Man , your boy , harry Kimura , is in the mix . Harry Kimura is never not at a competition . The big boys come out , he comes out .

He has a chance to fucking hit a double wrist lock on some cats , mate , but I think I mean , he's a good contender too at that weight , yeah , and as someone who's got good experience in like not submission only , but like he's competed at what's the Japanese one ?

They love Quintet , quintet , you know , which are like these energetic rule sets where they're pushing heaps of action . Yeah , and I think Kenta is a finisher . This is the upside . And , look , I want to talk about the challenge .

This is what people don't understand about the giles trials and this is what I want to share with you as why I think it's kind of shocking . It's all on one day . So the 16-man tournament , whoever wins that has to then get in the mix with declan , moody , with kaya , with tito , like with . Oh , then they've got to enter the heavyweight division .

Yeah , on the same day . On the same day , wait , you got to enter the heavyweight division . Yeah , on the same day . On the same day , wait , you've got to go round Robin , 16-man division , all these mothers , to then fight the big bosses . That's right , it is epic quest . It is crazy , dude , that's fucked . It's 100% . You said it , joe .

So , guys , whoever wins ? That it's really tough . You said it , joe . So , guys , whoever wins ? That it's really tough . Wait , I just don't understand how that's at all worth it , how that makes sense , right , because it's very likely that you're going to get into it and then just get smashed .

And so then it's like well , why did we even bother having you go on this quest to get into it ? Well , look , good question . I think I need to make a phone call . I think lock on Giles . Well , look , there's various reasons as to why that is the way it is .

I'll not get into them , but I want to talk about a guy who people are not necessarily aware of Bilal . Now , some people are aware of who this guy is . He trained in Auckland . He's only been training for about four years . This guy is a big rig . A

big rig you don't . When you see him sitting down , you're like , oh , he kind of looks like everyone else . Obviously he's big upper body . He stands up . You're like , oh , my god , I don't know how tall . He's , a six , three , six , four like . I saw him standing next to bobby and he didn't look short , right , you know .

You know I was like , wow , fucking tall , very tall , and so below , um , it's a bar . Uh , etia Barry , and I didn't get to roll with him . I was hesitant to roll with him , but he's renowned for wrecking people , right , and I saw him and kit go to war . It was pretty interesting because kit has a great passing style .

Bilal has a very specific guard , leg lock , destroy you game and he's all about that . He believes that's the way jujitsu should be done and he's very anti what he calls American jujitsu , which is the wrestle , take down , pass , submit . He's like no , that's bullshit . You pull guard , you get to the legs , you break legs . That's his whole mentality .

And he has moved to train full-time in Melbourne with Lachlan oh wow . And so he is really the dark horse because he's big enough , strong enough and brutal enough to be able to get those submissions . That's what his game's all about , and I think he also has the size to deal with some big humans . So you're stating that this kid's a bit of a favorite .

I wouldn't say he's a favorite because there's some other people in there who are more achieved . I believe he's the dark horse , right , that's my prediction . I feel like , even though I like and respect so many of the other people in the in the 16 man , uh , I think Bilal is like a real threat . Right , I think Bilal is like a real threat .

He's super efficient too , like he could do a ton of matches like that and not burn up a lot of energy because he's not trying to wrestle . It is a very efficient way to approach a match , isn't it ? Yeah , he's renowned for just breaking people's shit , right ? So we'll see how that plays out .

Now , when it comes to that kind of final group of killers , for me I mean I am biased . Imagine , imagine , yeah , no , for me it's JT neutrality , tomlinson , that's what they call me . So who have we got in that category ? I'm just getting the permanent the list here , so I don't misspeak , but for me , my prediction is Kaya and Declan .

I think Declan is the most . What you're saying in the final , yeah , like I feel like I don't know how the the submissions are going to stack up , cause that's actually how they're deciding it . Declan is fucking huge . He's huge .

He's the most proven big coming out of Australia in terms of international competition and and and being a B team and doing everything that he has done . So when we have a look , we've got Declan , moody , bob Frias , alibibi , orozbek I don't even know who that is . Kyle Rudolph oh , sorry , my bad . Bilal is actually in the . He's already in the ?

He's right , he's there , he's there , so he doesn't have to go through that . Okay , and then whoever wins the trials ? Okay , so , kaya , yeah , right , kai's in there . Kai's going to be small in that division , he is , he's . He's more like , naturally , a kind of , uh , kind of 90 , 90 ish um of the

Alley-Own team camp , right , and they had everyone there and they even had um Kynan Duarte teaching there . Okay , who's you know ? Uh , you know a great champion , yeah , and so great pool of talent there . Kynan , the guy just lost . He's worthless now . His game is nothing . He's been defeated , yeah , defeated . Yeah , guy's a loser , clearly . But that's the thing .

You know , different people show up to different things at different times and they say that Kynan really shows up for the ADCC but maybe not as good for his super fights . Yeah , you know , different people are better in different formats . Here's the thing , folks .

There is still one big outstanding detail that we're kind of I've been dancing around , but let's fucking get to it . Detail that we're kind of I've been dancing around , but let's fucking get to it . It's the 66 kilo wildcard draw . Oh , okay . Now , what you should know about the wildcard draw is it can be anyone from around the world , right .

So it doesn't have to be Australia , or , like I was wrong . Imagine that I am I . I , I read it wrong . I thought it had to be Australia , sometimes wrong , tomlinson , sometimes , rarely , rarely wrong , but that's the thing . I thought it had to be Australia . Jt , sometimes wrong , tomlinson , sometimes Rarely , rarely wrong , but that's the thing .

I thought it had to be someone local . That's why I thought the way . No , it can be anyone in the world , just to clarify . So Lockie has his team of how many ? Five , five , and he has to have the sixth . So so it's 66 , under 70 , like middle , 77 , 88 . Yeah , so under 90 , under 100 , over 100 . Right . And so he's basically got wildcard at 66 . Yep .

And then he's got the heavyweight , which is to be decided . Yeah , heavyweight and under 90 . Right . So what's ? He got Three people . He's got three people solidified . Yeah , levi . No , he's got Levi and Lucas , lucas . That's the only two people locked in . There's three more to come ? Okay , but the 66 could be anyone . And there's been a leak .

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Oh , wow , there was a text message Similar maybe in Pete Hegzett , it's fullery . Yeah , it was somebody in a group chat , forgetting that . They've included we're bombing the Houthi rebels what , what , who's him ? Yeah , and then Don't be touristing in Yemen at this time . It went out to everybody . It went out to , I think , 10 different high-level jiu-jitsu folks .

What ? Yeah , now this could be a smoke signal . Could be a smoke signal , but what , as in like a diversion . It could be a diversion , but this person that has been rumored is one of the best grapplers in the world under 66 , and they don't necessarily have a team . They're part of a big team in the world , but they don't have a team in cji .

Baby shark . They need somebody . They need somebody . It could be baby shark would be joey's favorite grappler . Oh shit , it could . His name could rhyme with fabrizio andre . She could be . No , it could be . This is what we're saying . Maybe , wow , it could be the same . I didn't say it , I don't .

I don't know for sure , but there's wild rumors swinging around . I talked to a lot of people when I was in Melbourne . I could get nothing out of Lachlan Giles I love you , lucky , but fuck you . And I could get nothing out of Mikhail . I was staying with him , I was chipping away at him . He's like you'll find out Saturday .

And I'm like tell me now , dude Hokaji at 66 ? Bro , motherfucker's going to be stripped , bro . Wouldn't that be a wild team , though that would be , yeah , that would be incredible , yeah . So this is the thing I think the interesting thing is .

The interesting thing for me is there's some major heavyweight names from Australia who are not doing this competition , namely Josh Saunders , your boy , dan Manchild , not doing it . Sandbag and Cronche is absent . Where's Sandbag and Cronche at ? He's somewhere in Mexico . No , he's at B-Team right now .

Okay , fair , like he's doing his thing On those like Josh Saunders wouldn't miss a chance , but he's on the Danaher . He's team Danaher , and he also did not get selected for New Wave . Okay , so it's another side of that . Also , dan Manchild , I believe , would never do a craig jones event , okay , um , who else is there ?

There's , look , I mean there's some we didn't mention that are in the big man lineup . I've got tito john carl's in there , yeah , yeah , and look , I think tito , tito is so hard to beat . He's such an x factor , right , and so I didn't want to speak past tito , because I love him . Shout out to you're the man ,

but , bro , it's going to be so hard coming to that 16 , man . It's , it was very tough . I just like . I mean , I was thinking about jumping in last minute . You know what I mean , of course , and I did . I've been doing some curls and shit .

I talked to Lockie about it and he said that he had your number there to call , okay , and he said just wait , okay , because also Burak Saman was meant to be in there but has had to pull out , I think due to injury . Oh , wow , and so he's . You know , joe , just check your messages today . All right , I will . Yeah , I've been on .

Do Not Disturb , but I'll open that shit up , switch it back on . I guess I'll reply to Lachlan Johnson . But no , I mean just going through that fucking fire To then arrive at all these beasts yeah , just these monsters . It's incredibly challenging . That's a long day , it's a big day , but it'll be worthwhile , guys .

So I want to say this to tell you you need to tune in to check out the Giles Trials , which is actually on the B-Team YouTube . So go over and check it out . It's this weekend . Well , this episode actually it's not going to be quite exciting the way they've got to set up . Yeah , a lot of high quality matchups .

There's going to be some sick matches in there and for you know , for our non-Australian listeners who are like , don't even know who any of these cunts are , if you don't know who fucking , if you don't know , you'll know . But there's , you know , some of it's .

I mean , you know Lockie and stuff , but this is , this is like side quest , precursor story to fucking CJI . Yes , like this is like you know , you liked , you liked star Wars and then you wanted to watch Mandalorian and shit , yeah , this is Mandalorian , this is it is you want to . At the coaches Craig has picked , they're kind of polarizing .

Other than Lockie , like he picked Greg Souders for , like Team America , did he ? Yeah , greg Souders coached the American team . So who else we got ? We got Atos and they got New Wave .

I think they may have 10th Planet , I don't know if that's confirmed , right , but then they've got old mate from Los Banditos coaching Team Europe Owen , no , no , no , big staunch . He's always beefing with all the Brazilians . You know what I'm talking about . I'll Google him now . Yeah , fuck , who is that ? No , anyway , he's very funny , he's a charming fellow .

He's always creating controversy and I think Lost Bandita . Has it got a team ? Or is it a British team ? No , no , there's like a Team Europe . I think they're doing like , they're doing misfits . I think that's what it's being called . Right , right , okay , so you've got to look at that and you've got to go . Okay , who fits into ?

A great finisher , a great performer , but maybe the team isn't big enough to be able to like . You know , you've got at Los Bandidos , you've got like Wizard of Oz , beck . You've got Charles Nigromonte , You've got like a bunch of really tough guys .

But , yeah , that's right , certain teams like the Australian team , you know there's smaller community here when you compare it to some of those enormous teams like Atos and stuff . No , but I think that the thing about Australia which people are not appreciating is we've got the talent , like we've got . We have Absolutely , but we don't . We don't .

I mean , atos has the talent in one gym and that's just one gym , right , and we've got to . We've got to bring the whole country state . We've got to bring the whole country together . Um and B team's obviously got a team . Yes , of course , who's doing who's doing ? B team ? Nicky , right in there .

Yeah , yeah , I would say , I would say Nicky , but essentially they've got too pick from it beating . Yeah , I think that's . I mean , that's always the case with an event like this . Right , you can't , you can't include everyone that you'd love to be there .

Yeah , I mean , and that's why I understand , you know , I'm probably not going to return lockheed's call because you know , like , as much as he wants me , you gotta give people a chance . Yeah , you know , I'd love to see some young guys fucking come into their own . Oh , faradino , faradino , faradino is the um is the . Is the European coach ?

Show me , I never heard of this guy . Oh , bro , you gotta get up on this guy . He's hilarious , he's always trolling . Oh , this guy , you do know him . If you see him , you know him , he's a beast , he's a world champion , he just made a comeback in the Gi and he's ultra tough .

So , yeah , he , craig , has picked polarizing coaches and I think that lockheed is the most moderate of all the coaches , that he's kind of chosen and that ultimately , team australia is the dark horse for the cji .

Yeah , but what you're going to see this weekend for the giles trials is the , the build-up , as , like you say , like the embedded , the formative breakdown to like what's going to make this team that I believe can come and seriously challenge for the cji million bucks . Well , yeah , and you know what ?

Um , just occurred to me and I know this is this is not news to anyone , but this is just this way of viewing it for me is kind of new Like Australia obviously is well represented in the international jiu-jitsu scene , but like this event , like , specifically , you're like Craig Jones , a worldwide sensation from Australia , like he's a fucking unicorn in the world

of jiu-jitsu . Sure , lachlan Giles has made his mark as one of the most , as going on one of the most incredible

runs of all time in ADCC , australian , but also impactful coach , that's right . And then Adele Fornerino , the most hyped and potentially goatest female grappler of all time and you're like , oh , wow , actually , yeah , like there is a huge Levi Sanadu , possibly the greatest guard you know . Like , yeah , he might've lost to Cade , but did he lose that match ?

Jt's not letting it go Never , but no , that's right . Yeah , lucas Canard getting the heel from Victor Hugo . Victor Hugo , like there's we . Yeah , like in the eyes of the rest of the world they're probably like , fuck , what is it with these Australian c fucking Australians ? Yeah , but uh , yeah , there it is . Folks definitely tune in , we'll get this ep out .

You've got to check out the Giles Trials , which will be streaming live on the B Team YouTube . You need to check it out . This is where history will be made . Boss , boss , shoo .