Alright here it is! My interview with Denny "300" Prokopos after Metamoris
Sorry it took so long, Dennys a busy man! Be nice, it's my first shot at "journalism"
First things first you were Eddie Bravo’s first 10th Planet Black Belt right? What else should the world know about Denny Prokopos?
-Yes that is correct, I am Eddie's first Black belt, which is a huge honor for me.*
My career highlights in terms of competing are No gi world champion brown belt ibjjf, third place black belt no gi worlds ibjjf, and Fila No gi grappling world champion.I own and operate 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu SF and have done so for the last six years. I have been training Jiu Jitsu for 13 years. *Jiu Jitsu is my love and my passion, I pretty much spend all my time on the mat teaching and training, it's a fun life :)
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• Do you also train under Jean Jaques Machado, do you train in a gi at all?
- I started training with Jean Jacques about a year ago. Whenever I go to LA to train with Eddie I usually go to Jean Jacque's as well. It's an honor to train with Jean Jacques he has been and still is one of my idols since I started training Jiu Jitsu. I *very rarely train in the Gi. I have only wore the Gi once at Jean Jacques. But even though I'm not a big fan of the Gi I would totally put it on to train with Jean Jacques.
• We saw you with JJM in Eddie’s corner at Metamoris 3, how did you end up in such a great position for such a legendary night?*
- I'm super close to Eddie and probably know and understand his game and thought process better than anyone. I have been training under him for about 11 years now, and out of all his black belts I am the one that has been competing the most in high level Jiu Jitsu for a while now. He has helped prepare me a lot and always corners me, that is also a factor.
• Any good stories or insights you would be willing to share from training camp ?*
- Most of the training sessions were shark tank training. Eddie stayed in the middle and a fresh guy would rotate in. This went on for an hour and a half. After all that, Jean Jacques would tell Eddie to lay down on his back and he would cover his face with a gi to make it very hard for Eddie to breath, he was basically water boarding him. After an hour and a half of sparring, it's really hard to breath so he tortured *him so he could be ready for the pressure.
• Alright let’s move on to the night of M3, what was the day like? What was the energy like throughout the day?*
- I woke up and mediated to prepare for the day, did a little breath of fire. I was pumped from the minute I woke up. I remember thinking "it's going down". *I went over to Eddie's house, and we met with Master Vic and Little Tory. Everyone had good energy, they were super pumped as well. The energy was great in Eddie's house. I saw him he looked good and had his classic swag and I could feel he was ready to battle. Then Eddie went to Biologix and got Iv'd to make sure his body was properly hydrated.
• What was it like being backstage in the warm up room? Pretty intense?
- Jean Jacques was super calm and confident, his usual zen warrior lion type presence. Eddie was relaxed and very focused at the same time. He was his usual joking self. Jean Jacques reminded him to play his game. Eddie went over certain positions he could possibly get into, strategies which we worked on specially in camp, etc. Before we walked out, Eddie FaceTimed Draco(his son) and quizzed him on body parts. To me that was Eddie also reminding himself of his highest love and motivation his son Draco, it was a beautiful moment to observe.
• When the time came for Eddie to walk out, how were you feeling, and what was going through your head?*
- I was pumped on a whole other level and was really focused on the action of the match. When I spoke I made sure to speak with clarity and power.*
• When the match started the first thing we saw from Royler was the knee slice pass. What did you say to Eddie at that point? What was the game plan?
- Here is what a lot of people don't understand. Eddie pulled quarter guard even though Royler was in position to knee slice. That was Eddie's choice; he brought the match there specifically. If you get the guy in quarter guard it leaves him with two options; either knee slice or capoiera pass. Eddie knows that and has spent his whole career dealing with that. That's nothing new. From the beginning he was where he wanted to be. The whole plan was to pull to quarter, to get to half, to set up the electric chair and pass to get to twister side and set up the twister. That's text book 10th Planet. As far as what I said to him there was one time during the match I told him to push the knee and it helped him get the lock down but he was going to do that anyways.*
• About four minutes into the match Eddie got the lock down and started working toward the Electric chair, you had to know Royler was getting swept right?*
- I knew that there were *a bunch of possibilities. The sweep was in progress, plus the submission and guard were also possible.
• What were you and Jean Jaques saying to Eddie at that point? Knowing the 10th Planet system, the path to the electric chair and beyond what was going through your head? Did you know at that point Eddie was going to make history for a second time?
- I don't remember what I exactly said said to him at that point. I knew that he was in a good position and Eddie is the best in the world at that in my opinion, the electric chair is his move.
• Eddie did phenomenal in the rematch with Royler, how do you feel about the whole thing after being a part of jiu jitsu history?*
- I'm super proud of Eddie and very happy for him. All his hard work, dedication and innovation showed in the match. He did it his way. Those were textbook 10th Planet Paths. It also proved to the doubters and haters that the first match was not a fluke. It was an honor and a phenomenal learning experience to be apart of this historic match.*
• Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this. Anything else you want to put out for everyone before we’re done?*
- I am very excited to announce that I will be teaching 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu at Google Headquarters. I think it's amazing that such a major corporation sees the potential value that jiu-jitsu has for its employees. I will be doing a seminar tour in the UK in the end of May.
*If you're interested in learning 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, check out*10thplanetjj.com. I teach at 10th Planet San Francisco if anyone is interested in learning from me checkout*http://10thplanetjiujitsusf.com/*
**I would like to give a shout out to my sponsorsOntheMat.com*and*onnit.com
