The Stats
Age: 26
Belt: Purple
Weight class: Medium Heavy
Length of training time: 4 yrs
From: Springfield, MA
Nicknames: Sarj, Jungle Woman, SarJ in Charge, Sarjie, Sarjinha
Affiliation: Lloyd Irvin
2012
IBJJF European Open Purple Medium Heavy 2nd Absolute 2nd
IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships Purple Heavy Champion and Absolute Medalist
IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships Purple Heavy Champion and Absolute Medalist
2011
IBJJF European Open Purple Medium Heavy 1st
Absolute 2nd
IBJJF Pan Jiu Jitsu Championships Purple Absolute 1st
Medium Heavy 2nd
IBJJF Brazilian Nationals Purple Absolute 2nd
Medium Heavy 1st
IBJJF World Championships Purple Medium Heavy 2nd
IBJJF World No-Gi Purple Heavy 1st Absolute 3rd
Abu Dhabi World Pro Trials Purple/Brown/Black 1st
2010
IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships Blue Absolute 3rd
IBJJF World Championships Blue Belt Medium Heavy 1st
IBJJF Pan No Gi Blue/Purple 1st
2009
IBJJF World Championships Blue Medium Heavy 3rd
Journey Jiu-Jitsu: At what age and how did you start
training Jiu-Jitsu?
Sijara Eubanks: In February 2008, just a few months before
my 22nd birthday I discovered Jiu-Jitsu.
At the time, I had been training a few months of kickboxing and karate
to lose weight. We had a guest come by
the school one day to show Jiu-Jitsu, and I had heard about it a little bit on
UFC clips and stuff, but never knew what it was. I thought it was like wrestling or
something. And I tried it out and immediately
thought yea I want to do this! So I
followed the guy to DC and two weeks later I fought my first tournament, I took
3rd. And after a few months, my coach at
the time told me if I really wanted to be good I should find a real
school. So I had heard about Lloyd
Irvin's Academy and it wasn't too far from where I was living. I checked it out and fell in love with it,
and took off from there.
JJJ: When did you first compete? How did that work out for
you?
SE: I first competed in April 2008. I won my first match and lost the next two
matches. I thought it was awesome
though. The adrenaline rush was
crazy! Right after I won I threw up in
the bathroom. As I was cleaning myself
up, I kept thinking, "wow this is f*&^ing nuts! I wanna go
again!!"
JJJ: Initially, how did your family and friends react to you
training? Do they support you?
SE: My friends were cool, but initially they thought it was
a phase, 'cause I had tried so many other sports before that didn't work out,
but when they saw I was serious they were behind me 100%. My family took a little bit more time to come
around. I dropped out of college, so
they were always worried about me being broke and not focused. But when I won the Worlds in 2010, they finally
started to come around.
JJJ: How did you first take to training? Explain some of the
initial highs and lows you had.
SE: Well, when I joined Master Lloyd, I had only been
training light, like twice a week. But when I joined the Academy, I started
training 2 and 3 times a day, every day.
My body was killing me, but Jiu-Jitsu was this fresh, new, awesome,
amazing thing to me, so I didn't care, I just kept training. I was learning so much new stuff, I didn't
care that my body hurt. And I was
winning everything at white belt, so it was all high for like 4 or 5
months. But when I first hit blue belt
and lost a few matches, lost my first Worlds, I hit some mental lows. I had a super big ego at white belt and those
first few months at blue belt were very humbling.
JJJ: Lloyd Irvin seems like a very motivating and ambitious
coach. How has Lloyd Irvin influenced your training and your daily life?
SE: Man, where do I start?
I'm going to try to not write an essay on this one! First, Jiu-Jitsu is my life and Master Lloyd
is my master. He's taught me everything I
know about Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, wrestling, boxing, competing, everything! He's taught me the importance of drilling and
training hard and goal setting and game planning. And the things he's taught me in Jiu-Jitsu
reflect into my daily life, like confidence, mental positivity and strength,
honor and respect. Under Master Lloyd,
I've learned to be proud yet humble, confident but true. I know that any goal I set, I can reach. And he's been such a huge part of my progress
as an athlete, as a competitor, and as a person.
JJJ: How important is it to have a coach whose goals are the
same as yours in BJJ?
SE: Super important!
The coach-athlete relationship is critical. There must be trust between the two, and the
athlete must have faith and complete trust in the coach. So if I set a goal, and I know Master Lloyd
is behind me 100%, and I believe he's doing everything he can to help me get
there, how can I not reach that goal? I
feel bad for other BJJ fighters whose coach won't drill with them, or won't go
to tournaments to corner them. I also feel
bad for the coach that pours his heart out to a team or fighter that doesn't
appreciate or care. And the athlete has
to understand his position as the subordinate.
You do what your coach says, period.
And if you believe your coach has the same goals, then it's super easy
to follow his lead.
JJJ: How has Jiu-Jitsu changed you as a person, both
mentally and physically?
SE: Physically it's been drastic. I was 200 lbs. before jiu-jitsu, and now I
walk around at 155. I've gone as low as
135, so big change there. Mentally, I'm
much tougher, much more confident. I was
very self conscious when I was heavy. I
used to try to please everyone else, and now I know I have to live for myself
too, do things that I want to do.
JJJ: What is up with that beastly kimura that Team LI is so
famous for?
SE: (Laughs) We all love it I guess. If you know DJ Jackson, they call him the
Kimura Kid. As white belts, DJ and I
used to drill that Kimura series over and over and over. He's had much better success, though. Master Lloyd showed it, we loved it, drilled
it, now it's inbred into our game.
JJJ: What do you feel is your strongest position and
favorite submission? What have you struggled with?
SE: Strongest position is definitely top side control, I
love it. Hmmm, people always ask me what
my favorite submission is, I do love the kimura, but I like wrist locks too,
and chokes! I love choking the best,
like Ezekiel, brabo, there's a rear naked choke variation that Master Lloyd
taught me that I love a lot too.
JJJ: What positions are you working on now?
SE: Master Lloyd always talks about how you should
strengthen your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses. So, I'm working guard and some transitions
we're looking to hit this 2012 season.
And always fine tuning the game plan.
JJJ: Lloyd Irvin has multiple champions in the gym on any
given day. How hard is it to train in such a (rumored) intense environment? Do
you think the intensity is part of the reason why there are so many elite level
competitors?
SE: (Laughs) That is no rumor, it's definitely intense on
our mats. It's one of those things that
no one believes until they've been through it.
It's rough, you know, but it helps us prepare for competition. At the elite level, guys are training super
hard, so we are prepared for anything. I
think the intensity is definitely part of the reason why we have so many elite,
high level fighters. There are other
factors that play in, but the training Master Lloyd puts us through is a big
part.
JJJ: Team Lloyd Irvin is known to have a very aggressive,
but concise tournament game. How do you guys train to have such killer
instinct? What advice would you give to someone who has problems unlocking the
beast?
SE: The killer instinct is just part of our culture. Always looking to end the fight, because of
you leave it to the ref or judges, they might screw you. So tap the guy, or beat him by so many points
there's no questions. We train really
hard too, and we're pushing each other, and we're not afraid to kick each other’s
butt. Steel sharpens steel. So when we get out on the mat to fight, we're
prepared, because the opponents going to give it all they got.
JJJ: A lot of people say that schools matter when it comes
to competing. Do you think that it matters what school you attend, and why?
SE: Of course it matters to me, personally. Team Lloyd Irvin is my home and I wouldn't be
the competitor I am without Master Lloyd and this team. For other people, it matters because you have
to be comfortable where you're at. You have to be in an environment that's best
for you and your goals.
JJJ: You hear a lot of elite fighters speaking about
training 3-4 times a day, eating clean, and avoiding other vices. How true is
this for you? What does your average training day look like? What do you do to
prepare for a competition?
SE: I train 2-3 times a day. I also work at the Academy, so
that balances in. I think all elite
fighters and black belts are training hard, multiples times a day, eating
clean, etc. Eating clean is very
important. To prepare for a competition,
I'm training hard, getting my mind right, and taking care of my body and
game planning.
JJJ: I have been hearing a lot about drilling and positional
sparring. A lot of top guys live by it, and attribute most of their competition
success to it. I have listened to many podcasts and interviews with Lloyd Irvin
and I know he especially advocates it. What is your take on drilling, and what
is your preferred method? Is there such a thing as drilling too much?
SE: Drilling is very important. It fine-tunes your techniques and prepares
you for competition in ways that physical conditioning can't help. We drill a lot at Team Lloyd Irvin, and it's
great having Master Lloyd there helping you out with every little detail. I don't think you can drill too much, never too much drilling.
JJJ: Endurance is important in competition. What conditioning
advice would you give to the aspiring world champion?
SE: Master Lloyd teaches us that there are different
components to a game plan, and conditioning is one of those components. You can be really technical, but if you lack
conditioning, it will be difficult to get into the later rounds, and nearly
impossible at the Black belt World level to get far without conditioning and
strengthening your body. So any up and
coming world champions should talk to their coach and find a good conditioning
program. I wouldn't suggest hitting the
weights on your own, because there is potential for injuries without
supervision of someone professional.
JJJ: What do you feel is the most important attribute to take
with you into a competition?
SE: For me, at this point in my career, is strong mental
fortitude. And a solid game plan.
JJJ: Would you say you were obsessed with jiu-jitsu in the
beginning? What was the one thing you loved about it?
SE: Yes, I was obsessed.
Still am. The one thing I loved
and still love most is that it's forever evolving. It's always changing and there are infinite
possibilities with it. Literally
infinite! It's mind blowing
sometimes. Jiu-jitsu is the only sport
that allows you to use EVERY part of your body, and only your body. There are thousands of ways a human can contort
the body, now add another body fighting you for position and looking for
submissions, and you get something amazing!
JJJ: What matches
have been significant in your career? Which ones did you learn the most from?
SE: As a purple belt, I don't feel that I've had many
significant matches. I would say the
finals of 2010; I won the blue belt worlds that year in a really close
match. And this past year, I learned a lot
from the purple belt finals, where I lost a really close match. I had to really reflect on that one.
JJJ: I read a piece you wrote on competition where you
stated that you feel like an animal before competing. How did you develop such
ferocity for competition? Was there a time when you were a shivering mess?
SE: (Laughs) I'm
always a mess. I get nervous and freak
out too, I just am always trying to constantly remind myself that I'm a beast
and I can beat whoever they put out there in front of me. And imagining myself as this scary beast like
being, like what chick in their right mind wants to fight that?! So, when I do get nervous or whatever, I can
push those bad thoughts out.
JJJ: A new year has started, meaning a new year of grappling
competitions will commence. What are your goals for this year and what tournaments
do you plan to compete in?
SE: #1 goal is to win the World Championships. I plan on competing in as many tournaments as
possible before then, including the European Open, Pans, Brazilian Nationals,
Grapplers Quests, NY Open, the WPJJC finals, and anything else I can.
JJJ: Team Lloyd Irvin consistently places overall at the
majors. What do you think makes TLI so successful? How long do you think it
will take before TLI surpasses Alliance as team overall champions?
SE: Master Lloyd is why we're successful. The coaching, the game planning, and the way
he motivates, the opportunities he provides, it's all from Master Lloyd and
without him I don't think any of us would be where we are. And this year, if everyone does what they
are supposed to do, we will pass Alliance and take the top spot, and it won't
be very long before Team Lloyd Irvin is constantly making our way to the top of
the stands.
JJJ: You win a lot. How do you take losing?
SE: I didn't take it well at all at first. I'm getting better though, but I hate
losing. (Laughs) Losing is a part of the growth, and the
experience. And you learn more from losing than winning.
JJJ: Who is your biggest inspiration?
SE: My grandfather.
He was a Vietnam veteran, and the strongest person in my family.
JJJ: What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment in
Jiu-Jitsu?
SE: So far, the blue belt world gold, but that's nothing
yet! Got to get that Black belt!
JJJ: What do you do for fun besides train?
SE: I'm a homebody, I like staying home relaxing. I like to go to the movies and out to eat
when I'm not dieting. I like to look
around the cities I visit when I travel too, new places are always fun.
JJJ: Who are your favorite female and male competitors?
SE: My favorites are my teammates and Master Lloyd! (Laughs)
Outside the team, favorite female is Michelle Tavares, and favorite male.... I
have a few, Gilbert Burns, Galvao, and Jacare
JJJ: What is your guilty pleasure food after training?
SE: Ice Cream! (Laughs)
Follow Sarj at her Facebook fan page Sarj In Charge
