Staying still is something that Baret Yoshida does not know how to do. He is always drilling, practicing, sparring, competing, and testing himself in any way he can. Baret has had a busy 1999 and a fairly eventful 2000 so far. Many people wondered about the details of a trip to the richest grappling event in the world, the Abu Dhabi World Submission Wrestling Championship. Anyone who knows Baret sees him as down to earth, humble, and easy to talk to. I wanted to get the details of this trip from your average guy, who just happens to be one of the best grapplers in the world. It was about time to catch up to find out what Baret was up to, which included returning to Abu Dhabi, receiving a big promotion, getting a special invitation, and looking forward to re-entering the ring to climb the Shooto rankings. I caught up with Baret in Pearl City on April 1, 2000 and decided to let everyone eavesdrop on our conversation.

Full Contact Fighter: Why don't you start off by telling us about your trip to Abu Dhabi? How did your flight go?
Baret Yoshida: [I went] from Honolulu to Taipei, which was like 9-10 hours. Then from Taipei, we had a 1-hour wait, then straight to Abu Dhabi on China Airlines.

FCF: …And they [Abu Dhabi Combat Club] took care of your travel plans and Visa?
BY: Yeah, yeah, everything was taken care of. They gave us spending money.

FCF: When you got to the airport, they had someone waiting for you?
BY: They had a driver waiting for us. When we got in, it was only me and Egan [Inoue].

FCF: Did you have to wait for other fighters to come in?
BY: When we got in, it was only me and Egan.

FCF: What was the first thing you guys did when you got in?
BY: They showed us the keys actually, like who we were going to fight, right when we checked in at the hotel. We picked up our bags and they drove us straight to the hotel. First thing they showed us was the keys. It was all laid out on the table.

FCF: Once you saw the keys, did you just settle in at the hotel or did you train that day?
BY: We looked at the keys and then just went to the room.

FCF: Egan and yourself were paired up in a room?
BY: Yeah, me and Egan [laughs] were in the same room. Everybody was paired up.

FCF: Were there a lot of fighters already there?
BY: They were all kind of waiting in the lobby looking at the keys. We were one of the last ones [to arrive]. Some of the more known guys like Renzo, Royler; they got flown in a week or two in advance, so they were already there.

FCF: How many days did you have before you actually competed?
BY: We had that night. The next day was the weigh in and then the day after that was the fights.
FCF: Where there Western restaurants there?
BY: Yeah, in the hotel, they had a buffet.

FCF: Did everyone eat together or did some people go out?
BY: Yeah, some people went out. There's McDonalds across the street. I saw a Subway.

FCF: Was it Americanized enough to make it easy to order?
BY: A lot of people there speak English for some reason [laughs], at least in the hotel or around that area. I don't know if that was the tourist area.

FCF: How was the quality of the hotel?
BY: It was a 5-star hotel, they say [laughs].

FCF: Did it look like or what you would expect to be a 5-star hotel [laughs]?
BY: Actually, the hotel they had last year, I like better than the one they had this year. This year our room was bigger. It was supposed to be a better hotel this year.

FCF: Why wasn't it better this year?
BY: There was more selection for the buffet [Baret is a vegetarian, but eats fish so sometimes it is tough for him to eat well]. The spa equipment was better. I thought [there] was more variety. I just liked it better last year, the rooms and everything. We took a shower and the water kind of trickled out, whereas last year there was a nice good spray [both of us burst with laughter]. It actually cost more to stay there [this year's hotel] and was rated better though.

FCF: Did you get to interact with the other fighters before the tournament actually began?
BY: Yeah, we spoke here and there.

FCF: What about getting on the mat and sparring and trading techniques with the other fighters?
BY: I warmed up with [Hayato] Sakurai [Shooto Welterweight Champ], but that's about it. We were rolling around.

FCF: Was everyone kind of keeping to themselves?
BY: Yeah, a lot of the first time competitors were sparring kind of hard. The ones that were there the year before, they were just laid back.

FCF: Were the Brazilians together or was each team separated?
BY: Yeah, everyone was kind of separated.

FCF: What about the Japanese? Were they sparring or doing organized drills?
BY: They were all together. Right before the fight they were [together], for the warm-up, but the day before the weigh-in and the day of the weigh-in, they were just kind of hanging back.

FCF: Did each team have an allotted mat time?
BY: No, it was just come as you want.

FCF: How often you by the mats before the event?
BY: Actually, the day before the weigh-in, we went down by the mats. I just spent the day around there, walking around, looking at the mats.

FCF: How did the mats there compare with other mats you have trained on? Were they better or worse from last year?
BY: The mats are really soft. They were about the same as last year. It kind of feels like a wrestling mats, but it's not slippery. There's grip.

FCF: How did they run the weigh-ins? Did they do it by weight class or announce the fighters?
BY: They weighed all the Brazilians in first [laughs], from lightest to heaviest. Then they weighed everybody else. They weighed in the Brazilians, like team Brazil, and then they called, "Everybody under 65 kilos weigh-in!"

FCF: Why do you think they did the weigh-ins like that?
BY: I don't know. I think it was just to make everyone starve a little bit. We were like dying. A bunch of guys was complaining about that. They were like, "What the hell is that? How come they have special treatment?"

FCF: Did they get any answers?
BY: No, no answers. Actually, they horded all the shirts too. When we were waiting to weigh-in, some girls were passing out shirts, but some guys [Brazilians] took the whole stack. Everyone is supposed to take one or two shirts here and there, but they'll just take the whole stack away from the girls and put it in their bag.

FCF: So, a lot of guys didn't get any shirts? What kind of shirts were they, like sponsorship shirts or…?
BY: Yeah, a lot of guys didn't get shirts. They were the Abu Dhabi tournament shirt.

FCF: So, you didn't get a tournament shirt?
BY: I got one, but it was kind of a left over one. Someone spilt fruit punch all over it [both of us laugh]. It was all ghetto, you know what I mean? One of the girls gave it to me. They probably used it for a rag to whip up a table or something [both laugh].

FCF: Let's talk about your fight with Royler. How did you feel when you found out that you had Royler in the first round?
BY: I was kind of happy because I wanted to see where I stood. I want to see if I can match up with the highest competition.

FCF: Did you feel more comfortable coming back the second year knowing that last year you could compete with these guys and this year is the year to show everyone how good you are? Any added pressure?
BY: It was about the same this year. No, it doesn't matter.

FCF: Why don't you describe your fight with Royler?
BY: Right before the fight, he was trying to disturb me psychologically. He would like look at me and give me a wink here and there. There was a little smirk on his face, trying to rile me up, but I fought NHB before so I knew I couldn't really get hurt. It's kind of like flag football and stick [local slang for tackle] football. This was kind of like flag football so I knew I couldn't get hurt.

FCF: Once you guys got on the mat, tell me how the fight went.
BY: I came out of my corner and I approached Royler and he grabbed around my neck so I immediately went for a flying arm lock. I missed the flying arm lock and he ended up in my guard. From my guard, I attacked triangles, like over and over again. Next thing you know, I had him in my closed guard and he was trying to open my guard, so I slapped on an arm lock and I hit the arm lock hard. I rolled belly down. I pulled his arm like 90 degrees backward. I heard all kind of crap cracking and stuff. I thought he was going to tap any minute, but he kind of just held on. Next thing you know, he was back in my guard again. Then he went for a foot lock. He was trying to pass, couldn't pass so he would really go for foot locks. I attempted a heel hook on him and I almost caught him in that too. His heel just barely slipped off my elbow pit. Next thing you know, he would repeatedly attempt foot locks and I would repeatedly come up to the top. I would take the top and attempt to pass his guard. One time I took the top, I went for a foot lock. Another time I took the top, I tried to pass his guard. While I was trying to pass, I almost got the mount and he rolled belly down, so I jumped on his back and then we fell out of bounds. They told us to stop to drag us back in. When they told me to stop, I stopped I might have stopped too early because he was still moving. I had one hook [leg in between your opponent's legs to secure the back position] and the other hook was coming. What he did was, while they were dragging us back in on the mat, he placed his head on the mat. He would call to the referee…he's very experienced in tournaments so he would call to the referee and while he got the referee's attention, he would proceed to work his escape. He would start grabbing my heel. I just remained. I did not say anything to the referee or anything like that. I just remained. He was already working his escape while we were being pulled back in.

FCF: So by the time you guys got pulled back in and they said go, he was basically out of the back.
BY: Yeah, he was pretty safe. It got close to the end of the fight and he was trying to pass my guard. I could see him starting to gas [tire] and I could hear him breathing hard. I could hear his corner screaming all kinds of stuff in Portuguese. He went for a foot lock and so I came up, but this time when I came up, Royler tried for a high crotch [wrestling move, not trying to get fresh] or a double, I can't quite remember. Right when he went for the takedown, I tried to pull him in for a triangle and all of a sudden, I heard everyone cheering [this is where Royler scored the only two points of the match]. It was kind of like the majority of the crowd was cheering for Brazil.

FCF: Was it the Brazilians or actually the crowd itself?
BY: The crowd itself plus the big Brazil team. Even a lot of the Americans, even though I was fighting for the US, even a lot of the Americans would cheer for Brazil, but Brazil would cheer for Brazil themselves, you know what I mean. Japan would cheer for Japan. It was kind of sad that some of the Americans would cheer for other countries.

FCF: Did you find this to be true with only you or the rest of the American fighters?
BY: Yeah, just overall in general.

FCF: So, how did the match [with Royler] end?
BY: I thought I was winning still, but he just kind of fended me off for the remaining few seconds.

FCF: This all happened at the last 30 seconds of the match?
BY: Yeah. For the last 15 seconds or so, he just fended me off.

FCF: Did he say anything to you after the match?
BY: Not really. He just raised his hands in the air and walked off.

FCF: I heard that the Prince came to talk to you. Did the Prince come talk to you right after the match or after the tournament?
BY: Egan hurt his knee in his fight so we were sitting in the hotel after his fight and the phone rang. When I answered the phone, someone said come down stairs. So I waited for Egan and we both went downstairs. Guy Nivens [tournament coordinator] was waiting and told me.

FCF: What did he tell you?
BY: He said the Prince thought that I should have won my fight against Royler. You should be the champion. The Prince said that he thought I was the best fighter, the most technical fighter of the tournament, and that I should and will be the world champion. He [The Prince] said that my style is like a Barracuda, like Baretcuda or something like that [I asked him if the Prince really said Baretcuda and he said yes so we both laughed very hard] because the Barracuda looks like an innocent fish, but when you get close to it, it is very dangerous. I guess he just liked my attack style.

FCF: Did he want to meet with you?
BY: He [The Prince] wanted me to stay for 30 days and teach his kids [the Prince has many kids, some I believe he has adopted to raise] or something like that. I know it doesn't sound true, but I couldn't believe it myself.

FCF: Guy told you all this at the same time? What did you say?
BY: I was like, "Yeah, sure." I told him I would stay at first and then I slept on it and I changed my mind. I realized that I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't want to have a bad showing. Also, I was planning on fighting again in April and May and didn't want to fall out of my routine. I'm planning on going back in May. I came back because I didn't have clothes and all that stuff.

FCF: Give me your impressions or thought on the various fighters there:
On Alexander Nogeira: He looked like a very good fighter. He has a very unique guillotine choke. He can strangle a guy unconscious with an arm still stuck inside [the guillotine choke is usually performed by wrapping your arms around only the neck of your opponent]. He'll brawl for the top pretty much. He was pretty solid, good at foot locks.

On Mark Kerr: Kerr, he just dominated. He was just more powerful than everybody. Everyone he fought he would get the top [position] on. He looked like he worked on his submissions. He submitted a few guys. He had a wrestling game. I wouldn't say that he wasn't technical; he just had more of a rough style.

On Rumina Sato: He looked like he had a very fast guard. He likes to attack the foot locks. He just couldn't win the top against Shaolin [Victor Riberio, BJJ Black Belt].

On Hayato Sakurai: It looked like Sakurai won his fight. His fight was kind of a brawl back and forth, back and forth. I would have given the fight to Sakurai. He looked the same as last year, kind of wrestler-like with foot locks and submissions.

On Matt Hughes: He kind of looked like Kerr. He was like a small Kerr. He would win the top against everyone. He looked pretty dominant. He fought two weight classes above, but he looked real dominant. His technique was very similar to Kerr's, mainly wrestling.

On Jeremy Horn: Jeremy Horn arm locked one of his guys. He looked like a cross between a wrestler and Jiu-Jitsu. He looked pretty good.

On Josh Barnett: He looked much better in valetudo. Without the punches and kicking, he didn't really have anything that stood out. With Kerr, you could see the takedowns and top control. Barnett was so so with his takedowns and top control, for his division that is. Guard-wise too same thing, he was well rounded though.
On Saulo Riberio [BJJ Black Belt, debut NHB fight upcoming in Coliseum on May 25 against Yuki Kondo]: He always looks the same. He doesn't look like wrestling, but it looks like top game Jiu-Jitsu. He fights for the top and has a guard.

On Renzo Gracie: He looked like he was too big for the guys in his division. He fought Jean Jacques [Machado, another BJJ Black Belt] and Jean Jacques tried to apply a triangle on him and he just too big.

On Tito Ortiz: He looked good. He had a good top game, maybe not as good as Kerr, but up to par. Kerr and Hughes, takedown wise, the little things that they do here and there, their shucks and the way they lock up, it looks a little cleaner than Ortiz, but Ortiz just has that raw natural power. Ortiz had some finishing maneuvers like foot locks and I saw him play a little guard so I would say that he was more well rounded.

On Mike Van Arsdale: He looked like a true wrestler. He didn't look as powerful as Kerr, Hughes or Ortiz.

FCF: Let's talk about your recent black belt promotion [in BJJ]. When did you find out that you were going to be promoted to black belt?
BY: When I came back from Abu Dhabi.

FCF: Who decided to promote you to black belt?
BY: Egan, Egan promoted me.

FCF: Did he have to get approval from John Lewis and Andre Pedeneiras [Lewis and Pedeneiras are the senior black belts from the Nova Uniao team which Baret is affiliated with]?
BY: Yeah, he talked to some guys. I don't know who exactly, if it was Pedeneiras or John Lewis or what.

FCF: What was the ceremony like?
BY: It was small. He [Egan] had a little BBQ and gave me my belt. It wasn't anything real big. It wasn't like a wedding or anything [both laugh].

FCF: So no disco lights?
BY: No [laughs].

FCF: There were no tests or anything that you had to do?
BY: He pretty much said that I've tapped black belts before and I've competed on par against them so why can't I be one also.

FCF: Any upcoming fights?
BY: I'm ranked number 8 in the featherweight division in Shooto [after only 2 fights]. I'm going to fight in May, May 22. I'm fighting Oishi from K'z factory, the number 5 ranked guy in Shooto in Japan.

FCF: Did you sign anything yet or just agreed to fight?
BY: No, I didn't sign anything. We agreed to fight. I only fight Shooto matches.

FCF: Are you planning on fighting in any local [Hawaii] events?
BY: I only want to fight professional Shooto. I'll fight if it's professional Shooto.

FCF: Thanks for your time and good luck in your upcoming fight.
BY: Thanks.