The Full ADCC Interview With Nathan Haddad

Nathan Haddad details his unique Jiu-Jitsu journey and gives his predictions for the ADCC World Championships.

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Video Transcript

My name's Nathan Haddad.

I'm 29 years old.

I'm a black belt under Helio Soneca.

I've been training for 24 years.

I train and compete out of Louisville, Kentucky.

I am the 2026 ADCC West Coast Trials winner.

Right, so how did you first get into jujitsu?

How did jujitsu start for you?

So my dad actually was into, like, boxing and kickboxing, and he started teaching some self-defense.

And basically what happened is he had trained some jujitsu, trained some MMA, did all the different martial arts, and, he felt like there was a lack of, a place where you could do all of them in, in one spot.

So that was kind of how our gym Core was born.

It was The Core Martial Arts, and he opened up our gym here in 2002.

So it's kinda something that I was almost born into.

You know, I don't have any memories of being a white belt.

I just started jujitsu.

I mean, I really My earliest belt I remember is, like, a gray and white belt.

I don't remember my first day or week or, you know, the white belt struggles.

It's just always been something that I've done.

So I kinda grew up in this community of doing boxing and kickboxing and jujitsu and, I was really fortunate that my dad brought in our head coach, Helio Soneca, and Soneca was a black belt world champion in 1996.

And then he came over here and, he was my full-time coach from white belt to black belt.

So it's kind of a rare thing where not only do you have a world champion running your program, but I was also very fortunate where I had a world champion running every single practice in my life, really from the time I was six until I got my black belt when I was 23.

And so it's, it's been a really interesting journey to have that and, and have him as a mentor here in Louisville.

And I'm really fortunate to be in the spot that I am.

Did you take to jujitsu right away?

Was it kinda something you had to, like, learn to love and even be good at, or were you kinda natural?

So I always really enjoyed jujitsu.

I loved it.

I wasn't very good at it.

I have an older brother, he's three years older than me.

He's a black belt as well now, but he was always better than I am at jujitsu.

Max was the guy that would go and compete and win every tournament, and I was the kid that was, like, a little chubby kid, and I'd get in the tournaments, and I'd get smoked by everybody and, you know, maybe win one or two matches here and there.

But, I wasn't super good.

I mean, really in, in our kids program, I wasn't even that good.

But I think the difference between me and everybody else is, you know the clich, like, I just stuck around.

And I noticed that pretty early on.

Like, I, I found that when kids would take off, you know, three months to go play football or soccer, they would come back, and I would close that gap.

And then they'd take another couple months off to go play another sport, and then that next time they came in, I was subbing them.

And I found that that was kind of my path is, like, I'm not super talented, but I can outwork these dudes all day.

And I have the ultimate advantage of this is a gym that my family owns, so someone is up here at all hours of the day.

And so every summer I would come up, and I would train in the morning, and I would train in the afternoon.

I would do the kids class, the adult class, and, slowly but surely, I just got a lot of volume in it, and it, it worked out.

It's, like, interesting to hear you talk about how, like, even as a kid, it was like you just stuck around and then slowly closed the gap and everything because in some ways that seemed to have, like, kind of ran true for your career now, where, you know, like we kinda mentioned, earlier, like, you're 29 years old, not the traditional age for a first time trials champion.

But it has been kinda like you've been grinding kinda quietly for so long, and you finally win trials and everything.

I'm just curious, like, does do you think that gives you, like, a sort of different perspective or anything on the sport?

Yeah, I definitely think so.

I mean, I think that my jujitsu journey is, is almost backwards in some ways.

Rather than, like, you have A lot of these traditional athletes, their goal is they wanna come up and make as many accolades and credentials as they can, so that they can then open up their own gym and start teaching.

And I came up as a part of the business.

Obviously, my mom and dad owned the gym, and so from the time I was a little kid, it was you got to see the other side of jujitsu, the business side, trying to get students, trying to, you know, build your community.

And so that was kind of at the forefront, and I didn't really know that I would take jujitsu that seriously where I was gonna try to do it professionally, but I always trained.

And so my big thing was, if I'm training the right way, the result will be there.

It's just a matter of time.

And, I think that's what happened is, everything that I do is very disciplined.

I don't believe in camps.

I don't believe in, you know, train hard for X amount of months for this tournament and then take months off.

I'm in the gym six days a week, training as hard as I can.

And it just seems like the volume over time is what works, and that's what's worked for me.

Definitely.

And so going back to, you know, like, your dad and mom owning the gym and everything, how did it come to be that your dad opened a gym in Louisville, Kentucky?

You know, your dad obviously is from Cuba and everything.

Yep.

That's a crazy journey, right?

To end up here in Louisville.

Yeah.

So my dad was born in Cuba, and, they obviously had to flee for political reasons, right?

So they fled and came to the States when he was just a little kid, and, really, they came here with nothing.

And so, my grandpa was kind of like the American Dream, like the idea of the American Dream.

He built himself up.

He became a psychiatrist.

He was a neurologist in Cuba, so he was able to become a doctor again here in the States and, you know, raise his family and, and kinda build everything up.

And then my dad carried that into his work and, and he was a, salesman.

He sold asphalt equipment, so he had a full-time job, and really, Core was a hobby.

This was just something that we did.

It was like he really enjoyed martial arts and, like I said, he wanted to build that community for everybody where you had a spot that you could learn how to box and kickbox and do jujitsu and do MMA and have it all in one spot.

And I think that's what's made our success at this gym so relevant is- Core was started as a product-first facility, and product meaning, like, your jujitsu is going to be good.

You know, your boxing is going to be good, and I think that, and not knocking anybody, but where some gyms will struggle is when they have that bottom line of, you know, that is their full-time job.

And, and Core was not meant to be that.

Core was always a hobby, it was a passion project, and what's happened is since the product was so good, now it's kinda come to fruition 24 years later where, you know, we're a little over 600 members now, and we're running strong.

We have a great community, and, and really more importantly, we have a great product.

We have a very strong team, and it's, it's The proof is in the pudding, so it's pretty cool.

Yeah, so obviously you do have a very kinda cool lens into the jujitsu life where you kinda basically born into doing jujitsu and all that.

You learn all the business and everything.

From the career side of your jujitsu journey, was there a moment where you kinda like had like a eye-opening, like, "Oh, man, maybe I could, maybe I could actually achieve some pretty big things in this sport?"

Yeah, I think every single, like, big win, is a milestone.

And, you know, a big win in, in certain ways, right?

Making it to, like, a, a Worlds, semifinal where now you've medaled at, at NoGi Worlds.

You know, I, I hit three different Pan Am, Games before I, I hit the podium.

You know, I went three separate times to Pans and got subbed in the first or second round, and then I finally hit the podium, and it was like, that's a milestone for me.

You know, and then same with Worlds.

I finally show up and I hit the podium, and then I'm in an open class final, and I had these moments that were They showed me that I belonged, and I think that was the big thing, is when I learned that I belonged, then I was like, "That's my next barrier.

I can hang with these guys."

and then slowly but surely, I started getting bigger wins over, you know, some guys that have names in the sport.

And I think the thing for me that felt like I was holding myself back a little bit was I was beating some big names, but not at the right time, and I think that is where, some different tournaments and, and trials especially kinda unlocked that, is you have to win when it counts.

And, I finally did that at trials and I beat some of the big names, but really it didn't prove anything more to me, 'cause it's the same guys that I'm already getting out there and competing with.

It was just the perfect time at the perfect place.

Definitely.

Was there ever a moment in your jujitsu career that made you, question doing this?

You know, not really i- in the traditional sense.

I do remember going to, Gi Worlds and getting stomped, like losing first round via submission after training my butt off.

Like, I That was probably the tournament that I trained the hardest for in my whole career.

Diet, you know, conditioning, strength training, drilling, everything.

And it was one of those moments where I think I was young and naive enough to think that just because I trained hard meant that I, like, deserved to win.

And when I got subbed in, like, 30 seconds, it was a really eye-opening thing of like, no one owes you anything.

Like, you, you don't deserve to win just because you trained hard.

You still have to go win matches.

And I think that was, like, a really hard lesson for me to learn, was like, in this sport, it's very unforgiving.

You can do everything right and you can win the biggest match.

You can do everything right and you can lose the biggest match, and then vice versa.

You can do everything wrong and have a good match and, and look like, you know, you're the man.

But it's one of those things where volume over time, eventually you're gonna have something.

You're gonna have a breakout, and I felt like trials was my moment where everything kinda synced up.

And, you know, I'd taken a lot of hard losses.

I'd, I'd won some, you know, some things that put me in contention, but never there, and trials was the one that kinda bumped me over the edge to put me in the spotlight where Kinda showed all the hard work I've been putting in.

Definitely.

When did, like, ADCC become on your radar?

Like, when were you first aware of ADCC and understood, like, kinda what it was or maybe started seeking out that's something you wanted to do?

Yeah.

So, man, I forget the year, but, ADCC, when it was over in the Middle East, I believe, Sonequa was called in to do some Brazilian commentary, some work, and he came back to the States, and he had a bunch of different, like, ADCC gear.

And, there's some, like, photos of me as, like, a, you know, 12-year-old kid wearing, like, a ADCC rash guard, and he had some, like, ADCC gis, and all these, like, random, like, memorabilia stuff that they gave him.

And he was telling me, "Man, this is the tournament where they bring the best of the best together, and, you know, this is, this is the Olympics.

This is the biggest deal in the sport for us."

and I think once I heard that, you know, I started paying attention a little bit more, and for me, that was always the pinnacle.

You know, I always told myself it doesn't matter who the grappler is.

If they're in ADCC, they are, you know, the cream of the crop.

And so that was always what I had my sights set on.

If I could make it to ADCC, I've established myself as a world-class grappler.

Nobody can say anything.

If you've been in ADCC, you're the man.

You know, you are the 1%.

And, for me, as soon as I saw that, it was nothing else.

It was ADCC or bust.

Definitely.

Like, I So I guess obviously, you know, you've become aware of ADCC and all that.

Did you start watching?

Did you have any favorite grapplers that you were watching do ADCC whenever you were still, like, a young kid?

Man, I, I really enjoyed just the I think the scrap of ADCC is what was the coolest to me.

You know, it, it seemed like even then, it felt like more of a fight.

You know, you'd see these guys get out there.

You'd see, like, when Rafa Mendes was making a run or when Hajjar was making a run, these guys are going out there and they are, like, scrapping with dudes.

For me, that was the coolest part.

And so just seeing that energy that ADCC has, and that's carried over into trials and the opens and all the different ADCC tournaments, is like, there's a different energy when you go to ADCC.

And for me, I thrive in that chaos.

Definitely.

So obviously 2026 ADCC West Coast Trials, we'll dive into it, kinda talk about your whole run and everything.

But before we get into that, how many times have you competed at Trials?

Was it something like a tournament that you had done quite a bit up to this point, or?

Yeah.

So I went to Trials, I'm blanking on the year, but I, I've been to Trials, it would be two, four times.

This would've been my fourth time going.

And it was interesting because each time was a little bit of a, a stepping stone up.

You know, the first time I went to Trials I didn't even qualify for the second day.

I had three matches, and my third match I got subbed and got put out, and it was one of the moments in my career that kinda turned me back.

I thought I was pretty good.

You know, I felt like I had the makings to, to be a champion and to be able to win this thing.

And I saw the level the guys were competing at, and I thought, "Man, I, I'm not there yet."

and I remember watching guys like Keith Krikorian and like William Tackett, and these guys win the, the brackets, and thinking, "Man, like, they're just competing at such a high level."

And it seemed like they were much more locked in mentally than I was.

And, I, I took note of that, went back to the drawing board, and I came back, the next year.

And in the next year I lost in the round of 32.

So I made it to day two, won my first match, and then, was taken out, by Ryan Aitken at that tournament.

And so it was a little bit better.

I felt better about it, but still same thing.

You know, you're kinda in the mix, you start swiping through that giant bracket and you're condensing yourself down.

But again, in my mind, I knew I could beat these guys, but I, it's, something's just not right.

I, I still don't really believe it, I guess.

And, that was still holding me back.

And then the next year I went, was East Coast for this year, and it, it just flipped a switch in me.

When I went to East Coast, I was 100% sure that I was gonna win.

I was seeing the bracket, I was looking at the names, and I thought, "There's nobody here that's gonna be able to beat me."

and I cruised all the way to the quarterfinal.

Felt great, and ended up getting stopped by John Blank.

And it was a really hard loss because that was the first Trials that I went to where I, like, truly did not see anybody beating me that day.

I thought, "This is it."

and unfortunately it didn't go my way that time.

And then what's interesting about that is going into West Coast Trials, I felt the complete opposite.

I saw all the names.

I heard, you know, Flo talking about who's in it, and this is a stacked bracket.

I mean, I'm hearing guys say this is the most stacked 88 kilogram bracket in, in Trials history, like, all this stuff.

And, you know, I wasn't really seeing my name on those lists, and so that doubt kinda starts to creep in of, like, ah, maybe, you know, maybe I'm not in that mix.

And, my training for the whole few weeks leading up to it just didn't feel good.

My cardio felt off.

My wrestling felt really poor.

I was, like, pulling guard in rounds.

And so I was a little bit nervous to get out there.

It was a strange one, 'cause it's the first time I've been, like, nervous for a tournament in a while.

And I just kinda told myself, like, "Let's take it match at a time."

You know, almost like a survive-and-advance mentality, especially that first day, 'cause I just felt really tight.

And, as I started getting going, it's like with each round I got a little bit more confident, and then on that second day I just lit on fire and, everything changed, and it was one of the best I've ever felt competing.

Yeah.

I remember talking to you on the podcast, and you talked about how, like, you felt horrible going into that one, everything.

I guess one thing, you can't always buy our hype, you know.

You can't You know.

But, I'm just kidding.

But, so once you, like, arrive there, you know, so you, like, make weight, all of that, and then it's the day of the event, what were those feelings like, walking into the West Coast Trials?

You know, I've been competing so long now, and I am, I'm very process-oriented in my entire life, you know?

And I've told you guys this, but my diet is dialed.

My strength conditioning is dialed.

My training is dialed.

My drilling.

Everything is very process-driven.

And what that's allowed me to do is I have a process before I compete.

And so, my warmup, you know, my, mobility routine, sprint routine, everything that I do before I compete, it's the same every single time.

And what I've found is even if I have a tournament that is the smallest tournament in the world, I can get in the head space that I'm in the biggest arena in the world.

And so the task remains the same.

The environment's just a little bit different.

And so yeah, the morning of, I felt terrible, and I thought, "I, I don't know that I have it today."

but as soon as I got to the venue, I just did my, my warmup routine and just locked in.

And again, like, once I get on the mats, everything, it, all the noise is gone.

And, that was exactly it.

Like, every match that I stepped out, it was just pure calmness.

And, I was able to get the job done round after round.

But as the day went on and as the matches went through, I felt a little bit more confident in myself and, you know, "Okay, I, I am competing well.

I, maybe my cardio wasn't as bad as I thought it was, you know, this time coming in.

Maybe my wrestling is sharp right now."

And, once that started to rise, it just kind of took off and everything was really set up well from there.

So one of your early matches against Placido, which I think ended up kinda being one of the best matches of the event, to be honest, kinda stole the show a little bit, it wasn't It w- how many rounds in was that?

Like, two or three maybe?

Placido was my fourth match.

Fourth match.

Yeah.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

That's just the beast of West Coast Trials.

Yeah.

You know, you, your fourth match, now you have to fight Placido Santos, a very notable grappler and everything.

Could you kinda talk us through, kinda like how you're feeling now?

You're f- you're three matches in.

You're going up against Placido.

And I'm sure you didn't know it yet, but it's about to be an insane- Yeah non-stop paced match.

But kinda maybe talk us up to that, and then through the match with Placido, if you could?

Yeah.

Man, Placido, that dude is a savage.

Um- So I was going to bed the night before and just checked the brackets to see who I would have first, and I saw it was Placido.

And, you know, was kind of running through, just simple checklist in my head of like, you know, what does he do well?

What do I do well?

How can I counter him?

How can we play the game?

And, one thing that I've always found very interesting about Placido is how well-rounded he is.

If you watch him compete, he's good everywhere.

And the thing that I feel very comfortable with is, since I've been doing jujitsu for so long, there is not a position or a scramble or, you know, a, a situation that I don't also feel comfortable.

And so just running through that match in my head, I thought, "I think I can out-scramble this guy."

and I figured it was gonna be a dog fight.

I knew he was gonna have some good tricks up his sleeve, and I think those guys are the best in the world at game planning and watching film and, and they really know what they're doing there.

So I had a feeling he would have a good idea of some of my like A game attacks.

But being a little bit more unknown on the scene, there's a lot of stuff that I do that people don't know yet, because I am not a one-trick pony.

I, I really don't have a singular style that I can only do.

And, that was kinda my plan going in with Placido was like cause some chaos, throw some subs from weird angles, and see if I can get some points on the board.

And, you know, as much as I said I, was worried about my cardio for this tournament, I have very, very good cardio, and I can go deep into rounds.

And, I have never once felt tired in a jujitsu match.

I'll feel dead afterwards, but in the match I feel like I can go all day.

And I know that when I start getting, out of breath and I start getting fatigued, my opponent's gotta be dead.

And so my game plan with him was just create that chaos and make him tired.

And, it worked out really well.

Do you think that was kind of like a pivotal moment in that trials for you?

Did that change the tides at all?

Are you feeling good now?

I'm sure you're feeling physically bad- Yep after that match, but like is there any part of you that's kinda like, "Okay, now, like we're deep in it"?

That was a good one, I think mentally, just to like You know, I, I remember, I don't necessarily remember what round it was, but, Placido had a match with Cody Steel years ago, and it was like a really highlight match kinda the same way.

And I remember being a, just a fan watching that match.

And knocking him out was a good mental thing for me, just to let me know like, "All right, dude, you know, you, you belong here.

You're in the mix right now, and now's where things are gonna start to get serious."

Like that puts me into the quarterfinal, and it's like, "You're a couple matches away from, from doing something crazy here."

and you know, I think just being the name that he, He is, it set me up to know like, "If you can beat that dude, you can beat anybody here."

And, that's what happened.

And then your next match was Daniel Dieter, right?

Daniel Dieter, yep.

What'd you think of that match?

That was an interesting one.

I didn't know anything about Dieter before I fought him.

I'd never seen him before.

I'd never seen his name.

And all of a sudden I'm like, "You know, who's this, who's this dude that just took out Andy Varela and is like doing back flips on the mat a couple mats away?"

And, I saw a little bit.

S- I, I was trying to watch some film before and saw he's got a good guard and he plays a little sneaky.

So I was aware of some of the stuff he would try to do.

I think I was a little bit more physical than he was.

I could tell in the match in some of the scrambles that I was maybe, a little bit stronger than he was.

And, I was able to put kind of a good pace but also a good squeeze on him.

And, when overtime hit with him, I was able to, secure a nice takedown when he tried to wrestle, and then get on top and eventually get to a strangle.

So that was a good match for me, where the pace was a bit slower than the Placido match, and so I felt like it was kind of a new life for me.

Placido, my arms were fatigued, my legs were fatigued.

I had like all this lactic acid.

With Dieter, I almost felt like I was loosening up in the match.

My arms were getting back, you know, a little looser.

My legs were underneath me again.

And so I actually felt great going into the semifinals because of that match.

So then you go into the semifinals, and at this point you decided, you know, the Placido match wasn't crazy enough.

I gotta do an even more insane spectacle here.

And you fought Jaden Groener, right?

Yep.

Another PGF veteran- Yep as well, which I thought was kind of like a cool storyline there.

Super cool.

Two PGF guys going in it.

But can you talk us through this match?

'Cause it obviously had an insane ending to it.

Yeah.

The Groener match, everything went wrong, like pretty quickly.

You know, it was one of those moments where I think I got a little ahead of my skis, because I had taken out Dory the first day.

I took out Placido in, in the first round of the second day.

And then all of a sudden it's like Jaden Groener, who I had watched him on PGF, but again, kind of a similar situation.

Like he wasn't a huge name.

And so I think I got a little bit over my skis and was looking past him and thinking, "Okay, you know, I beat him.

I'm gonna..." I was pretty sure it was gonna be Ryan, so I said, "I'm gonna beat him and then I gotta have the, the battle that is Ryan Aiken."

And, I really was mistaken because Groener was a dog.

And, points came on.

I felt like he was baiting me on the pass.

And, as soon as I hit it, he just came right underneath me and he ended up taking my back.

And, he scored twice too, which was like a death sentence in ADCC.

So I knew I was down big.

He ended up having the back and, you know, I, I could feel, I think, a little bit of, from his side it almost felt like relief.

Like I could feel him relaxing a little bit.

And I think at that point he started thinking ahead, too.

You know, it was like, "Okay, I'm about to be in the finals of ADCC trials."

you can even see in the video he's like smiling at his coach.

And you know, I get it.

He was He started moving past.

And, my mindset there was like, "You gotta find a way to win here."

and especially after the day that I had.

You know, it was one of those things where- I wasn't feeling good, but now I'm winning matches, and it's like this is the one of the whole weekend that I was sure I'm gonna win, and I'm getting my butt kicked right now.

Like, I have to figure this out.

And, you know, I just kept telling myself, "Find a way, find a way, find a way."

and I had to kinda put a little bait, and I remember thinking, like, "This is gonna be it.

I'm either gonna sub him or he's gonna sub me."

And I, I sorta fed him my foot from waiter guard.

It's a position I do really well.

And, lucky for me, he, he kinda took the bait there, and I was able to get on his arm, and, yeah, the rest is history there.

Yeah, got the submission, right, with, like, legitimately, like, one second left.

One second left on the clock.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I felt his arm go, like, right away on the Kimura.

It took a really big pop, and that was kinda like the, the shot for me that was like, "I think I can win this now."

and as soon as it popped, I just straightened that arm out and, you know, he was so tough.

I could tell he really didn't wanna tap, and, I had to put a lot of extra pressure on that arm bar, and he took quite a bit of pops.

But, you know, thankfully, I was able to get the finish and, and put myself in the finals.

Yeah, so you obviously had, like, a big emotional eruption after that.

Yeah.

What was that feeling like, not just knowing you punched your ticket, but to overcome such a big points deficit and get the submission?

Just insane.

Yeah, i- it's hard to even describe, like, the emotion.

It was, people say out of body a lot, but it, it was out of body.

I felt like I was, like, outside of myself at that point, like, watching down on the mats.

And just a lot of emotion there of, you know, you're in the semifinal.

If you win, you're guaranteed a trials medalist.

If you lose, you're not guaranteed anything.

Like, you might lose your third place match and you're out.

And so there's, you know, every round there comes that pressure in some way, shape, or form, and I think that was, like, eating at me a little bit, which is like, you've made it so far, you've beaten some of these big names, you're in the semifinals.

Like, don't let this moment slip away from you.

Because, you know, truth be told, trials is, is a war, and you're not guaranteed anything.

And so, you know, I'm not guaranteed that next year I go and I'm gonna just cruise through everybody.

It doesn't work like that.

And I knew I was in a position to make it happen that day, and so I just had to make it happen.

And so when I got that tap and I, you know, I realized I'm going to the final, it was such a big, really a weight lifted off my shoulders of, you know, I've, I've checked this box of you are a trials medalist no matter what.

And so now it's like one more.

If I can do this last one, I can cement myself in history.

So then in the finals, you're going up against Ryan Aiken, someone you've had two matches with before.

Yep.

Before that.

This would be you guys' third- Yep meeting.

What did you think about now that you have Ryan, and then can you talk us through how that match ended up playing out?

Yeah, so I fought Ryan two other times before.

Both times he submitted me.

And, so that is a tough order, you know?

And, and I've had matches like that coming up where, you know, you fight a guy a couple times and, and they catch you, and they catch you again, and it's hard to overcome that.

But my teammate and I, here we talk a lot about, like, it's hard to beat me three times, you know?

And that's, like, always been something.

'Cause I, I've had these guys in jujitsu that have beaten me twice, and you know, then we go for the third, and it's like I, I generally can get them back on the third.

And, I was just saying that the whole time, like, "It's hard to beat me three times.

Like, it's hard."

And I knew that he had had some really hard matches through the tournament.

I knew he was cutting some weight.

And it was a situation where it's like, I got nothing to lose here.

You already subbed me twice, so I'm gonna get after it.

And I felt like that adrenaline jump that I had from the semifinals kinda pushed me through into the final.

You know, my, my body, I felt great.

You know, at that point it was just getting the mind right of, right now I have to rise, you know?

And, and, again, going back, it was, it was a moment that I knew I'm not gonna get this one back, and so I have to leave it all on the table right now.

Because I've had moments, you know, I, I was in the open class final of NoGi Pans as a purple belt, and I was winning with, like, a minute left, and I started thinking to myself, like, "I'm gonna win the open class," and I got taken down.

And I was in the final of brown belt NoGi Pans and went to a ref's decision, and I dropped a ref's decision, and it's like didn't go my way.

So I had these moments in my career where looking back, I've thought in my head, like, "If I just pushed a little bit more, I think I could've won that match."

So there's a lot of regret in that, of knowing that you could do a little bit more.

And for that match, I just decided I'm gonna leave every single ounce of me on this mat.

I don't care what happens, but I'm gonna find a way to win.

And I was able to do that, and it just culminated into this, you know, amazing weekend of doubt and, you know, highs and lows and everything, and it put me right where I wanted to be and was finally able to accomplish that dream.

Yeah, so you capture the gold, earn your ticket to the ADCC World Championship.

What was, what was that feeling like, knowing that, like, not just that now you're a trials champion, a very elite group of grapplers, but also that you're gonna be going to the world championship?

I think for me, it honestly just, like, proved myself right.

You know, I Coming up in jujitsu, especially when I decided to become, like, professional in jujitsu, I was told by everybody that I needed to move.

I, you know, I got asked to move to a lot of different gyms many different times, and I had a lot of people tell me that there was no path to success here.

And, I always believed I could do it here.

And you know, my coach Seneco always told me, like, "You don't need to go anywhere.

You can do it here."

and my dad always told me, "You don't need to go anywhere.

You can do it here."

And having a lot of those people tell me that that was impossible, you know, it, it kinda put a chip on my shoulder.

I was a little bit angry that people thought the only way to do this is to move to some super gym.

And, you know, I wanted to do my own thing.

I wanted to have my own path and my own story.

And so winning trials for me was just the ultimate like proving ground of I did it, and I did it in my hometown with my people.

I didn't have to leave my people, I didn't have to leave my city, I didn't have to leave my family.

I was able to get it done.

And a- again, for me it was just the ultimate, like, relief of, you know, I finally did what I've set out to do.

Like, I am an elite grappler, and now I get to go and show it again at ADCC.

For sure.

So I'm sure there's so much, you know, joy, excitement, maybe even a confidence that comes along with becoming a trials champion, but have you started to feel any sort of pressure knowing now that there is, like, this massive obstacle now in the way- Yeah which is the ADCC World Championship?

No.

Honestly, none at all.

And I think again, just because of the career that I've had, I, I have competed at every show possible.

I mean, there's so many different venues and organizations and, you know, rule sets and whatever.

I've competed in all of them, and I've competed a lot against some of the best guys in the world.

I've trained with some of the best guys in the world.

And at the end of the day, it's a jujitsu match on mats, and I do that every single day here.

And so for me, no, there's no pressure at all.

Again, I don't feel the pressure of having to prove myself to anybody except for me, and so I just wanna prove myself right.

And, that's, that's what ADCC is to me.

It's just another chance to do that.

Yeah.

So taking a step back and just talking about ADCC more generally now for maybe people who don't quite understand really what ADCC is and stuff, how would you describe ADCC, and specifically the ADCC World Championship, to someone who might not know exactly what it is?

For me, you have ADCC trials is our Olympic trials.

It is the best of the best in your country are gonna come, and they're gonna compete for a spot.

And, you know, the crazy thing about that is when you have the best of the best coming, you have 10 guys, you have 15 guys that are deserving and that could win it, and on any given day they could do it.

And so you condense that down into the one, and then ADCC is the Olympics.

It's the big one.

There's nothing bigger than ADCC, and it's the chance to show truly who is the best grappler in the world at that weight class.

Everybody's had to qualify.

You have to earn your way there.

Nobody just shows up to ADCC, you know?

It, it is like the one tournament that we have where you have to earn your spot there through hell to get there, and if you make it, you gotta walk through it again with the other champions.

Which for me is the most exciting thing in the world.

Definitely.

So obviously ADCC, you know, unmatched type of event and everything.

What is it about ADCC that you think kind of has made it such a, a big deal, like such an important part of the sport of jujitsu?

ADCC to me is, it's to show the ultimate grappler, who's the best.

And you know, you look at the history of ADCC where they would bring in wrestlers or Sambo guys or MMA guys or whoever, who wanted to prove themself as the world's best grappler.

And year over year that has just become what ADCC is.

And, just knowing that history and seeing some of the legends that have competed in one ADCC is huge.

It's everything.

And I think that's what makes ADCC so exciting, is again, you have to earn your way there.

There's no, no free rides at ADCC.

And so, getting there alone is one thing, and then seeing the level of competition there is a completely different beast.

So you're gonna be competing in the 88 kilogram division.

Obviously every division at ADCC is incredibly tough, super stacked, you know?

The last couple years been kinda dominated by Giancarlo Bedoni, who came up, you know, trained a long time, obviously trained with Louies Lepri, all that, got under Gordon Ryan, John Danaher, and then kind of exploded in 2022, won 2024, but he's been announced as being out.

Do you think, like, the absence of the, the two-time returning champion being there kinda makes for a wide open field at 88?

I think so.

I think, like I said with trials, I think any given day any athlete can win.

And as much as I, I think Giancarlo is amazing, I have a lot of respect for him, he's an amazing grappler, I think the field is so tough depending on match-ups, depending on, you know There's so many different things that can happen.

I think it's anybody's ball game, and that's what I love about my shot here, is there's nobody in this division that I'm afraid of.

There's nobody in this division that I feel like, is a better grappler than I am.

I feel like I can go out there and I can put a pace on any of these guys.

And I'm just excited to be in the chaos.

Is there anyone in s- like particular that you've crossed paths with before or you haven't had a chance to compete against that kinda stands out to you in this bracket with you?

You know, I, I'd have to look at the picture of the bracket again.

I don't know if you have a list, but I don't think I have competed against anybody in this bracket.

Really?

Which is pretty crazy.

I don't know if you have the list.

If you have it- I, I do have the list yeah, read it off.

Here, I can list them out for you real quick- Yeah just to give you a refresher.

So J-Rod, Pawel Jaworski, Marlon Tajik, Joseph Chen, Franco Diaz, Gustavo Batista, John Blank, you, Santiri, Gabriel Broche, Mateus Denise, Chris Wojcik, Pedro Marino, Felipe Costa, Fares, and then Bob Frias.

Okay.

The full list.

John, John Blank and Wojcik are the two that I've competed against.

I've never competed against anyone else there.

And John obviously I fought at East Coast.

And then, me and Wojcik have had, I think, three or four matches.

We had one at PGF.

It was a draw.

We fought to an EBI overtime, where he beat me in overtime, at Main Character.

I believe we fought to a ref's decision at IBJJF years ago, like, you know, purple or brown belt.

So it's pretty cool.

Like, he's a, he's a monster as well.

But, yeah, him and John are the only two, so it's cool to see, like, a lot of these fresh faces.

It's interesting.

Like, I think J-Rod is a really cool match-up.

I think that'd be super fun.

I think guys like Franco, like Gustavo Batista, watching them.

Bob Frias is fun to watch.

Obviously Joseph is super fun.

I mean, again- Everybody there is so good, it's hard to, like, pick who the best matchup is.

But I like my chances.

Definitely.

Does it make you excited whenever you have a bracket full of people you haven't competed with against, or do you prefer a bracket full of people you have experience with?

At this point, I really like when it's new faces.

You know, I think it's interesting to see the different styles that people have.

'Cause everybody rolls a little bit different, you know?

And e- even guys at a high level, it's like you, you fight somebody and then 10 minutes later, a friend of theirs comes over and says, "Oh yeah, he does this style really well."

It's like, "Oh man, I wish I knew that before the match."

so I feel like it's always cool to just solve that puzzle.

And I think myself, I'm a tricky puzzle to solve as well.

And so it's nice when most of the field is people that they don't know my game.

And, it's hard to study my game too because of how relatively unknown in some ways I am.

And, and truth be told, I haven't even showed some of my best techniques on, at a high level yet.

And, there's a lot of things that I do really well that I think will surprise some of these guys, and hopefully will show it to them in Poland.

Definitely.

So just to ask you specifically about some of these guys, kinda starting with J-Rod, the returning silver medalist, probably the, one of the more notable people in all of ADCC at this point.

How do you think a match with you and J-Rod would play out?

Chaos.

I think it would be scramble city.

Which is really cool, man.

I like how he fights.

I think he has a really entertaining style.

But having fought Achilles, and then watching him fight Achilles as well, there's a lot of things that I think I do really well that match up well against J-Rod.

I think it would be an all-out war, so that would be one I'd be really excited to get.

And then I think another potentially kinda crazy one would be, like, Joseph Chen.

Absolutely.

He's kinda had a lot of He's, you know, built a name for himself and everything recently.

What do you think about that match?

Yeah.

Joseph reminds me a lot of, like, the Placido match.

I feel like Joseph is very well-rounded.

He's a very strategic player as well.

He, he thinks, you can tell.

He has very, like, good game plans that he hits with guys.

So I think he'd be a really fun person to get a match with as well.

Definitely.

And so, kinda going into just more of your jujitsu specifically and everything, just in general, how would you describe your style of jujitsu?

I think that my jujitsu is very, very technical.

I always say that my jujitsu is the fundamentals at the highest level with a little bit of chaos on top.

I feel comfortable from every position, offense and defense.

I don't feel like I have a game.

You know, you hear guys say, "Oh, I'm a leg locker.

I'm a guard player.

I'm a top player," or, "I'm a wrestler."

I can play anywhere, and depending on the match, where I need to be, I can play there.

And I think that added with the physicality that I bring, I do have a high pace.

I like to compete hard.

I think that gives people trouble because in some ways, I can be the strategic puzzle with the slow game, but when we need to turn the pace up, I do that better than anybody.

Is there a match out there where if you have fans not familiar with you that you'd be like, "Do you wanna know what Nathan Haddad is like competing?

Go watch this match"?

It's tough to, to not use anyone other than the Placido match.

I think the Placido match shows a lot of, like, the high-level scrambling that I'm talking about, and, really just, like, my fight IQ as well.

'Cause there were some spots where, you know, he was close to scoring or I was close to scoring, and you kinda mitigate that by using some little tricks and understanding your rule set.

That's one of my favorite matches.

It just showed so much.

It had everything, wrestling, passing, guard play.

That was a really fun one.

Definitely.

And so you've obviously, you know, you've worked very hard for a long time to get to where you are now.

Do you think Little Chubby Killer Nathan would be stoked at where you're at now in the sport?

Yeah.

I think, You know, looking back, I, I was not sure that this was gonna be a path for me.

I, I went to college, went to business school, and, I really didn't think jujitsu was gonna be what my life was.

And not because I didn't think I could do it or I just didn't know.

It wasn't really on my radar as a professional sport at the time.

And, it's pretty cool to be able to say, like, I have put myself into that one percent category.

You know, I, I've been fortunate enough to be around some legends of the sport and meet some of the guys that are in that category as well.

And, you know, as a kid, they were idols.

They were, you know, that's the guy.

And, you know, you stand on the shoulder of giants, and I have a coach that was that, and so I'm just doing my best to make sure that I can fill those shoes.

Do you have any advice for anybody out there who maybe has been just kinda grinding quietly for a long time?

Maybe they're out in a gym somewhere in the Midwest or something, you know, and they're starting to question whether they should do this or not.

Do you have advice for someone?

Yeah.

I think, volume over time.

That's my biggest advice to anybody that wants to do jujitsu.

You know, you can be intense, and you can train really, really hard for six months, but the guy that trains three days a week for six years is gonna beat you.

And so I think volume over time is very important, building a foundation.

And you know, for me, jujitsu is like brushing my teeth.

It's just something that I do every day.

It's not I- I- it doesn't matter if I have other things going on or I'm busy or, you know, family's in town.

It doesn't matter.

I do jujitsu at this time every single day.

And I think that the people who commit to the jujitsu lifestyle, those people will have success.

And I think the other thing too is, as cliche as it sounds, like, just keep going.

Because I am a prime example of somebody who took a lot of hard losses and a lot of big bumps and, you know, I think a lot of people wrote me off because of that.

And I think a lot of people thought, like, you know, that might be as high as my ceiling could go, but I just never believed it.

I thought I could always get better and always do better.

I'm a firm believer that, you know, the 2026 version of Nathan is better than the 2025 version, and I believe that the 2027 version of me would sub the 2026 version of me.

I'm always getting better.

I'm always trying to learn new techniques.

24 years in the game, I feel like I'm just getting started.

For sure.

Is there, something the fans should expect from you whenever you take the mats in Poland?

Highlights, excitement.

You know, I, I believe that jujitsu has to be very technical, and I think there's a time and a place for strategy and, and making sure that you get the job done.

But we also are in the entertainment business, and so I like to push a pace.

I like to get out there and fight.

You know, I love it when you hear the crowd go ooh and aah.

You know, the best feeling ever is getting that one-second sub left and hearing everybody in the building go nuts.

So for me, if I can do that and make people get, get crazy, get out of their seats, I'm happy.

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