VICTOR ESTIMA: “I HAVE TO HUNT FOR THE SUBMISSION”

January 10th will see Gracie Barra’s Victor Estima take on Atos’ JT Torres at the inaugural Polaris Professional Jiu jitsu Invitational – and we are getting excited! We caught up with Victor to discuss his upcoming fight.

You’ve fought JT before under submission only rules, so what do you expect from your next encounter in January?

Well first of all I took the fight at Metamoris very last minute, and so did JT, so we didn’t have the chance to prepare like we’d want to. This time I’ve had lots more time to prepare and I can pay special attention to adjusting for the length of the fight.

It takes some time to adjust for the submission only approach, but it’s good that we’ve fought before and I already have a little bit of a feel for how to approach things. I believe the match will have a shorter time limit than Metamoris, which will hopefully let the fight be a little bit more dynamic.

I’m really excited for the fight, because I don’t feel like I performed very well in the last match. I had a bad injury in the build up, but this time I’ve started my training now and I’m getting ready.

Are you excited to be part of the first Polaris event?

Yeah for sure. As soon as I heard about the event being created I was excited, but I didn’t realise just how big it was going to be. There are so many big names fighting, so I am very happy to be part of this first group, and it will also be in the UK – my adopted hometown. It’s great that there are events like this coming up in the UK. It’s giving me extra motivation to train.

What would you say are JT Torres’ main strengths?

I think he’s a very well rounded fighter. He has a great passing game, as well as nice sweeps and submissions. He also has very good wrestling, so I have to be prepared for every possibility. I really respect JT as a fighter and I’m looking forward to facing him again. Normally I compete at a heavier weight that him, but he cuts down and I never cut weight. I think we are pretty much the same weight and a great match up. It’s going to be fun.

You’re known for having some great submissions in your locker, so do you think you are well suited to submission only events?

I think my game works very well for submission only, and I really like to work for the finish. In fact, sometimes my approach has cost me some big victories over the past year. I have actually been working on not committing myself too early in fights and not hunting so hard for the submission, but that is obviously not a problem at Polaris. I guess I’ll have to bring back the old Victor a little bit this time and hunt for the sub!

For more details on the debut Polaris show visit www.polaris-pro.org or book your tickets HERE.

Issue 23, with cover star Rickson Gracie, is AVAILABLE NOW! See what's inside HERE.