At 27 years of age, Paulo Miyao says he still has new ground to break: following a hyper successful jiu-jitsu career, the black belt is considering trying out MMA. 

IBJJF black belt World champion in 2015, a three-time IBJJF Pan champion and winner of the Abu Dhabi World Pro, Miyao has conquered every major gi title in the sport of jiu-jitsu. 

And now Miyao has revealed that he plans to shed the gi and slip on MMA gloves for a trial run in the ring or cage. 

In this wide ranging 10-min interview, where Miyao discusses everything from his tiny hometown in Brazil to his veganism, he discusses his motivation for competing and plans for 2019. 

“I compete more because I want to inspire my teammates to compete too. Maybe win, maybe lose, but I think losses don’t define who you are. And I just want to inspire my teammates, (to) be a better person, (to) be better in your jiu-jitsu. I plan to fight in the most competitions I can, the same as I did before.” 

Beyond that, Miyao dropped the bombshell that he sees himself trying out MMA, and not that far off. 

“I want fight at least one fight in MMA to see how it is. I think in the next five years I want to do something like this: open a gym, or fight MMA, or coach.”

Go inside the mind of Paulo Miyao where he talks about everything from his tiny hometown in Brazil, his competition plans for 2019 and even tentative plans for MMA! https://t.co/kbrD3horSX pic.twitter.com/Jm7pYgwywA

— FloGrappling (@FloGrappling) December 7, 2018