SHIPPING IN JULY! 7 DVD Set of ADCC 2005 – save $20, plus free shipping on pre-orders! Available only at FIGHTMARKET.COM!Dean Lister recently won the superfight in the ADCC 2005 6th Submission Wrestling World Championships by beating Jean Jacques Machado. With the DVDs due to be released in July we caught up with him on vacation with his family in Arizona. Dean deserves extra credit for trying to relate more information to the fans, especially during this vacation, but his location in the Arizona desert proved to be too remote to keep a phone connection. Here is what was salvaged. KM: How do you feel about your performance? DL: I feel good as far as the strategy we stuck to. I felt some criticism as far as ?why didn?t I submit??I was trying to submit my opponent. From the butterfly guard you don?t have a lot of submissions. In a fight you can sit back and throw punches and even then you can get swept but you don?t have foot locks, you don?t have a lot of the things I?m more known for. I knew he was good at that position and he was going to try to sweep me over with that move. I had to be smart, be heavy on the right side, and pass. I passed and took my opponent?s back and was looking for a choke. He was very well-rounded, a very good opponent. He is a legend of jiu-jitsu, someone I always looked up to and still look up to. I can?t be dumb against the guy. Against someone like him you aren?t going to go out and do some flying armlock. It is kind of funny people talking. KM: You still ended up with a score of what, 8 to -1? DL: -2. It was a good match. You know all the sucker moves so it?s back to basics. You?ll see there are some flashy guys but the most consistent fighters are the ones that perform the basic techniques at a very high level. The things he was trying were nothing really complicated but it takes a long time to get the timing and space down, certain angles you will get better at just by doing them more often. Both of us were being smart. KM: Originally your opponent was supposed to be Ricardo Arona. How do you feel about that late change to such a legend? DL: I?m very thankful they had the match. I thought they were mad we (Lister and Arona) fought before in Japan. I?m glad we had the match, it meant a lot to me. Arona has always been a rival but he has also been a friend. Jean Jacques was more of a role model, someone I looked up to. I never wanted to face him specifically but honored I would have a match against someone like that. I also thought the gameplan (against Arona) would match up more interestingly even though it would probably be only two points scored either way. Against Machado ten points were scored so there were more things happening. Sorry there were no submissions but if I made a mistake I?d be in trouble too. I was happy with the matchup because it motivated me a lot. An honor.KM: How does winning in Abu Dhabi compare to your on-going contract with Pride? Which means more to you? DL: They are two different things. I?m more known to more people with Abu Dhabi because I am the champion so I?m very proud of that. Pride is what I?m becoming. I?ll always be Abu Dhabi and will do 2007, that will be a great challenge to me. I got into jiu-jitsu because it was a very realistic art you could use. I?m not the kind of guy that goes around to fight everyone, it was to be able to protect myself. I want to be very good at the combat arts and now the combat arts have changed to no hold barred as my focus.KM: I?m not trying to create any friction but I?m wondering if there is any angle to beating Machado from a team or training perspective. DL: I think a lot of people would make a rivalry out of nothing because one of us was older, one was smaller and one bigger, one is Brazilian and one American, whatever. You can make anything out of anything if you want to. Really there was no rivalry there at all, as a matter of fact it is someone I always looked up to. Four years ago I was winning his tournaments as a purple belt or brown belt. That wasn?t very long ago. I have pictures where he is holding my hand on the podium because I won his tournament. No rivalry at all, just respect. KM: Last time we talked you had a seminar in Florida. Any others lined up? DL: No. We?ll see. (Note: this was the point Dean was trying to tell us more but his cell phone was cutting out)KM: How is your school going? DL: It is growing fast, a lot of new students because of my last fights. Guys I?m really proud of, really good training partners. (Note: Most of the names Dean tried to thank from training were too filled with static to decipher).KM: We better wrap this up. Sponsors to thank? DL: Koral kimonos, Osirus Shoes, and Sycuan Casino. Also my manager Rob Bergum and the Boxing Club for supporting me.
