We had the chance to speak to Andy Murasaki in the very first edition of JitsCast, and he opened up about missing out on the long-awaited rematch with Tainan Dalpra recently. The interview took place just a matter of days after Murasaki hit one of the highest points of his career so far, as he won the middleweight division at The Crown 2024. He won his first two matches in phenomenal fashion and booked a place in the final opposite Dalpra, but unfortunately Dalpra was unable to compete due to a broken hand. He missed out on the chance for a third match with Dalpra, so we wanted to find out how he felt about the situation:
“I’ve had two matches against Tainan, I lost twice so it’s 0-2 for him. It’s a match I was looking forward to at The Crown but it’s like, I want to be able to win against his best version, does that makes sense?”
It’s certainly a noble thought in fairness, and you can tell that Andy Murasaki genuinely wants to beat the best version of Tainan Dalpra when he eventually does get that rematch. He went on to explain that in a little more detail too:
“Let’s say we fought and he wasn’t at his best, it’s not in my hands. It’s not on me, right? I did everything I could to be my best and things happened to me in my preperation, but I was still there. We can’t really control those outside factors, I would say… I would still be happy if we fought and I won, I would still be happy obviously… I would rather have a win when we’re both on our best versions. I think that would be better for myself, that would be better for the public who’s watching, that would be better for everyone.”
It was an insightful interview and we started out by looking all the way back to the very beginning of Murasaki’s Jiu-Jitsu journey, when he first started training as a child under his father in Japan. From there we learnt about his decision to pursue a career in the sport while still a teenager, and his difficult transition to the US. Murasaki told us about his time training with Caio Terra when he first came to the US and what life was like when he decided to make the move to ATOS, where he received his black belt and still trains to this day under Andre Galvao.
Murasaki took us through each of his three silver medal performances at the IBJJF World Championship in 2022, 2023, and 2024 in order to explain what lessons he learnt from each one. We also discussed his no gi career, where he was able to provide some surprising information about his victory at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2022. He also revealed that he’s had some very interesting offers from major no gi promotions to make his return to the sport, and even named some of the competitors that he’s been considering facing.
JitsCast #1 with Andy Murasaki, including his thoughts on a third match with Tainan Dalpra, is now available to watch on the official JitsMagazine YouTube channel, click here to subscribe for more or check out the interview below:
