We released the very first episode of JitsCast, with our guest this week being top competitor Andy Murasaki. The timing couldn’t have been better either, as it had only been a few days since Murasaki took home the middleweight title at The Crown 2024. It was a fantastic performance that saw him win his first two matches in convincing fashion to book his place against Tainan Dalpra in the final. Dalpra was injured and unable to compete, so we wanted to speak to Murasaki about both the event in general and how he felt about missing out on the rematch with Dalpra.
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 is now available to watch on the official JitsMagazine YouTube channel, click here to subscribe for more or check out the interview below:
