C
hosen by the UK BJJ community to be
their representative on one of the big-
gest stages, the Yorkshire Gripper is busy
preparing to make his Polaris Pro debut
against AJ Agazarm.
They say that it takes years and years of
hard work to become an overnight star,
so please try and explain what has hap-
pened to you in 2017 so far?
You know what, I completely echo what
you’ve said because it takes years to be-
come an overnight success. This is what re-
ally happened though.
Early last year I had a foot operation on a
niggling injury. It drove me insane first and
foremost, but it really forced me to evaluate
where I was and what I wanted to do. In a
weird way, I was made to look at my own jiu
jitsu and I wasn’t happy with it.
The problem is trying to find the balance.
I was only bit-part in competing here and
there. I just wanted to do bigger and better
things and I realised that you do have to be
in it to win it. One thing I like to say is that
some people are in the right place at the
right time, but if you keep showing up at the
right place then at some point it will be the
right time for you. It’s about putting yourself
in places and positions, I guess.
Well, one of those places and positions
was Lisbon, for the Europeans in January.
You took gold at brown belt.
Yeah man, it was! I hadn’t done the Euros
since blue belt, mainly because of the ex-
pense of the whole trip, but it had always
been something I dreamed of doing again
- “winning the Euros, that’d be cool,” but
then it also felt like something I’d never be
able to achieve.
I’d done a lot of work in coming back from
injury over a six-month period and the Euro-
peans was just an experiment for me. I en-
tered quite opened minded and just wanted
to play my game and see what happened. I
think after the first fight I thought, “hang on
a minute, I might do some damage here!”
and then I did, submitting my way to gold.
A lot of positive thoughts go through my
head though!This year, an overnight success: kick-start-
ing the year with Euros gold, then you
got your black belt, then you won £2000
at Densetsu, then she said “yes” to you
on stage (congrats!), then you’ll fight
Paddy Pimblett at Tanko and then you’ve
got Polaris against AJ Agazarm.How did you become the busiest man
in UK BJJ?
I know it sounds daft but I’m being quite
savvy about it. All of us think it would be
nice to have a break or a few weeks off, but
whilst the success is there and there’s a bit“YOU KNOW WHAT, AJ
(AGAZARM) KNOWS WHAT
HE’S DOING. WHETHER HE’S
A NICE GUY OR WHETHER HE
IS NOT, HE IS ALWAYS ON THE
PEOPLE’S LIPS”
LLOYD COOPER: THE YORKSHIRE GRIPPER
of hype that is getting me on these shows, you have to ride
with it.As I said, you have to be in the right place. But so far, it has
been nuts! My phone has nearly melted so far this year. Since
winning Densetsu my phone has been going off non-stop.
I’ve had texts and Facebook messages every day.I imagine it’s like a wave. I have to ride it as long and hard
as I can before the wave ends, or I come off. As long as
there are people being put in front of me, I’ll keep trying
to beat them up.Talking of waves, you have a tsunami heading your way
in the form of AJ Agazarm.
You know what, AJ knows what he’s doing. Whether he’s a
nice guy or whether he is not, he is always on the people’s
lips. He’s always in controversial matches and he’s always in
the sub-only comps.He’s doing what it takes to maintain his professional careerYou would do well to find a grappler who’s had a more productive
year so far than Combat Base’s Lloyd Cooper.
Words: Tom Bell Pictures: Callum MedcraftWORDS: TOM BELL
PICTURES: PROGRESS JJ / JOSH HALVATZIS