EBI Champ Jon Calestine Reveals Struggles And Unveils Plans For World Title

Renzo Gracie team member Jon Calestine from Brooklyn may have won EBI but he's finding it nearly impossible to get matches. Maybe it's because of his incredibly polite callouts?

On the "craziness" of winning EBI

"It was a little bit crazy as I wasn't supposed to be competing.  It was a big moment in my career, I was stuck in a certain place in terms of where I was in the rankings. I was at a point where I had competed all over the local scene and won as much stuff as I could. But it seemed I wasn't getting that big break that I needed. 

"Sadly Eddie got sick and he had to pull out of EBI but it was good for me as it got me out there on a big stage. That's all that I want, to show people that I can do well and win. That's the most important thing for me, to go out and be successful in the thing I work so hard at. 

"It was a crazy experience. Very nerve racking. A lot of a battles in my head, a lot of crying! But it was a fun experience, it meant a lot to me. I had a thousand dollars in my bank account and was in a position where I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep doing jiu-jitsu at the level that I wanted to as I couldn't catch a break." 

On his immediate plans 

"For me what's next is definitely ADCC trials. Going to ADCC has been a dream of mine since I started training. That's going to be the next big thing. Definitely some IBJJF events in the future. 

"I want to win a world title. My goal is to keep winning, win Worlds titles and keep winning bigger and bigger things. It's hard for me to get superfights. So winning tournaments is my best way to stay active. 

"ADCC is going to be the main focus for me. IBJJF helps because there are so many of them going on. I haven't competed under points for three or four years. I'm always thinking points in a lot of the things that I do, I think I can do well under points, I just to get used to it again." 

Why it's so hard to get superfights

"I think it's because I'm not as popular as certain people. I guess it's the game. I tend not to put myself out there as much as I should, and I get yelled at for not doing it. I should probably call some people out but it's not my style. Asking politely is the way I tend to do things." 

Who he "politely requests" superfights with

"People I've thought about are guys like AJ Agazarm, I think it'd be a good fun match and people would enjoy it. The guy who took silver at ADCC is the guy you want to compete against. Winning a silver medal at ADCC is not an easy thing. I definitely think I deserve a chance against somebody like AJ. 

"I've asked for matches against guys like Jeff Glover, I've thrown out there Caio Terra. These are all guys I want to have matches with, I want to test myself against the best possible people that I can. 

"Maybe a match with Kennedy Maciel, that's something I would be very very interested in. I think it makes sense because he just kept winning everything, I want to compete against the best possible, he is very very talented, his father being Cobrinha, you can see the skill trickling down. I think that would be a fun match." 

His ultimate goal 

"My goal is to go win ADCC, it's a hard thing to do but that is my goal. I need to be able to compete with points, right now I've only been competing sub-only. I won EBI and now it's time to branch out a little bit into IBJJF and ADCC."