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Interview: Dave Camarillo Talks 'Submit Everyone', Leaving AKA, Jiu-Jitsu Tactics, Jon Fitch and Coaching Future

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Dave Camarillo, former coach at MMA gym American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), talks to Luke Thomas and Nate Wilcox of MMA Nation about his new book 'Submit Everyone'. Camarillo, a judo and jiu-jitsu black belt, talks the importance of tactics, UFC welterweight Jon Fitch's style of fighting and his future as a coach or cornerman.

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Submit Everyone Book Cover
Submit Everyone Book Cover

Luke Thomas and I had the opportunity last week to speak to Dave Camarillo, the long-time head Jiu-Jitsu coach at the American Kickboxing Academy. Dave is promoting his new book Submit Everyone: The Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu Files: Classified Field Manual for Becoming a Submission-focused Fighter, co-authored with Kevin Howell.

Dave told us at the beginning of the interview that he's left AKA to focus on his own gyms in Northern California although he expects to continue to corner Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck for the rest of their careers. Luke and I got to ask Dave a lot of questions about his unique blend of Judo and Jiu-Jitsu -- he's one of the few people to have competed at a high level in both grappling sports -- and we drilled pretty deep into some of the ideas from Submit Everyone.


We also discussed Jon Fitch's fighting style, applying Camarillo's 'guerrilla jiu-jitsu' style to MMA, how Camarillo approaches teaching submission grappling to fighters with excellent wrestling backgrounds.