Chad Hardy is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete who hails from Louisville, KY and has been training BJJ since age 11. In his own words, his entry into BJJ followed after beginning with Taekwondo – he says “I started out with TKD. After training for a few years the academy closed down. My instructor recommended that I go try MMA and Jiu Jitsu at Derby City.” Ten years after starting BJJ, Hardy received his black belt from Nick ‘Chewy’ Albin who is also a close friend of his as well as a training partner. Ironically, it is Albin who is responsible for his biggest injury in the sport, as he mentions “I hurt my back at the age of 19. I put Chewy in a triangle and he turned and popped my back on accident” These days you can find Chad teaching at Guardian MMA in Murfreesboro, TN.
We asked Hardy about his favorite BJJ positions, he replied “I really love the collar sleeve, closed guard, and the back. My favorite sweep is the scissor sweep and I like knee slices and the shuffle pass/hip pin pass”. He also claims that the triangle is his main submission, which is something he has often talked about in his videos.
We also inquired about his competition achievements. Competing at middleweight, he lists winning the IBJJF DC open and Vegas open at black belt, as well as multiple super-fight victory’s and being rank 13 in the middleweight division 2018. He adds Lucas ‘Hulk’ Barbosa as his hardest competition opponent and claims Kyle Cannon had the biggest influence on his grappling style.
Q&A
Obviously, you’re well known for the triangle choke. I did an article a while ago that showed some data that found that triangles were high risk, high reward. So, if you fail [the triangle] you often get passed and lose the match a lot. Do you agree with this? Or is it that a lot of people are trying triangles in a bad situation and that’s why they get passed?
“I don’t think that the triangle is a high risk technique if done properly. The great thing about the triangle choke is that if your legs are gassed you can always attack other submissions from the triangle. I normally shoot up triangles when I break my opponent down to prevent those scrambles of getting my guard passed.”
Secondly, if you could tell us about Chewjitsu, what’s it like training under him? He’s well known online as having a good personality and being a decent competitor. Could you tell us what he’s like as a coach?
“Chewy is a phenomenal coach I thought with both of us together we made a good team. He could show the stalky big guy techniques and I could teach the lanky/small guy techniques. You would get the best of both worlds. Chewy is very tough. Don’t let his personality fool you. We would train our asses off at Derby City to get ready for big events. The best thing about Chewy’s teaching style is that he is very organized and he puts a lot of thought into the methods of training. Even though our styles didn’t match at all, I still picked up a lot from chewy. He is very detailed in everything he does. Chewy is a great coach and ranks high in competition.”
I’ve read online that you had a very tough upbringing and had mental health issues and even tried to kill yourself. I think a lot of people in BJJ struggle with mental illness – at least to some extent. Could you tell us how you overcame this?
“I overcame this by starting to reinforce positive thoughts in my head. Instead of thinking about everything that could go wrong I started telling myself it would be okay. Any time a negative thought came into my head I would say something positive 20 times. I had to really train my mind and it wasn’t an easy task. Sometimes you feel like you are at an all-time low and nothing can help. Unless you talk yourself through it nothing will. Jiu Jitsu did help me solve problems and stay calm under the pressure. Having people to talk to and hang out with at the gym helped as well. Mostly though you have to really dig deep and figure out what triggers those emotions and learn how to deal with them.”
Also, if you could mention what you’re up to these days? Obviously, the competition scene has stalled due to coronavirus. Have you started your own gym now? Are you still trying to compete and generally what are you up to right now?
“Right now I’m focusing on growing my students at Guardian MMA (I don’t own this gym), building my online academy, and building up my YouTube. I will be doing no gi pans this year as long as I’m healthy. I will compete in the future as well.”
Lastly, do you have any other plans for the future?
“I want to keep growing my students up to create an elite team. Make it to 100,000 subscribers on YouTube and win the worlds or pans and black belt.”
For more information, you can find Chad’s instructional site here which features an array of videos that are designed to improve your BJJ.
