Rida Haisam is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete who hails from Accra, Ghana but moved to Japan as a teen. Here, he started training BJJ aged 17 years old. He details his entry into grappling here, “My dad’s boss back in the day trained Jiu Jitsu and I was invited to a company BBQ at the time. He had plans of opening his own BJJ dojo and he asked me to come and train, saying with my long reach I was definitely gonna be good at BJJ.” Still in his twenties, he achieved the rank of black belt aged 25 under Yuki Ishikawa. He currently trains at Carpe Diem but claims he will be moving to Assembly BJJ in Detroit, Michigan in the near future.
We asked him about his favorite positions whilst training and he prefers spider guard, collar sleeve and other various lapel guards. He says this style is influenced by the likes of Roberto Satoshi, Nicholas Meregali and Keenan Cornelius. He often uses these guards to create overhead sweeps, scissor sweeps and lasso butterfly sweeps. When passing he favors the long step pass, tornado pass and leg drags. His main submissions are armbars, kneebars, toeholds and triangle chokes.
Rida is an avid competitor, usually weighing around 94KG when competing. His best competition results include third place at UAE world pro (brown belt), 3rd place at IBJJF Europeans (brown belt), double gold at IBJJF Asians 2018 (brown belt), heavyweight 1st at IBJJF NY Open, and QUINTET fight night 2 team champions. Like many competitors, he’s had his fair share of injuries and lists rib and knee injuries as his worst.
In terms of future competition plans he adds “Quintet fight night 5 special single match against Igor Tanabe on the 27th October 2020, to make the podium at IBJJF worlds at black belt and UAE world pro. Hopefully [I will] qualify for the next ADCC.”
Q&A
We see a lot of bigger guys train BJJ and to be honest they are mostly not very technical. You are 6″3 and have trained with Japanese guys your entire life. How did you become so technical when fighting smaller opponents?
“When I started BJJ I thought my size gonna make it easier to dominate or pin my opponent down, that wasn’t the case. I got beat up a lot in practice then I started to realize size didn’t mean nothing if you don’t know the techniques. I started focusing more and techniques and my Jiu Jitsu started to get better”
Could you tell us what it was like being black in Japan, or specifically in BJJ gyms? Did people treat you well or poorly? Or just like everyone else?
“I have had a different kind of experience during my eleven years living it here. Most of my adult life has been here in Japan since high school and most of my experience with the local Japanese has been mostly good, especially when you’re genuinely respectful to their culture.”
It’s unusual to see an African at the high levels of BJJ. Do people know who you are in Ghana, or are Ghanaian people not interested in BJJ?
“Yes, Jiu Jitsu is still very new in Ghana. I know a couple of Ghanaians who train Jiu Jitsu living outside of Ghana but I don’t know anyone that trains Jiu Jitsu back home. I heard there’s a couple of dojos opening recently so I can’t wait to check it out when I visit home”
Lastly, would you say you are best in gi or no gi? You have done well competing in both of these formats.
“I think my name blew up after a no gi event so most people think I’m more of a no gi guy, but I’ve been training longer in the gi and I like both equally”
