Professor Dan McCarthy was a 28-year-old competitive kickboxer when he saw the early UFC and went looking for this ground game. Now 55, a father of five, a money manager and management consultant, and a teacher for about 20 years, he talks with Pete about how your relationship with jiu-jitsu changes as your life does: years of teaching with little time for his own game, injuries that kept him out from 38 to 43 and made him think he had retired, and a comeback into a sport transformed by heel hooks and athletes. He measures success now by his impact on others.

Dan's guiding rule is to take care of your training partner the way you would want to be cared for, and he tells of a teammate who, after two years on the mat together, finally opened up to him over a coffee that ran two and a half hours. He explains why he started competing again, winning both matches at a recent event and hugging his opponent afterward, why he believes he would beat his 35-year-old self, and the rule Bernardo Faria gave him at 50 about heavier partners. Taking up wrestling at 54 reminded him how awkward beginners feel.

In this episode

• 0:00 Welcome
• 2:03 A kickboxer meets the UFC
• 4:09 From student to teacher
• 5:13 Injuries and a comeback
• 8:17 Measuring success by your impact
• 11:25 A different partner every roll
• 14:36 Take care of your training partner
• 17:44 Why are you here?
• 20:50 Competing again at 55
• 29:08 The friendship that changed him
• 34:27 Better at 55 than at 35
• 36:31 Bernardo Faria's rule for heavier partners
• 39:39 A beginner in wrestling at 54
• 41:40 Guard retention and educated instincts

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