originally posted on my myspace (www.myspace.com/thewaterchapter) i decided to buy a nice bottle of wine.. drink it to the bottom and write on jiu jitsu. also, ive been nursing an injury this week which has definitely increased my jiu jits gas, so i decided to write some words on the subject matter. resulting in this picture i wrote the following blog. if you have some time, i would appreciate your guys' response.
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the day is january 11, 2002 and it is fucking freezing in the rural town of uncasville connecticut. a week prior, i saw a television ad for 'the ultimate fighting championships' 35th installment, which just to happened to be in my home state. after a brief ticketmaster search, i came to terms with the outrageous ticket prices and knew i couldnt go. <br><br>the day is april 7, 1995. i was twelve years old and had one of my best friends over at my house for a sixth grade sleepover. a week prior a saw a television add for 'the ultimate fighting championships' 5th installment. holy shit, no rules... all styles... a fucking cage!! you have got to be shitting me. 'dad please please please order this, please, itll be my birthday gift.' (my birthday is april 5th). so there it was.. april 7th... the show begins. i am lying on my stomach literally two feet away from my tv, making sure if blood flew out of the ring, i would surely catch some on my face. this card not only had dan severn, it also had a superfight between the infamous royce gracie and ken shamrock. back in those days, these two names carried this cloud of complete mystery... utter confusion. i remember the announcers descibing royce as a 'anaconda. he grabs hold of you and chokes you until youre unconcious.'<br><br>keep in mind.. these were the days of square controllers with one A button and a second B button... mike tyson punchout was officially the best game to ever grace human existance minus excitebike (i hated that fucking overheating feature, but tony hawk definitely stole the create-a-park feature from this exact game). ok where were we? oh yea.. so i was so entirely confused about this new way of fighting... choking someone? what is this, a snub film? i was twelve and thankfully i have never seen a snub film. sidenote: im 23 and have still never seen a snub film, unless you count that shitty ass nick cage movie called 8mm or some nonsense. <br><br>so the fights went on, and i was shocked. blood came out of the tv and landed all over my face. i remember one dan severn fight where he had his opponent pinned against the cage and was dropping knees on his face. it was brutal, and it was something i have never seen before. i was fucking shocked. then the 'superfight' happened.<br><br>this fight was between royce and ken.. as we all know, royce not only shocked the world by chocking the shit out of ken shamrock in ufc 1, he also shocked the fuck out of ken shamrock. tito ortiz's head was still growing during this time since he was clearly an adolescent. the early ufc's shocked the fucking world. what is this gracie jiu jitsu thing that is just dominating?<br><br>ok ok ok, so the 'superfight' happened.. and excuse my quotations on the words superfight, since those that have seen this fight know it was nothing super, and hardly a fight. have you guys seen clerks 2? well in clerks 2, randall sums up the entire lord of the rings movies as 'a gay guy walking for 9 fucking hours.' i loved lord of the rings... and fuck you, im not a nerd. those movies were unreal, but randall had a point. well to 'randallize' the superfight of ufc 5, it was ken sitting in royce's guard for 35 minutes... straight. yea, it was horrible. a horrible fight... horrible.<br><br>minus this side tangent, that event had an impact in my life more then i realized. take it back to january 11th, 2002... the see an advertisement for a live ufc event in my town. 'dad, we have to go, please for my birthday!' 'brett your birthday is in april!' shit i tried. make a long story short... i tell my dad it will bring back memories of his manliness in high school beating up the top dogs of the school underneath the watertower. it worked, it worked like a fucking charm. not only was i awarded tickets, but two of my friends were as well. its on. we're there.<br><br>we get there, and immediately i am confronted with tito ortiz's head. its massive, honestly. its really abnormally large. then i see bj penn. bj to me, is/was the second coming of royce. when i saw him at ufc 35, he made me feel that same mystique that royce did six years prior. that night he fought jens pulver. his boys convinced the crowd to chant 'hee looo booo yyyy' throughout the first round. i remember wondering if hilo was on the 'main island' or the 'other one' during that time... little did i know. fast forward to round 2... bj taps out jens with an armbar right when the fucking bell goes off! unreal... unreal. from our seats, we could see the tap, practically hear jens whimper in pain. but no, it didnt count and the fight went on. that night, after five brutal rounds, bj lost to a decision. he couldve had the lightweight ufc belt, but he lost. i never, nor will never forget that fight.<br><br>fast forward to late january 2002.. i was so impressed by bj penn's performance that i flipped open my local yellow pages in search for a 'brazilian jiu jitsu' academy. holy shit!!!! there's one 15 minutes away from me!!!! the very next day, i went, and subsequently joined, and it has changed my life forever. the school was small, intimate, and perfect, run by jim hughes who was then, a purple belt under royce.<br><br>in summer 03, i decided oahu was the place for me and i packed my shit and moved... simple as that. i remember asking royce personally 'where should i train on oahu, theres so many good places.' and he seemingly, without a bias, said 'train with my brother relson, they call him champion in brasil.' that was it.. relson it is. i moved, and started training. <br><br>ok fuck, so to tie this back into my real intentions/motivations for writing this... january 14, 2007, almost five years to the day of bj's loss to jens pulver, i fight in naga. the weight is 170-179. weighing in at 177 and being a long time blue belt, i feel confident, but nervous as hell. im not a competition fighter i tell myself, then i counter with sun tzu's 'you must know you can win the battle before it begins.' i go into the tournament with mixed emotions and an elevated pulse.<br><br>first match. pull guard, sweep, get sidemount, take his back, sink a collar choke. i was more then excited. he was a great guy, and we talked afterward which made my nerves finally neutralize. <br><br>second match, pull guard, sink in an armbar. extremely relieved/excited/shocked. (i pull guard mainly because i have a dislocated shoulder that has popped out well over 9 times. stand up isnt my thing with this injury and like dirty dishes, i keep putting off the surgery).<br><br>the finals... i feel the guy out thinking ill go for the takedown, but realize i should play my game. i pull guard and quickly sink in a triangle. i think the fight is over, but he slips out. so i transition quickly to an armbar. for the jiu jitsu guys, yes, my legs are crossed which is clearly a no-no, but transitioning directly from a triangle, i had to or else my left leg wouldve slipped off his head. anyway, the armbar is deep as fuck, and looking back on things, i didnt crank his arm like i couldve/shouldve to win the match. he wound up escaping and winning on points. yes, im more then proud of 2nd place and i learned a lot from the experience... but im still left with 'what ifs.'<br><br>i wonder if this happens to all fighters who have lost fights. how do you get over them? even training harder doesnt seem to let things go. its more a dissappointment with myself. maybe i was too nice? maybe he has an unreal escape or an extremely flexible elbow? <br><br>at the end of the day, i tell myself there will be more matches and from each fight/struggle, one can learn a lot. unfortunately, i learned from that fight that if only i left mercy and sympathy at the door, i wouldve been a winner, but really... would i be? bj... i know exactly how you feel and i cannot wait for your rematch with jens this summer.<br><br>so thats my picture. me having a near perfect submission, only to lose in the end. another example of balance i guess. next time.. and if not then.. then the next time after that. aloha.
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the day is january 11, 2002 and it is fucking freezing in the rural town of uncasville connecticut. a week prior, i saw a television ad for 'the ultimate fighting championships' 35th installment, which just to happened to be in my home state. after a brief ticketmaster search, i came to terms with the outrageous ticket prices and knew i couldnt go. <br><br>the day is april 7, 1995. i was twelve years old and had one of my best friends over at my house for a sixth grade sleepover. a week prior a saw a television add for 'the ultimate fighting championships' 5th installment. holy shit, no rules... all styles... a fucking cage!! you have got to be shitting me. 'dad please please please order this, please, itll be my birthday gift.' (my birthday is april 5th). so there it was.. april 7th... the show begins. i am lying on my stomach literally two feet away from my tv, making sure if blood flew out of the ring, i would surely catch some on my face. this card not only had dan severn, it also had a superfight between the infamous royce gracie and ken shamrock. back in those days, these two names carried this cloud of complete mystery... utter confusion. i remember the announcers descibing royce as a 'anaconda. he grabs hold of you and chokes you until youre unconcious.'<br><br>keep in mind.. these were the days of square controllers with one A button and a second B button... mike tyson punchout was officially the best game to ever grace human existance minus excitebike (i hated that fucking overheating feature, but tony hawk definitely stole the create-a-park feature from this exact game). ok where were we? oh yea.. so i was so entirely confused about this new way of fighting... choking someone? what is this, a snub film? i was twelve and thankfully i have never seen a snub film. sidenote: im 23 and have still never seen a snub film, unless you count that shitty ass nick cage movie called 8mm or some nonsense. <br><br>so the fights went on, and i was shocked. blood came out of the tv and landed all over my face. i remember one dan severn fight where he had his opponent pinned against the cage and was dropping knees on his face. it was brutal, and it was something i have never seen before. i was fucking shocked. then the 'superfight' happened.<br><br>this fight was between royce and ken.. as we all know, royce not only shocked the world by chocking the shit out of ken shamrock in ufc 1, he also shocked the fuck out of ken shamrock. tito ortiz's head was still growing during this time since he was clearly an adolescent. the early ufc's shocked the fucking world. what is this gracie jiu jitsu thing that is just dominating?<br><br>ok ok ok, so the 'superfight' happened.. and excuse my quotations on the words superfight, since those that have seen this fight know it was nothing super, and hardly a fight. have you guys seen clerks 2? well in clerks 2, randall sums up the entire lord of the rings movies as 'a gay guy walking for 9 fucking hours.' i loved lord of the rings... and fuck you, im not a nerd. those movies were unreal, but randall had a point. well to 'randallize' the superfight of ufc 5, it was ken sitting in royce's guard for 35 minutes... straight. yea, it was horrible. a horrible fight... horrible.<br><br>minus this side tangent, that event had an impact in my life more then i realized. take it back to january 11th, 2002... the see an advertisement for a live ufc event in my town. 'dad, we have to go, please for my birthday!' 'brett your birthday is in april!' shit i tried. make a long story short... i tell my dad it will bring back memories of his manliness in high school beating up the top dogs of the school underneath the watertower. it worked, it worked like a fucking charm. not only was i awarded tickets, but two of my friends were as well. its on. we're there.<br><br>we get there, and immediately i am confronted with tito ortiz's head. its massive, honestly. its really abnormally large. then i see bj penn. bj to me, is/was the second coming of royce. when i saw him at ufc 35, he made me feel that same mystique that royce did six years prior. that night he fought jens pulver. his boys convinced the crowd to chant 'hee looo booo yyyy' throughout the first round. i remember wondering if hilo was on the 'main island' or the 'other one' during that time... little did i know. fast forward to round 2... bj taps out jens with an armbar right when the fucking bell goes off! unreal... unreal. from our seats, we could see the tap, practically hear jens whimper in pain. but no, it didnt count and the fight went on. that night, after five brutal rounds, bj lost to a decision. he couldve had the lightweight ufc belt, but he lost. i never, nor will never forget that fight.<br><br>fast forward to late january 2002.. i was so impressed by bj penn's performance that i flipped open my local yellow pages in search for a 'brazilian jiu jitsu' academy. holy shit!!!! there's one 15 minutes away from me!!!! the very next day, i went, and subsequently joined, and it has changed my life forever. the school was small, intimate, and perfect, run by jim hughes who was then, a purple belt under royce.<br><br>in summer 03, i decided oahu was the place for me and i packed my shit and moved... simple as that. i remember asking royce personally 'where should i train on oahu, theres so many good places.' and he seemingly, without a bias, said 'train with my brother relson, they call him champion in brasil.' that was it.. relson it is. i moved, and started training. <br><br>ok fuck, so to tie this back into my real intentions/motivations for writing this... january 14, 2007, almost five years to the day of bj's loss to jens pulver, i fight in naga. the weight is 170-179. weighing in at 177 and being a long time blue belt, i feel confident, but nervous as hell. im not a competition fighter i tell myself, then i counter with sun tzu's 'you must know you can win the battle before it begins.' i go into the tournament with mixed emotions and an elevated pulse.<br><br>first match. pull guard, sweep, get sidemount, take his back, sink a collar choke. i was more then excited. he was a great guy, and we talked afterward which made my nerves finally neutralize. <br><br>second match, pull guard, sink in an armbar. extremely relieved/excited/shocked. (i pull guard mainly because i have a dislocated shoulder that has popped out well over 9 times. stand up isnt my thing with this injury and like dirty dishes, i keep putting off the surgery).<br><br>the finals... i feel the guy out thinking ill go for the takedown, but realize i should play my game. i pull guard and quickly sink in a triangle. i think the fight is over, but he slips out. so i transition quickly to an armbar. for the jiu jitsu guys, yes, my legs are crossed which is clearly a no-no, but transitioning directly from a triangle, i had to or else my left leg wouldve slipped off his head. anyway, the armbar is deep as fuck, and looking back on things, i didnt crank his arm like i couldve/shouldve to win the match. he wound up escaping and winning on points. yes, im more then proud of 2nd place and i learned a lot from the experience... but im still left with 'what ifs.'<br><br>i wonder if this happens to all fighters who have lost fights. how do you get over them? even training harder doesnt seem to let things go. its more a dissappointment with myself. maybe i was too nice? maybe he has an unreal escape or an extremely flexible elbow? <br><br>at the end of the day, i tell myself there will be more matches and from each fight/struggle, one can learn a lot. unfortunately, i learned from that fight that if only i left mercy and sympathy at the door, i wouldve been a winner, but really... would i be? bj... i know exactly how you feel and i cannot wait for your rematch with jens this summer.<br><br>so thats my picture. me having a near perfect submission, only to lose in the end. another example of balance i guess. next time.. and if not then.. then the next time after that. aloha.
