Critique & Advice (white belt vs blue belt)

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Pwnalot

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I don't think it will let me embed yet. I have only trained BJJ for about 3 weeks and have no previous wrestling background or anything. A tournament in my city was coming up and I asked my trainer if it was ok for me to enter and he said yes, at the tournament our gym owner was pissed when he found out I entered thinking I'd embarrass our team because I'm so new. My trainer and him got into an argument which in hindsight came out to be surely more embarrassing then me competing. I won my first three matches before losing in the semi-finals to an armbar, I ended up placing 3rd. I never knew how exhausting a tournament was. I searched youtube and someone uploaded a video of one of my matches. I know I mest up alot in my match and there is definitely an argument that I even lost (they scored me winning). However this was the 3rd match and I was exhausted from my previous 2. It was also up against a blue belt, he was the only blue belt in his weight division so they let him compete with the white belts. BTW this is the adult division 18+.

Give me advice and things I should have done but didn't, I'm happy to have lasted against a blue belt but I also should have done much better.

BTW My fight starts 1:55 seconds in, the uploader also uploaded his previous fight as part of the video which is the first 1:55.

YouTube - White belt vs Blue Belt

BTW I'm not the guy in the blue, im the one in the white gi
 
Well first of all, it's not like you "should have done much better" in the big picture. He's a blue belt and you're a very very inexperienced white belt. He's supposed to beat you. Winning any matches at all with your experience level is a huge accomplishment.

You actually did a few things very well for someone of your level. You seemed to have good submission awareness, good base, and good guard passing instincts. You were passing around one way, and then controlled the knees when you tried to switch directions, which was good. And then you passed his guard.

One problem at that point is that you were too eager for the mount and you didn't secure the side control first. That's what allowed him to reverse you. White belts tend to get too greedy when it comes to the mount. But you've only been training 3 weeks, and that will come. And in fact, you had an opportunity for a triangle when he came out on top.

When he was in your half guard and then later side control, you made the mistake of turning away from him and trying to flip him over. That will get you into all kinds of trouble, and will not work on a trained opponent (or an untrained larger opponent). You want to turn to face him and try to recover your guard, or work another escape. When you recovered guard, you need to get more of an angle when going for that armbar, and then after he passed your leg over the shoulder you had another triangle opportunity. But you did an excellent job going for the sweep. The armbar series needs more work, but I wouldn't expect you to know all that. At 4:31, reaching back for his head is a mistake.

All in all, you looked much better than I would expect a 3 week white belt to look.
 
thanks rambo for the tips/critique/advice

what could have I done differently to have been able to lock in the RNC?
 
A lot of little things. For one, I rarely go for the full on RNC when I'm doing gi. I find gi chokes to be much much easier from that position, but I'm taking it you haven't learned them yet. You want to focus on driving in one hand at a time, following the jawline. There's no set technique that I use for it, but I tend to use one of my hands to control one of his, and switch attacking arms frequently. Or I'll use the non-choking forearm to pry up his jaw and slide the other arm in. Most of all it takes practice, and you'll develop a feel for it.
 
For 3 weeks not bad at all. The blues should have smashed you and you gave them a good fight - taking backs and passing guard is very good considering your level of experience. A couple things I noticed though, one of which was what Rambo above pointed out is you seem slightly overzealous once you get a good position. Rack up the points and tire him out from side before advancing position. Also, about 30 secs in you opened your guard to bridge. The guy looks heavier than you and that is not a good technique from bottom of side. Last thing to point out which is positive . . nice takedown at 5 min. Considering you do not seem a big framed guy I think your technique looked OK for 3 weeks.
 
Thank Rambo for the advice.

Thanks also for the critique nogi. BTW yes I'm not a big guy, infact that division was 146-160. They also had a 13-145 division which was what I expected to compete in. They only let me weigh in once and I thought I would weigh in at 145 however I ended up weighing 146.

I was absolutely the smallest guy in the division, everyone I fought was atleast 155-160 which is 10-14 pounds more then me. Oddly enough though I did feel I was stronger then all of the people I competed against.

I wish I could have seen how I did in the 130-145 division though where I would have been better suited.
 
That sucks they only let you weigh in once. You could have dropped a deuce and easily lost that one pound.
 
Looked great for 3 weeks and no previous grappling experience. Looks like you have good instincts.

off topic - I hate when they combine skill levels. If anything they should make the blues go up or down in weight class. A blue belt vs someone with 3 weeks experience could be dangerous and totally unfair since you paid to compete against other whites. Imagine if you drew a blue your first round, you might have only had one quick match.
 
wow you must be a natural

3 week old guys in our gym dont know shit and usually sweep themselves, whereas your going for armbars, triangles and rnc's?
suspicious hmmmmmm

but good work lol you have great cardio to be going full on like that for 4 matches
 
man for three weeks training your a stud. very very well done. overall would like to see you getting more control before attempting your transitions and sub attempts. but that'll come with experiance
 
HomerPlata said:
3 weeks... May I call bullshit?
Click to expand...

No you may not call bullshit, however I will definitely take it as a very good compliment!

Thanks for the comments and yes I have only been training 3 weeks but I have been very dedicated within that time. In my favor I have trained 6 days out of each week, was already in great shape when I started. Each day kind of two sessions, one session is 45 minutes and is basically drills and doing the same 3 maneuvers over and over and the other session an hour and a half and consists of drills, passing practice and 4 or so 5 minute rolls. In retrospect I have had 18 days of solid training or 40+ hours of learning.

My gym also teaches Sambo, Juda, San Shou Kickboxing and Wrestling however I have only been concentrating on my BJJ. I did though go to 3 of the wrestling classes within my 3 weeks and did learn alot in those 3 sessions.

Thank you all again for the feedback and definitely to those who gave tips/advice/critique. You all are really making me feel like my dedication is already paying off :redface:

and btw as for the triangle even though I've been shown it and have done it, I am very uncomfortable with it. After the tournament I discovered in the heat of the moment I didn't know how to pull it off, everyone in my corner was screaming for me to do it and I really didn't know what to do to pull it off correctly. I'm alot more comfortable with the armbar/guillotine and rnc
 
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