Alright guys, here is how the tournament went for me.
At first I wanted to register for both Gi and No-Gi, but my ankle was injured, so I decided to only fight No-Gi. For those who were there, I was the guy in the white and black ATAMA rash guard, with the blue shorts.
There were 42 people in my division. I fought 5 matches, but lost the final one by decision.
I threw my first opponent twice, then subbed him with Kata Gatame. At one point I had a full armbar applied on him, and I heard his arm crack so I let go. The ref came to check if he was okay because he screamed, but the crazy bastard wanted to continue.
I won my second match via advantage. (2 armbar attempts, and getting sidemount 3 times but only holding it for 2 seconds).
I won my third match via armbar from guard.
My fourth match was one of the most exciting matches I have ever been a part of. It was against a tough wrestler who beat his opponents by taking them down, getting side mount, and choking them out.
After faking each other out for a bit, and getting in and out of the clinch, I managed to take him down with a knee block. He had a guillotine choke sunk in, but thanks to Saulo's instructionals I managed to get out (even though I chipped one of my teeth in the process). The rest of the match was reversal after reversal. Gator roll after gator roll. Eventually I managed to get him in my guard. To break my guard, he stood up. But since there was only 40 seconds left, I hung onto him like a koala bear. The crowd was going nuts. He then slammed me, and got a warning from the ref. Then the match was over. When the ref raised my hand in victory the crowd was applauding like crazy, which was really cool.
The match I lost was the one I learned the most from. I guess my opponent studied my takedowns and figured out how to avoid them. He managed to get me down into half guard. I sweeped him with the old school sweep, but he landed out of bounds, so they restarted us standing. He got double underhooks, so I got the whizzer grip and went for a Harai Goshi, he defended well, and we both landed on our knees. After that he then got mount position and maintained it the rest of the match.
No medal for me
My brother on the other hand placed first in his division and took home the championship belt.
All in all it was an excellent experience, and I can't wait to enter another competition soon.
