Recap of my first BJJ competition (long)

Some of you may have seen my thread looking for advice: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=293173 . Well, yesterday was the day so here's how it went.

Making weight
I've been waking up in the morning at about 176.5lbs and I needed to be 175. This is a pretty small cut but since I've never cut any water weight at all before it was foreign to me. I ate cereal for dinner knowing that it would go right through my system before weigh-ins. After dinner was 178. Anyway, I did a little excersize with my wife (so to speak) and slept with a sweat suit on. I woke up 3 lbs lighter but didn't have the extra wiggle room for breakfast or a drink.

Having seen a few UFC weigh-ins I knew what to expect. (Yeah right ) I hopped on the cheesy bathroom scale and weighed 176. I told the guy I was looking for 175 and he said, "Close enough." That was fine by me. I could have easily made weight by taking off my t-shirt and going to the bathroom.

Masters white belt gi welterweight
This was my first competition and there were only two of us in the category. The guy I went with was a few pounds lighter (maybe 6) and he had about the same amount of experience as I did (7 months). He was kind of tough to take down. I think we spent the first minute on our feet and my attempts at a inside reap were foiled by a solid base. I eventually shot for the single leg and got it. I hugged it tight to my chest, spun him around with my head, and grabbed the other leg. I ended up in side control but my head was inside his gi. That sucked. It was hard to breathe and I couldn't see anything. While I was in there he nearly changed my side control to half guard. I stayed tight, pulled his gi off my head, and got full side control for the points.

I have an easy time going from side control to full mount so I figured I'd pick up some more points. From full mount I tried to get the kimura but something must be wrong because I rarely get that unless I'm a lot stronger than the other guy (or if he's very new). In the transistion of getting reversed from full mount to having him in my guard I spotted the guillotine. The guillotine is by far my best move. I get can usually get it deep and it's one of the few moves that I can spot and apply in an instant. This time was no different and he tapped a few seconds later. One gold medal for me.

Adult white belt gi welterweight
Because there was only one other guy in my class I decided to roll with the young guys. The guy I went with was pretty tough. Again I won the takedown with but this time my inner reap worked. I landed in his guard and passed it for side control. I took the mount and was nicely up on points. Again I get reversed and he was in my guard. I have a pretty tough guard but my offense from the bottom sucks. He spent nearly 2 1/2 minutes trying to pass my guard and I was sort of relaxing with my lockdown. I eventually see an armbar opportunity and go for it. (Momentarily fogetting that my guard offense sucks) Well, the arm bar failed, and I got passed. He took my back and got a gi choke. I tapped. This guy ended up getting second in the division and it left me wondering what I could have done if I was smarter.

Masters beginner no-gi welterweight
I went up against a guy that was much better than me. He wrestled in college and just had a grapplers way about him that left me sure that he had *lots* of mat time behind him. Knowing that he was a wrestler I was hoping for the guillotine (my best move) but he shot in real low by my ankles. In an instant I was being side controlled. Crap. We spent the next minute or so with me trying to get my knee in for the guard and him working the illegal neck cranks. He benefitted a lot from his coaches on the side and I found myself wishing my insructor was there too. The ref warned him twice about the neck cranks but I guess he didn't see fit to disqualify him. It wasn't until the next day (today) that I remember they are only disqualified if you tap. I should have tapped and sent that asshole home, I still can't turn my head without pain. He went on to win both the beginner and intermediate no-gi categories. I got third place because there were three people in the category and the other loser had a bye to lose in the finals against Captain Neck Crank. Some stranger came up to me later and said not to feel bad about losing because he was a medal hunter entering the beginner competitions. If I he had been disqualfied I would have beated the other guy for the gold like I did in the morning. Oh well, it's just a medal.

Adult no-gi welterweight
My first match went well. I won the takedown. Got side control then full mount. I held the mount for a while trying to get up high on him. My goal was to get a knee under his arm, get his elbow way off the mat, and get the armbar from the mount. He was in a total defensive lockdown and that wasn't going to happen. Given that this was no-gi, my kimura wasn't working, and my arm bar wasn't working I was kind of out of ideas but way up on points. He managed to reverse me and get from full mount to my guard. I sat up and hit the guillotine. It was deep enough but he somehow rolled from in my guard to getting fully mounted. No problem, I cranked the mounted guillotine for about 2 seconds and the time ran out.

Next match. This guy was big. Everybody was questioning whether or not he really made weight and of course all these guys were 22 compared to my 32. He won the takedown and I had guard. His coach was yelling, "You're ahead on points. Make him work for it." Good advice considering that my guard offense sucks. He was on defensive lockdown and I was trying to make something happen. I go for the armbar and it doesn't work but I still have the arm. I have no idea what the next position would be called but it took about 45 seconds for him to get the arm free and take side control. Now I'm down by 5 and I'm side controlled. It took a lot of time but I got him from side control to inside my guard. That's better but I'm way behind and I know that I'm not going to win from my guard. I try to sit up for a guillotine but that's not working, he's too big/strong and seems to be able to control me. I try to take the back from my guard but never full get there. Time runs out and I lost on points. The guy that knocked me out eventually lost in the finals to a controversal phantom tap that only the ref saw and he denied. The audiance didn't think he tapped either but he was in a bad spot.

Final Thoughts
All in all it was a good day. I learned where I stand amoung white belts and what I need to work on. I also learned a little about competition and making weight. The medals I took home (gold and bronze) were from small fields but I feel ok about that too. The reason the field is small is that most guys over 30 are golfing, playing men's softball with a beer in their hand, or just watching TV. If I pull a last place in no-gi for a bronze metal I'll just pat myself on the back for still being in the game.

Next time I'm going to beat all the young guys.

 

awesome story...dude 30 is NOT old. even so, be proud of your medals, you won them comepeting, and others just stayed homee.

 

many giys at renzos are over 30 and kick ass

 

congrats. see you monday or tuesday and we can work on your guillotine some more.

 

Man, check my forum out. I will assume this was the Bud Cup. You see me there? I went no gi lightwight beg.
Here goes what I posted in my forum:

I did okay. I had a white shirt on, and had "CatchWrestler101" on the front of it, and "Masakatsu_Fuanki#1" on the back of it. I won my first match in like 10 seconds. Slapped on a double wrist lock then transitioned into a armbar. I lost my second match by a BS desicion IMO. Right when the match started I got a really deep and strong underhook, and I could tell the guy wanted no part of my takedowns, so he flopped to gurad, and worked some weak gullotines (One of them was kinda strong, but I got out pretty easy) He tired to sweep me, but my catch skills are too good for that so I double wrist locked him and almost had him caught, but I didnt the correct leverage to get the tap (It was a really deep double wrist lock to >_<) The judge decided, since he tried a few weak gullotines, it was enough to give him the win, although I was obviously the one wanting to engage in getting takedowns, and I also sunk a really deep double wrist lock on him. BJJ rules for ya... :/

I was kinda disappointed with the tourney overall though. Started WAY too late. I was getting pissed off, because I wanted to grapple. Another thing I didnt like was the scales. I worked mega hard to make sure I was at 155, which I was, but when I weighed in, it had me at 150. WTF? I would have stuffed myself the whole time if I knew the scales where that way off. The mat space was kinda small, but that wasnt a huge problem. The rules kinda sucked to, but then again, I knew that coming in, so I cant really argue with that. I prefer the "no points" type of tourneys. I mean sersiouly...I didnt see not one person that really impressed me at this tournament. The one girl...I think she was like 8? You know the little black girl? She was really impressive, which doesnt say alot for the adult grapplers. Everyone was so damn passive. Its like everyone wanted to win by points. This was my first sub tourney though, so I wont complain that much.

Next time though, I am going for broke, points or not. I dont care what postion I am in (This is what kept me from really showing some wild stuff in my second match, I was kinda worried about losing postion and the other guy getting points, which is the gayness). It was overall okay...I did get some new grappling shorts from traget for 5 bucks! and I got some nice socks to! The socks pwn, they are pretty much takedown socks you see alot of the wrestling companies selling, sep they are the targert brand, and alot cheaper. Also wrestling shoes > barefoot. I felt so much better grappling with wrestling shoes...lately I havent had a choice, cause of Judo...its been awhile since I grappled with the shoes. (I was wearing black wrestling shoes...the old Dan Gable style ones). BTW I went beginier lightweight. OH MAN! Another complaint I had was the rules. They confused they shit out of me with that one. Once us lightweights got started, they decided that we would be allowed to do all moves in the beginger division sep heel hooks and deep neck cranks. WTF? The whole time, they where telling us no knee bars or twisting ankle locks, then at the last minute we can do it all...After the match I lost, I was thinking "Man...I could have done ankle locks! Why didnt I do them!!! Stupid rule change!" I had it in my head not to do them since they preped me up to think that..*sigh*

Another thing! That single elimnation BS isnt working. I knowif I registed early it would have been 40 bucks...but I did it late and paid 60...60 bucks for only 1 guranted match? Sounds like a rip off to me. At wrestling tournaments you pay maybe 20 bucks to compete...and you also get alot more the 1 match. I was expecting consolations rounds or something. I complain to much
It wasnt bad though, plus I like Hurst, so I wont hate too much. It was my first sub. tournament, and now I know how I am going to compete in my next one. If you aint going for broke, dont come at all.

*EDIT for Fight_Song and his paragraphs*

 

paragraphs. :/

 

Your forum is actually the way I learned about the event, thanks. I do remember seeing your shirt but I'm not sure I'd remember seeing you. You probably wouldn't remember me either. I wore a non-descript old navy t-shirt or a white gi with no patches.

I hardly felt qualified to say if the guys were really good or not. The higher the belt level the less movement I saw. The brown belts were winning 2-0 on the takedown. I did see a flying armbar attempt which was pretty cool.

As a master I got a lot more for my money. I entered two competitions for $65 (didn't preregister either) but asked if I could have two more since my brackets were so small. They said yes. It's still a lot of money.

The organization of the event left a lot to be desired. They had 6 mats but most of the time only 1 or 2 were in use. Toward the end they had 3 or 4 going because I told them to run masters and adult at the same time. The guy doing the brackets said, "Oh yeah, good idea. That's what we'll do." Duh.

Still, it was first tourney so I didn't know what to expect. Since half of the peopled seemed to register on the same day it's hard to do a really great job and start on time. Still, 2 1/2 hours late is a lot. I'm not sure if I'll do it next year. Once I get a feel for what other competitions are like I'll decide. Ideally there would be something closer to home.

 

Remember me?

2) Try ouchi gari. http://judoinfo.com/images/animatio...e/ouchigari.htm

Now give me half of that gold medal...
Anyway, congrats, man!

 

Sounds like you had a good day guys. I bet it was a blast.

I'm waiting about 3 or 4 months before I join a tournament.

BTW, 30 is not too old at all. Tons of guys at my gym just started when they were like 35 and they are doing fine.

 

Yeah, I do. As a matter of fact my instructor was telling me that was his default takedown in gi so between the two of you I thought I should give it a try. I think of my single leg as "pretty good for a non-wrestler" so I try that too. The problem is that it's riskier for me. If I don't get it I'm on the bottom of a north/south and start in the disadvantage.

Anyway, that's for the help.

 

Congrats dude, I also love the guillotine.

 

It's a good takedown especially for no-gi or MMA along with the outter attack, cause you hit it in the clinch. I train only no gi (sw and MMA) and it's my favourite. With the single you risk too much in MMA or on the street: knees, elbows, punches and much harder to control. Just MO.

 

the single isnt risky if you can set it up. problem is that in straight bjj you cant set it up with punches and etc as you can in MMA. and bjj guys seem real tight on their feet--not wanting to tie and move around etc.

 

Hahaha, right on Vanguard! Nice recap. "Captain Neck Crank" ... ay, keep us abreast of any MMA stuff up your way, alright?

Way to represent for us ole fellers. Maybe I can be in shape to compete against you next time ...



... thus ensuring you will win at least one match, for sure!

Later.

 

Why the heck didn't I see ya Mas ... I was lookin for ya!

Like I said before, the tourney was late because they didn't know they wouldn't be let in til the public was ... the convention center staff seemed to think they were high brow or something.

sheesh ... security guards! I think I saw a couple of em talkin up their sleeves like they were G-men or something!

 

Dude, 32 is NOT OLD at all. My brother is almost 29 and he is in really reall top shape and is an excellent grappler and kickboxer. You've yet to hit your prime buddy!

 

over 25 is old. :/

 

Fellow old guy!

Sounds like you did well and competed in every possible division that you could. Good for you. 32 is old, but it's not like you're an invalid and it's not like you're 40 or something. And trust me, what you've got in life experience and brains can outwit the average 20 year old hotshot grappler any day. I liked what you said about all the other guys your age out playing golf or sitting on the couch remembering their glory days as a second string lineman in highschool football, while here you are out on the mat going at it. Good for you dude.

Old man stink rules!

 

I hope to do my first comp by January. I live in the DFW Metroplex, so I will probably get my ass handed to me in sport BJJ. We practice more for MMA/Self Defense rather than sport BJJ.

 

I was at the Bud too, I competed No-Gi Beginner (I should have also done Gi white belt but I couldent get a new Gi in time). Yes it did start way too late, I was there for almost 6 hours before my first match, they had 6 matts totaly and only used 3 most of the time. It was unorganized but I still had a good time.

I won my first match 14-4 but in the middle of the match I took a clean knee shot to the temple that left me almost out after the match. The guy did not do it on purpose and felt terrable after it was over, but not as bad as I felt I had no ballance and had to get helped to the bathroom because I started throwing up. The worst part is I had a match 2 min. later and I could not continue, I was fine about 30 min later but that was the ned of my day. Disapointing could describe my day, I think I could have finished in the top 3 for sure but hey things happen sometimes.