GQ Results
I just had my second tournament at purple belt at Grappler’s Quest UFC Fan Expo Boston.
I had three matches, i won my first match on points, lost my second match to a big boy from Team Lloyd Irvin, and lost my third match on points.
Right now its all a learning a experience for me, getting used to the purple belt competition you could say. But its not the competition thats the trouble, its me, and my body not performing to what it can perform to, that is the most frustrating part right now for me, is my body not doing what its supposed to do. I don’t feel any different from the other times I was competing, but I have been feeling this nervous energy when I am out there. There are other things that could hindering my ability to perform that are still outstanding from Chicago. Not too sure.
As far as technical stuff, I am making a lot of mistakes, there are things I have to tighten up no doubt. Side control stuff, closed guard stuff, and even my back taking ability. All positions in GQ I did not capitalize on.
I am not dissappointed at my placing at all, just upset at my body right now. I am going to kill myself in training these next few weeks and beyond.
Right now I am trying to get to Maryland to train on the 5th so we will see how that goes.
All I can do now is train train train, and learn from these recent results, I know they will be better for sure. I have alot of competing to do before the year is up! My pride isnt hurt at all, just my body! lol As of right now i will be doing conditioning 3 times a week at next level. It looks like 2 strength sessions and 1 blow out session. And I am going to start swimming as soon as the pool near my house opens up again.
For now here is a video of my first match.
Competing at UFC Fan Expo Boston 2010
Today I went and weighed in Boston! Feels great to not have to weigh in with the gi on, i can eat all I want!
Tomorrow I will be competing at tye UFC Fan expo in boston! I definitely had to get in on something going on in New England! We never get anything in Boston! It will be great to get back out in the competition scene after my lesson in Chicago last weekend. Will update this with results and some photos perhaps =)
Getting better faster: The use of single techniques…
You know when that guy in your school hits you with that amazing technique, and you either wonder for a while how or what that technique was or you just ask that person there what happend. This will occur a bunch in jiu-jitsu, where if your impressed by something you want to know what it is, to see if maybe it can be something you can add to your game. There arent too many things wrong with this phenomenon in BJJ, but it becomes a problem when you think of jiu-jitsu as a static thing, or something that relies on Square always going into square so to speak. Not to sound ‘cliché’ but Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is water and the ability to move in water never thinking that a single technique will always work for the same opponent. I’ve always done well for myself but only figured this out recently, maybe towards the end of 2009 that knowing one guard pass will not help me do much when it comes to beating guys who are not new to jiujitsu. In BJJ we talk a lot about set ups for different techniques. A word that I like better which I found out about in a conversation with my instructor Tim Burrill when it comes to passing (or any other position in bjj, just using passing as an example) for instance is ‘traps’. Talking with my instructor he spoke to me about traps and how they should be deployed when passing. For instance I might use a Bull Fighter pass to trap your knees going to one direction then all of a sudden I might use a game to smash your knees together. Because my opponent thought I was going to bull fighter pass them it enabled me to use a smash pass.
The reason I write this is because people too many times get caught up in trying to use one technique and thinking it is a one size fits all. It’s not, let tell you that as soon as you figure out that you need to employ and discover the surrounding techniques of one technique that you will sky rocket in your progress and in your journey. Mat time and experience will get you these intangibles that make something work over and over as I am discovering. I myself am employing this way of thinking in all are areas. Figure this one out fast and you will develop faster then the next person in your academy.
Be water my friends -Bruce Lee
Let me know how you fell about this.
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Getting better faster: Coming full circle?
In jiu-jitsu in my opinion to be great or one of the best in the world, and you can check out any past world champion and look at them and see that they are a well rounded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter. I am sure you can find one or two who exclusively played guard, one being Pe de Pano who he himself said all he did was pull guard and win championships like that, but thats another post. What I am getting at is, the more i train the more I realize that you have to come full circle as soon as possible. I dont mean in the sense that you have to be great fast but that you have to have an idea from everywhere I believe. Meaning that, if you are under 3 years of bjj experience, then you should try and be good on top, good on bottom, and just basically have a good understanding of everything. A lot of times people just want to be on top or on bottom.
Look at the greats! They had top games and bottom games. Ryan Hall said something to this effect in an interview in the past, where he was discussing how he was just a bottom guy in the beginning when he was triangling everyone it seemed, and how that completely messed up his ascension to the top of the mountain in jiu-jitsu.
Me personally I believe I have taking gigantic strides in this aspect, where the first 12-15 months I was predominantly a bottom guy. During the last 7 months or so, I have become pretty good at passing. Honestly I pass pretty well, but I know i have a tremendous ways to go in improving my passing ability. I pass so well in fact that coupled with my improved conditioning, I feel more comfortable on top these days.
My school is predominantly top driven, so I have been getting remarkable help and instruction from Tim Burrill, he is the master of passing. I will be great at it as well!
Becoming a Giant killer…
David vs Goliath. Overcoming in jiu-jitsu what seems impossible or just really hard to do. Beating the guys that weigh 230lbs and above, the extreme aboves! We have all probably seen one or several accounts of the the David vs Goliath match ups at local BJJ tournaments. And they’re always a spectacle. Everyone wants to see David SLAY Goliath everytime. And why not? Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was made for the smaller weaker people. I think this is partly why the Absolutes of tournaments are so compelling.
So what does this mean to me. Well if you have been following my blog you will remember I competed
at the World Pro Trials in Florida this winter. While I won my division, I went to compete in the Absolute won my first 2 matches and lost to a very guy big guy. I was overwhelmed by his sheer size, I remember being steam rolled, and I did not like that one bit. He literally grabbed me pushed me back, until I fell on my butt into half guard. Real quick, half guard is not a good place to be in with a man over 240 on top.
I came away from this tournament with a sour taste in my mouth. Not because I had lost, but because of how I lost, my desire to be great and become a World Champion not only in my division but in the Absolutes had made me absolutely crazy about beating the HUGE guy in the division.
Over the past few months I have been tweaking my game to beat these guys. And to do that I have been watching of course regular sized guys vs big guys. My favorites are
- Tarsis Humpreys vs some guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9nPbzFi4gQ
- Jacare at brown belt vs a big brown belt (can’t find it online)
- Andre Galvao vs Big Mac at the 2008 Pan-Ams
I get to see what works and what doesnt work. The trend that I see the most is that the little guys play a different game then what they would against a smaller opponent. Like you can see Tarsis do a drop seio nagi in the video but you never see him do that against anyone else. Not to say that the drop seio isnt one of the single greatest throws in judo, but Tarsis plays a little different.
And I have noticed that about my self and my progreess vs big guys. I play different. Passing changes, Playing guard changes, being mounted is probably not good, getting side mount is different. The way you escape bad positions will significantly improve if you can escape big guys, why because everything you go there is pressure or a stomach overlapping your leg. Everything changes. I want to be the absolute champion everywhere I go. And in order to do that you gotta beat the big guys, have great technical ability, and be in tremendous shape. These are all things I am figuring out and as the new season of grappling approaches, I will be ready to take on Goliath with a good performance unlike the last time.And this is not to say that these big guys arent good, theyre just as good if not better, but they also have an attribute based advantage on us, sort of like the guy in your school who is flexible, had long legs, or is stupid strong and he is never in the gym and is always eating fast food like this kid Jamestown in our gym. These guys are a challenge for me! Ossssssss
Act as if it were impossible to fail. - Dorthy Broude
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