So yeah, I've won my last three BJJ tournments in the whitebelt category. But since my weight class -90kg is so low on participants I always get very few matches before reaching the top.
This last tournment was pretty big, it counted 120 participants from many cities in Spain and about 5 big teams who joined in full force. I traveled to Alicante with a teammate and without my coach to compete from Madrid only to find 7 grapplers in my category including me. Almost any other category needed at least 4 matches to reach the finals, but I had no such luck. On top of that my rivals were herculean geezers. Much stronger than me, but both by the looks of it around 40 years of age. My friends laugh at me because I only need to steal their cane in order to get a sweep.
Anyways, I got through quarter finals and semifinals pretty easily. I figured since they were so old I could outgass them without too much trouble. therefore I basically played defence the first three minutes, and when they were tired, I went for the kill.
Then, when I get called for the finals, it turns out that nobody shows up. Apparently in the other semifinal, the winner started to throw up after the bout, so he couldn't continue. The loser didn't want to participate in the final either because he hurt his arm during the semifinal match via armbar.
It really hurt my pride not to be able to actually win the goddamn tournment. I didn't have my moment of glory after winning, I didn't have a moment to celebrate anything. When they told me I won due to forfeit, I was like... yeah ok... cool. No thrill, no excitement, nothing. Anyways, a win is a win, even against people who were old enough to be my fathers the problem is I can't get my friends to stop laughing at me for that!
Round of 8 vs herculean geezer number 1
Round of 4 vs herculean geezer number 2
P.S. Also my teammate won as well, so it was a great way to represent the team! If you care to watch, notice how he celebrates after the win. That's the feeling I wanted and didn't get.
Ah too bad you didn't get some real competition. Is there a round / scoring system in BJJ? To my uneducated eyes, it seems better to just be attacking from the guard in many situations.
On April 25 2011 00:34 Chill wrote: Ah too bad you didn't get some real competition. Is there a round / scoring system in BJJ? To my uneducated eyes, it seems better to just be attacking from the guard in many situations.
Yes, white belts get one five minute round, if there is no finish, the outcome is decided by points.
If you sweep, pass guard, get a takedown or control the opponent with a knee on the belly you get 2 points. If you get side control you get 3 points, if you mount or take the back you get 4 points.
If you make your opponent work hard or suffer, you get advantages. They only count when the score is tied.
It's not specifically better to be attacking from the guard, it depends on each person. Normally I think defending the guard is more tiresome than attacking from the top position, so as my strategy was to gas out my opponents I should have been attacking from the top. I chose to play guard because I ALWAYS play guard no matter what, probably due to the advantage I get by having long legs. Each bjj practitioner has his own style I guess. I'm what you call a guard player.
I watched your bouts, and while they weren't as challenging as your teammate's final round, I still think you should be proud of yourself for what you've accomplished. BJJ is quite difficult, that's why it's so popular as a spectator sport (UFC). You've gone from knowing nothing about it at the outset to where you are now, you flew to another country and repped hard! I'm sure you watched the footage of yourself, but maybe you should watch it again and appreciate what you brought to those matches. (CMAist here.. I'd never want to tangle with you!)
On April 25 2011 20:32 SF-Fork wrote: I didn't fly to another country. I took a 4 hour car ride from Madrid to Alicante, both cities from Spain.
Thanks for the support!
Oh, I remember this, you were the guy who blogged about his first ever BJJ fight. Good job with the matches, they were quite good for white belts, despite the poor executions of triangle at the start. That arm triangle against the first guy was Golazo. I mean, it was so good. Nice to see that you're improving (especially in terms of mental stuff, no offense but the insta-double leg in your first blog was not wise).
On April 25 2011 20:32 SF-Fork wrote: I didn't fly to another country. I took a 4 hour car ride from Madrid to Alicante, both cities from Spain.
Thanks for the support!
Oh, I remember this, you were the guy who blogged about his first ever BJJ fight. Good job with the matches, they were quite good for white belts, despite the poor executions of triangle at the start. That arm triangle against the first guy was Golazo. I mean, it was so good. Nice to see that you're improving (especially in terms of mental stuff, no offense but the insta-double leg in your first blog was not wise).
EDIT: Much better stuff in 2nd video.
Yeah, I'm trying to make an account of my progress through videos.
I've also published some other atches before this one
Nowadays I don't usually attempt takedowns since I have no skill in judo or wrestling (although my single leg has improved vastly). I basically always pull guard into fast sweep and it works, specially with gi.
EPT
the problem is I can't get my friends to stop laughing at me for that!
