I competed at Grapple Bowl 2014 a few weeks ago and had a blast. I wasn’t too happy with the tournament setup, but I knew what I was getting into being it was a GrapplingX event.
I competed at Masters Heavyweight which is categorized at 30+ years of age, and 200lbs to unlimited weight.
I won my first match, and lost the next two to take 3rd place.
My game plan was to jump to half guard, then sweep, then progress from side control, to knee on belly, to mount. Of course looking for submissions along the way, but my strategy was to work through dominant positions and rack up points.
I was successful in jumping to half guard in all 3 matches, and I got sweep points in all 3 matches. I started each match up 4-0.
Match One
I was excited that it worked out jumping straight to half guard. If you have trained with me as of late, I have been working my half guard and deep half guard specifically. I got the sweep points here, but ended up in closed guard for most of the match.
After going through this with Coach Orlando and some of the team, it was easy to see where I went wrong. I was able to open my opponents guard at will, but had a tough time passing guard from there, although I did attempt a few times. I would cobra out and extend my arms using his belt/pants, but once I would open his guard, I wasn’t putting a knee up. So every time I would go to pass, he would stop by knee shielding, or re-closing it altogether.
A few minutes into the match I got conservative, I didn’t want to get swept into a bad position and lose my lead. He didn’t do much from his end, so I just rode it out and won the match.
This was my first tournament win and I was already tired. My forearms started cramping, fortunately Joe Herbrandson was in my corner and tried to massage out some of the acid building up.
Match Two
This dude was a beast, he was big and super strong. I got my points here as well, and even pushed into side control, but only for a minute.
My technique quickly broke down here and as I fell into side control, I came up really high, I did not get a cross-face in, I didn’t get to 100 Kilos, and because I didn’t do what I was supposed to, he bench-pressed me out of side control with ease!
He landed in a top north-south position, and he sunk in the choke. I didn’t defend it in time, and I tapped within a couple seconds.
This was for 1st place, and because of my loss in this match, and how GrapplingX works, I had to fight again with the guy from my first match to determine 2nd and 3rd place.
Match Three
At this point I am pretty tired already, but focused. I felt good about the match, and I felt that my Jiu Jitsu was better then my opponent.
We start the match out the same way. I jumped to half guard, and got the sweep points. During the transition after the sweep he turtled and light bulb went off in my head. I instantly shot my hand in for the lapel, and through my knee above his, I was gonna run the Clock Choke.
I ran it alright, and then ran out of gas. I knew right after the match what I did wrong. When running the clock choke, you have a few options with your drape hand. Your choke hand is on the opposite lapel, and your drape hand can grab the label near your body to complete the choke. Or, your drape hand can pull his opposite wrist so you kill his shoulder to the mat. Lastly, your rap hand can shoot to his knee so you can stop him from walking with you as you walk the clock.
Guess which one I did………none of the above. I was able to get the choke hand in, I switched my hips and walked it with my head to the mat, but never finished the other part of the choke. Eventually I gassed because he kept walking with me.
I definitely should have let it go sooner. By the time I did, my arms were silly putty! At one point I try to take his back and sink my hooks, but came up way too high over his head. Eventually he captures my arm and rolls into side. I tried to stop the mount, but I had nothing left in the tank.
I was completely gassed and demoralized at this point, and eventually he gets knee on belly, then the mount. I wasn’t doing much for defending at this point, and by the time he got mount, I was literally seeing stars. As Caleb from the team would say, feeling euphoric!
I tapped. I gave up. I gave him 2nd place.
Great Experience
I am very excited to have competed, especially knowing I was outweighed by two larger competitors. The other guy that lost his first two matches was also bigger, he got man-handled by these two guys I faced. In the end, I earned a bronze medal, and this experience only heightened by focus on better preparing for competition.
The second guy beat me on strength and breakdown of my defenses, but I don’t feel that either one of them had better technique.
My last match was lost because of my conditioning, not by technique, or even size.
Moral of the story is I learned a lot here, and it showed me some areas I need to work on before Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship in March.
Thank you to Joe Herbrandson and Tony Perez for cornering me, I heard everything you said, and you helped me get through. Thank you for the support!