Hello Hivers!
Welcome to my new series about my competitive career! - I will break down competition fights of me and talk about some thoughts and ideas I had and what I learned out of the experiences.
Just right before the Covid Pandemic I started my martial arts career by starting to practice MMA, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling - and I love it to this day and I always will!
I am lucky to be part of a great gym with a lot of mat space, great instructors, awesome team mates and beautiful atmosphere!
It actually all started with the urge to try MMA - I had some striking background from some boxing and Muay Thai I did during my teenage years, but relatively quickly I realized that I am completely lost as soon as the fight moves to the ground - I was getting sweeped and thrown effortless by guys knowing how to play the game.
So here we are: my first contact with BJJ or Grappling in general and I got addicted real quick! - I am still a White Belt, but studying the game, having fun on the mats and enjoying the community life is just all I am in for!
I am a really competitive person and competing in Grappling is kind of easier to include into your normal life than e.g. MMA fights, so my journey began with the Grappling Industries Berlin 2020! - and it went really well with 1x Silver in the Gi division and 1x Bronze in NoGi division. Gi means fighting in a Gi/Kimono (same as the Judokas do) and NoGi is just the same in usually a rash guard and spats/shorts. So let's just jump into the event of Grappling Industries 2021 Berlin!
Rules & Enviroment
So this competition used the regular IBJJF rule set:
- Take down: 2 points
- Guard Pass: 3 points
- Side Control: 2 points
- Knee on Belly: 2 points
- Mount: 4 points
- Backtacke: 4 points
The event was totally booked out and the location had to change - people from all over the world came to participate at this event (even from Brazil, Dubai and so on!). The level was actually pretty high!
Unfortunately there were a lot of complaints about the referrers not paying attention - single fingers of mine were grabbed by my opponent, I got kicked in the groin, points were not given due to miscommunication of the staff... nevertheless it was just great to witness such a big event to take place after/during the pandemic!
Match #1
So let me tell you - the first match is always the worst! You are pumped up with all the adrenaline, thoughts and nervousness. Especially if you do not warm up properly, you will end up gassing out real quick, because your body had no time to properly activate its resources.
So in the beginning of the match I managed to get a good collar grip and I attempted a sloppy collar drag, which got me in to half guard - not that bad actually!
From there on I tried to cross face my opponent as hard as possible and pass the guard by blocking his hip with my right leg and back stepping with my left leg - due to his will to not let go of my left leg, I used the opportunity to move to quarter mount as soon as my knee slipped out of his control passing his knee line. From there on I proceeded to mount control. By then he was mostly gassed out, but he would not give me an arm to attack - usually you either protect your arms being mounted or your neck: so I attack with the Ezekiel choke, which got me the tap!
It was a energetic first match, where I decided to take of the momentum of the match early on - everything went pretty well!
Match #2
So the 2nd match was a bit tougher - the opponent tried to pull guard on me, but I managed to keep my balance and try to pass. The collar grip of him was f****** strong and gave me a hard time, but eventually I caught him and passed his guard!
After establishing side control I went to knee on belly to get 2 extra points, but the referee was spectating another match, so everybody (even the other staff) was puzzled and tried to bring the attention of the ref back to our match. I actually relieved my knee on belly pressure from my opponent to not make it too uncomfortable for him. When the ref reacted he said that I did not establish a proper knee on belly, because my farther leg was "not straight" enough... I mean you could argue about my close foot touching the ground due to being nice to my opponent, but my farther leg was stretched out. What a stupid excuse and pretending to have paid attention ... he actually threaten my coach to disqualify him, just for speaking up! That was actually not the first nor last incident of weird ref decisions, but screwed it!
After that I tried to get a north south collar choke, but my grips were too loose, so I needed to give up on that in order to retain my dominant position. From there on I went from north south control to side control. My opponent turned into me without setting up any frames, so I pinned his left arm to his body with my chest and moved on mount. He kind of panicked or tried a spazzy mount escape, but exposed his back to me - with a kimura grip I established bit by bit a back take. From there on it was a little scramble retaining back control by e.g. switching the body triangle to the opposite site, keeping chest to back control and so on. In the end I was able to finish with an bow and arrow choke!
These were my first 2 matches of the event! In the next episode we will analyse my other 2 matches I lost and why I had to withdraw from the tournament and wasn't able to compete anymore - stay tuned!