Submission...

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On Saturday (3/15) I competed in the Pancrase World Submission Wrestling Championship held in lovely Broomfield Colorado. I have been training pretty steady since my last tourney (where I gold medaled in the Masters beginners division) and really wanted to do good since I was moving up a division and in a big time tourney. I went in feeling great and even better knowing that one of my jiu-jitsu idols was actually joining our team: Ricky Lundell. Dude is an amazing practioner and the youngest American black belt. It was very cool to meet him and right off the bat we hit it off - Ricky’s personality is great, very humble but very personable - he’s a world champion for Team USA, of which a couple of our guys/gal from the Edge are too...

In my first match, I got a great take down - at 6’4 people hardly think I am going to drop level and shoot but I been training at Grapplers Edge homie!!! hahahahaha The coaches and fellas there know a little bit of everything, and I am like a sponge...

Anyway, so I get the take down and I proceed to control dude, following the expert coaching of Ricky - talk about "cool as hell" - not only was it an honor to compete with him on the team, but to have him coaching me - wow..!

So...I won the first match 2-0.

My second match was against UFC prospect and Ultimate Figher television show alum Noah Thomas...for some reason people thought he was an ass but I didn’t really think so...maybe a bit cocky, but I’d probably be the same. Anyway, I got an advantage on him because just as I was gonna do a throw, he jumped to guard which was smart but made him lose a point...he then got me in a crazy choke and a triangle, and then an omaplata arm lock, all of which I escaped, but then, being exhausted, i fell for another triangle, and I gassed out and tapped due to exhaustion...I was ahead on points due to reversing his omaplata, but I had nothing left in the tank...of course now, i wish i hadn’t tapped and I coulda had a UFC fighter as a notch in the belt...Oh well.

My day didn’t stop there even though it was a single elimination tourney, enough competitors had lost their first fight that I was eligible for no worse than fourth place, and could fight for third. So I fought another match. My opponent was much shorter than I and a great wrestler, but I figured I’d shoot anyway, and set up something else. I shot and ran smack into a finger into my left eye - and I do mean "into". I got a minute to recover, but that never really happened and I was done. We engaged again and I missed a shot, went into half guard and simply struggled to see and didn’t do much else - lost by 2 points - but hey, I got 4th place, which meant I scored for my team and got a cool medal to boot - you can see my picture at www.starzworld.com under the 2008 results.

Speaking of team, Grapplers Edge won its 5th Team World Title - we the best, maaaan!
Next up for me is the Colorado Golden Gloves boxing tournament on the 26th.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey There! My daughter does Brazilian Jiu Jitzu! She's only 7, but I know she'll be kickin' butt in no time! :D
November 25, 2008 at 8:09 PM
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