The Welsh Open part 2.

On the morning of the big competition I was in high spirits, though a little nervous. I met up with the guys (Ian, Tom, Marcus and his missus) at the local supermarket car park where they all piled in to my car and off we went. The journey was a great time in itself, all of us full of the excitement of people who were about to physically pit themselves against another human being in a contest of skill and strength.

We arrived in Cardiff with ample time to spare so stopped at Maccy D's for a quick drink, some of the guys had a McBreakfast but I was a bit unsure of putting food in my belly before a grappling tournament so I just had a banana and an energy drink. In fact, over the course of the day I had about 4 energy drinks and a packet of jelly belly sports beans. I was hyped up and ready to go.

On arrival at the Western Sports Centre in Cardiff we were greeted by our fellow Somerset Jiu Jitsu Alliance club mates (there was about 12 or so of us in total) and then made our way to the sign in area. Sign up was a quick and painless process although trying to find a space to sit/congregate after was a bit of a chore. Then it was just the wait for the weigh ins to be called. White belt categories were all to compete first fortunately so we didn't have long to wait before some of our group (all of us competing were white belts) were called to weigh. Starting with the lighter weights so Marcus and Tom were straight up weighing in and then on the dedicated warm up area.

Then the competition began and Tom and Marcus were competing. Tom fought a couple of tough fights and managed to secure a bronze medal for his efforts, while Marcus had two extremely difficult fights and unfortunately got outpointed on both. It was during Marcus' second fight that I heard my name being called over the (absolutely terrible) tanoy system. I was up to be weighed in. In fact I was late to be weighed in even though I never heard my category being called prior to that (as I said, shite tanoy). I ran up to the desk and stood on the scale and weighed a mighty 91.4 kilos. In the 94.3 kilo and under Heavy weight class. So I certainly wasn't going to be one of the heavier guys in my class but that's ok.

I then made my way down to the warm up mats where there was a collection of what I can only describe as herculean man-beasts stretching and sparring with friends and doing their own little thing to focus. I was by then shitting myself hoping to god that the guys I was looking at were actually in the super heavys or something. How wrong could I be? So I was sitting there stretching and chatting with Dan and Ben from our Taunton club when their category, Medium Heavy, was called for mat 2. Dan and Ben get up and walk off. So do a healthy selection of the Man Beast crew. Holy schnitz they were in the class below mine. Then a load more guys got on the warm up mats and some of them were truly frickin giants. I had an image in my head that one of them had just rushed in from eating a whole raw cow.

Ok, so I might have been letting intimidation get the better of me by now. Fortunately, a friend from Pedro Bessa Bjj, Nathan 'Matrix' Moore Pointing, who occasionally trains with SJJA came over and started chatting with me which calmed my nerves somewhat. He also suggested I have a light roll with him which at the time I thought was crazy (roll with a purple belt before my first competition match?! are you nuts?) but he went relatively light and I think the idea was to calm me down a bit. It worked somewhat as it took my mind off of my impending doom.

When my category was called I walked up to the table near mat 3 with the Gorilla parade to find out how long I had until my first fight and found that I was given a bye for the first round. Awesome I thought. I got to gage and rate the opponents before ever stepping on the mat. Wicked. There was some pretty good talent on display but I did notice that there weren't many battles for takedowns going on. Most fights featured someone pulling guard straight away. Nutsacks. The guy I had previously noted as possibly eating a whole cow before the warm up (Matt, I later found his name to be) managed to choke his first opponent unconscious using a gi choke that I didn't quite see. When the first round was over I checked the next round bracket and found that I was to be fighting Matt. What a surprise. And he didn't even look like he'd been in a fight. Chuffing marvelous.

Come my fight time I was so anxious that I walked on the mat and the ref (Pippa Granger) told me to get off as they hadn't raised the hand of the previous winner (d'oh). Then came time. I was stood opposite my enormous opponent. He stood about 6' 2" - 6' 3" and looked pretty much solid muscle and probably weighing nearer the 94 kilo mark. And there was me, 91 kilos of chubby 33 year old. We tapped knuckle and were off. I quickly went in for a grab on his collar hoping that I could go for a takedown or something but the guy instantly pulled guard on me. During his pulling of guard he had a vice like grip on one of my lapels and shoved his knuckle in the other side of my throat so his forearms were crossed. Now the move was tight but I rather stupidly thought to myself that I wasn't choking so I had time to escape. I carefully threaded my arm underneath his knuckled hand forearm and started to push up......

 The next thing I was aware of was Gary shouting from the sidelines "Martin, stay down". The only thought I can recall having at this point was thinking that it was some sort of Jiu Jitsu trick and that I would actually win if I stayed down. Then my legs were shaken and I was helped back up. Oh the shame, I had lost my first match and gotten choked unconscious. Gutted. I sat at the side regaining my senses, my victorious opponent came over to check if I was all right, Ian came over to see that I was ok to go on then gave me a bit of advice that I don't recall now, then went off to check on how the other guys were fairing. I just had to calm myself and carry on. After all, the repechage system meant that I could still compete for bronze.

After a thankfully long rest to bring my brain functions back to order I was due to fight again. I pulled my pride hurt ass off the floor and walked on to the mats (at the right time this time too). My opponent was not as large as the previous titan I faced and fortunately looked like he bore a matching mid-rift spread to mine. We tapped hands and then dived in. Shocker of shockers he instantly pulled guard on me. I managed to pass his guard quite quickly though he turned to turtle to deny me points. I pushed him over on to his back but in the scramble he recovered to half guard. Still no points. He then escaped hips and recovered full guard. He managed a quick sweep attempt with no luck and then I smashed passed his guard again with him turning to turtle again. This time though I pulled him toward me and flattened him out gaining 3 points. My side were cheering me on rabidly. I then put all my weight down on him to crush him to the floor and secured my left arm around the back of his head. Putting my other arm down and sneaking it to his nearside under arm I grabbed a hand full of his gi and quickly switched the left arm over the top, still gripping the collar, and pressed my forearm down on his throat. I had the technique sunk in quite well and for a while the guy was going some interesting shades of purple. Unfortunately he managed to switch his hips into me, giving me his back but breaking the choke hold. He then turtled up but I still had a damn good grip on his lapel with my left hand which I then swapped to my right. I quickly, at the very loud instruction of Gary, managed to get my hooks in and pull him over so I had his back with hooks in (4 points) and after a little tom foolery with going to the wrong side first I managed to sink in a decent Bow and Arrow, a move which I love and have rarely seen fail. But to the credit of my opponent he turned his head the correct way and kept his hand just inside his collar so the choke wasn't sunk in properly. With most of my club on the side lines just screaming at me to pull with all my might and Gary trying to call out technique over the top I couldn't really hear anything. I did realise I was tiring from tugging on his gi though and saw the ideal opportunity to bring my right leg up over his head and get a firm hold on his arm with both hands. I then rolled my weight to my right shoulder and pulled on the armbar. The guy tapped instantly.

It was over. My second match. My first win. My corner were going crazy. I loved the feeling of having my arm raised in front of all those people. I shook hands with my opponent (I never even realised until it was pointed out to me later that he had 4 tags on his belt) who looked gutted. Then all my buddies came over and congratulated me and it really did feel amazing. I can so see why people get addicted to competing. The thrill of the fight. The excellent feeling you get when you win. I was on top of the world, for a moment.

Before long though I was called to prepare for my next fight. I was knackered. I blasted back and energy drink and some more beans at this time to try and recover some lost stamina but the weary feeling isn't the exhaustion of running about it's the muscle weariness of pitting all your strength against all your opponents strength. My arms were feeling pretty weak. My next opponent was another quite big bloke. About 6' 1", a three stripe white belt, he was obviously another one who was at the heavier end of the category. Remembering back to it in my mind I kind of imagine myself doing some sort of theatrical gulp as we stood opposite each other.

We tapped hands and began. Now I really don't remember much at all about this fight except that he did stand with me trying for a takedown, which I managed to get (yay me, I knew all that takedown training wasn't for nothing), and that we both worked in guard for a time, I had him in side control for a time and we stood up at one point when we both just managed to regain our feet. The second time stood face to face he pulled guard on me, I managed to pass his guard and he tried for a turtle but I grabbed around he undefended neck quickly and didn't even bother to get my hooks in I just cranked in a rear naked choke and he tapped really quickly without even trying to resist. I won my third match.

I don't remember anything from winning that one though as my blood was pumping so hard that I was in a bit of a daze. I got off the mat and it was then called out that I had a five minute break and would be on again. Bummer!! I was absolutely exhausted, bone weary, muscle shocked and I could hardly focus my thoughts at all. The five minutes went ridiculously quick and I was back on the mat facing guy of comparable size to the last one I fought. And he looked fresher than I did by far.

I'm sure I won't surprise you by telling you that I remember vitrually bugger all about this fight. I do remember that he pretty much passed my guard at will and in the vid I've seen of the match my opponent went to side control then to mount twice, both times trying to finish with a cross choke, both times I used the classic upa escape from mount and burst out of the choke. Both times I then passed his guard to side and then got swept back to to bottom with him in my closed guard. The third time he tried though he secured the grip tight and I upa turned him so I was then in his guard and I just remember feeling so weak and so helpless that I knew I wasn't going to be able to burst out of his cross choke and I didn't have enough time to work my arms through as he had it on tight. I had to tap.

I was a bit crest fallen but I knew I'd done my best and my first tournament was a good one. I'd got two taps out of four which wasn't bad for a fat git. One thing was for sure though, I swore to myself as I walked away that I would not be competing at Heavyweight again. Unsurprisingly, Matt the titan, man-beast, raw cow eating, pressure choke machine won my category so at least one of my losses was to the eventual winner. I felt pride from my performance. I thought to myself as I left that I would be back and a whole lot fitter.

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