The venue was the Brittania Leisure Centre in Islington. It was a relatively small venue and made even smaller by the fact that we only had half the hall. Most of our half was separated off for the matted area leaving a very small section for people who weren't competing at that exact moment. So it was very much standing room only with no seating even being offered unless you wanted to go out in the lobby. Space was probably the major down point of the day as everyone was huddled up and struggling to see anything and there wasn't really even a dedicated warm up area. In the end we jumped the barrier to the climbing wall area and used the mats there to stretch.
The competition itself started a little bit late as the weigh ins and the team photo took place before hand and this all took a bit of clever man management to initiate. Fair play to Luiz and Chico, they did a good job of keeping the thing going and catching up with the match timings. By midday they'd managed to catch up with all the match times.
I was instantly impressed with the level of talent on display. I managed to grab myself a spot right front and centre and watched avidly as a very skilled array of white belts competed. Very impressive. The first category I had a real vested interest in was the Adult White Belt Light Weight (<76kg) as Marc Aplin from our club was competing and previous outings had left me filled with high hopes for him. Marc is a phenomenal athlete with with a bucket load of stamina and strong as hell for a 76kg-er. Which was why I was surprised when Marc spent a lot of his time from his first two matches in guard and down on points. His composure was spot on as he didn't panic or flake out once but he wasn't up to his usual standard. He managed to win both his first two matches with well executed triangles from his guard though so I can't complain and, as I said before, the level was very high so who am I to judge?
The big downside to the comp came in Marc's third bout. He was working from guard again, the opponent was 2 points up and Marc had an advantage. Then the power went on the timer/points display and the ref called timeout while some techie guys fixed it. When the screen was put back on the guy Marc was fighting had inexplicably been given 3 extra points taken his total to 5. Something I hadn't noticed until toward the end of the match. At this point Marc was quite happily sitting in guard and then quickly swept his opponent right at the end for two, thinking this had won him the match. However, no one else wanted to listen to the protests and the opponent was given the match thanks to these mysterious extra 3 points. Marc was understandably miffed, as were the rest of us. This put a bit of a black mark on an otherwise good day.
The next match I held an interest in was Chris Cook's outing in the White Medium Heavy bracket. Chris has been training very hard recently and I had some hopes for him too. Unfortunately his opponent (the eventual bracket winner) was very savvy and a bit of a machine and quickly got to mount on Chris. From there I couldn't see what was going on cause the view was obstructed so I though I'd seen Chris buck his opponent off but it turned out he'd rolled over into an arm bar. Bad luck to Chris but it's all experience. He'll be back and better, I guarantee it.
As the afternoon was moving on I could feel the approach of my bracket. I was in the Masters Blue Belt Medium Heavy and I knew there was only 3 entrants. I was to be in the first round against a guy named Chris Gregory from Margate Bjj, then the loser would fight the other guy, Ben Bryant. If Ben won that he'd get the opportunity to contest for Gold.
It's worth mentioning at this point that due to my rather ill timed holiday at the end of the month previous, a fantastic week all inclusive in Ibiza, I was well out of my fighting shape going in and had to put myself up in weight category. Couple that with the fact that I technically qualify as a senior (old bastard at 36) fighting in a division of masters, (30 to 35) I had a bit of a disadvantage going in. Regardless of this I went in fairly confident as I'd trained like shit for this and actually had a game plan to work off. Unfortunately this didn't come off as Chris Gregory was one feckin strong dude!
My game plan was to work on a takedown - of which I had prepared and drilled about four good ones that I was confident to use - gain top control and work from there. Bummer then that Chris instantly pulled guard and had the grip strength and closed guard of a titan! I spent most of the first two minutes of the round blocking his collar chokes and trying to pry his legs apart. Every time I started to threaten a guard break he'd tighten a collar choke on so I'd have to concentrate on blocking that. He then got a good sweep on me to mount, which I managed to reverse back to be in his strong guard again. At one point he tried for a triangle which I managed to block and break out of. When I'd broken it I was semi excited as I had the opportunity to spin round and pass however, "Wonder Ref" (yes it was the same guy Marc had), decided at that point to stand us up. My opponent then pulled guard again and I was left struggling against his superior strength. By the end of the match he'd swept me three times to mount and I'd reversed them back all three times. As I'd managed to mount no effective offense whatsoever I lost the match 18 x 0.
Pretty poor performance really and I was completely shagged. I had the length of the next match to recover which was nowhere near enough for me. In a very short space of time I was called back to the mat to face off against Ben Bryant from Essex. We jockeyed a bit as if looking for takedowns but he then quickly pulled guard. I had minimal strength in me against a totally fresh guy. He threatened a choke and then quickly switched to a triangle attack. I managed to hold it off for a decent amount of time but he was really good at adjusting his hips to stop my particular method of triangle block to keep me in it. When he eventually worked out what I was doing he started trying to pull my arm in for an arm bar, which totally destroys the triangle block. I adjusted my grip and pulled my arm away but this gave him the space to tighten the triangle even more and pull on my head. I was very near to passing out at the end and survival instinct made me tap.
Both Ben and Chris were really nice humble guys and I gave them both big congratulations but at the end of the day I was a bit gutted by my own performance. Didn't have the strength in the first match and my stamina completely left me for the second. For future comps I will most definitely be dropping down to the next category and doing a shit load of strength and stamina training.
Chris went on to beat Ben in the final by another triangle but I think Ben was happy with his silver. Chris was just a machine and would be a strong competitor for anyone at that weight.
The only other match I held an interest in after that was with Checkmat South Shields Blue Belt, Jamie Berry. Jamie is a really nice guy I met at a previous Checkmat seminar in Cheltenham about a year ago. Jamie, for me, represents everything good about Bjj. The cameraderie. The wider team mentality. I have only met Jamie on one occasion previous and yet we greeted each other like old buddies and chatted for large portions of the day. It's always good meeting people through your chosen method of time consumption as you know they have one common interest and generally, what I have found with Bjj, is that there aren't that many people who train it that you end up disliking. By and large all my Jiu Jitsu compatriots are nice guys who you wouldn't mind going for a beer with after. Jamie is exactly this and I hope I see him at many more of these events in the future.
As for Jamie's match. The ref on mat 3 was on form once again. James had a very tight, very composed guard game and hadn't given up any points. I think he was actually ahead due to an advantage or a penalty (I think, I can't be sure on this). Right at the end though his opponent made a pretty impressive switch down at his legs and came up in a banana split (I wasn't sure that was legal at Blue and after trawling the internet for hours, still am not convinced) which seemed to turn into a knee bar as he tightened it on. Jamie, feeling the knee being extended, looked bemused and tapped with that pointing at the knee and questioning the ref type look that people do when an illegal technique has been used to get the tap. The ref didn't have any of it (once again) and consequentially, half the people watching were staring on in bewilderment as the knee barrer had his hand raised for the victory.
Jamie was understandably gutted. So was I. Unfortunately, as it's an interclub and everyone's a team mate you can't really go and make a song and dance about it. Winds me up a bit though.
All it all it was a great day out. Didn't go the way I'd hope but these things never seem to. Back to the drawing board again then. I'm on a big time diet now to bring my weight suitably down below 13 stone on a permanent basis so I don't need to do a dramatic cut to fight at middle weight. Hopefully I'll be down around there in the new year when I'll be pumped to do more comps.
Checkmat Rules!!! ¬m/
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