It was overwhelming to see so many people come together for Jiu-Jitsu. Over 4500 competitors along with their coaches and family members came to Las Vegas in search of gold. Myself, Conan, Jerad, Brian, and Telly included. My wife, Jennifer was also there for support and we were able to make it into a vacation while the kids were at home with my parents.
After getting over the number of people and the 21 mats setup we went to watch Clark Gracie win his first match. Which was funny because I had just saw him jog by me in a hoody warming up. I was thinking he looked familiar but wasn't sure. He won his first and second match with omoplata type submissions. It ended up being difficult to see some matches as people stood at the barriers and the bleachers weren't high enough to see over them. So you had to go to the top row or even stand on chairs in the bleachers. Would have been cool if they could have raised the mats up kumite style.
We saw a couple of guys from Tinguinha HQ compete on each day and got to meet and connect with some of them. I also saw some BJJ celebrities like Saolo and Xandi Ribero, Lavato Jr., Travis Stevens, Kurt Osiander, Buchecha, and I think Brian claimed to see Ryan Hall and Mayweather at one point.
Day 2
On the second day we finally had the first to compete from our school. Telly dug deep to win all of his matches for the gold. He got some pretty slick takedowns and stayed on top for all of his wins. Conan did his best to encourage him between each match. Now we have a world champion blue belt in our midst! I plan on working with Telly a lot in the coming year to improve my takedowns.
About this time I was concerned with everything I ate. I used the treadmill each morning and weighed myself and while I was right on target, in Vegas it's very easy to eat yourself into a food coma. Being nervous did help with keeping the appetite down.
Day 3 (Competition Day)
I was the first to go, scheduled for 9:00. Listening to some light music helped me relax a little bit while I watched the staff start to set things up and the judges have a morning meeting. Eventually my division was called to the coral area to check our gis and weight. I was 3 lbs under and felt like I had a ton of energy.
I tried to get myself warmed up by bouncing around a little bit and stretching but the walk over was a pretty good warm-up in itself. I got called to my ring with my first opponent. I watched the match before me end in a baseball bat choke from the bottom and then the ref signalled for us to come forward.
1st Match
I shook the ref's hand and my opponent's and he made sure he had our names correctly compared to the scoreboard. Once he told us to start I went for the grip I wanted and he grabbed my lapel with both hands and attempted a guard pull to deep half, but I was able to turn it into a quarter mount and keep him from getting to his position. From there I felt strong and was able to keep a dominant position throughout.
At one point he turtled up and I saw my opportunity for crucifix, but he overdefended and I took the back instead. Watching it, I should have put my foot on the floor and hip escaped at this point, but I was still able to secure hooks. I fought hard for the collar grip and started working on a sliding lapel choke. I felt like I had the choke and was going to finish but he wasn't tapping. I knew not to burn myself out but I also wanted to finish. I believe that my choking hand grip wasn't high enough and I should have transitioned to the bow and arrow. We went back and forth after that from back to mount and I tried to keep attacking throughout. Final score was either 11 or 15 to 0.
2nd Match
My second match started out with a furious grip battle. I attempted to get grips I wanted he did a good job of grabbing my sleeve and getting under my other arm. I attempted a foot sweep and kept looking for an opportunity to do tai toshi. Eventually I felt like my guard pull was there but when I attempted it I wasn't able to reach his leg to underhook it. It went downhill from here and he eventually passed using a leg weave. I had a collar grip and had a moment when I thought I could hit a loop choke but I didn't take the chance. Once he reached knee on belly I was down 5 points and couldn't find a way to turn the tables. Eventually time ran out.
So many should haves go through my head when I watch the match, but a consolation is that he ended up winning the gold in my division.
Jerad went soon after with similar results. He won his first match with some dominating pressure passing and lost his second on points with some good attempts at butterfly sweeps. Followed later in the day with a tough match for Brian who drew the winner of his division in the first round. Conan took home the silver after winning 2 matches and losing on points in the last.
That night we stuffed our faces with good Italian and I got a decent night's sleep. Jennifer and I stayed a few more days and did more eating, shopping, saw the show Ka, which I recommend, and walked about 7 miles each day. I'm so happy and thankful that my wife suffered and supported me through this. Not only on this trip but with my Jiu-Jitsu journey on a daily basis.
I'm happy to get back to training and am excited for the improvements that I'll make in the next year.
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