I had three weekends of jiujitsu in March all in a row. It was busy and kinda crazy, but I’m sure it was much harder on my wife staying at home on the weekends with no relief. As for me it was probably the best I’ve felt going into three weekends of competition. The least “beat up” I’ve felt entering a tournament. I believe it’s because I have a great strength and conditioning coach along with a nutrition coach and have really helped me make a significant jump on the way I recover. I think this is the key. recovery.

Anyway, a quick recap on the three weekends. Nothing too impressive. I lost the opening match of the 5 Grappling 8 man invitational to Tanner Rice. (yes we occasionally train together and we did go have dinner the night before) It was a clear referee decision in his favor. I think most of the matches ended up in a referee decision. The 6 minute submission only was exciting, but there was definitely some controversy in who should have won the match. The night before at the rules meeting there was a heavy emphasis on giving submission attempts the decision over positional advantages. Well…. from a person watching the outcomes of the match that didn’t seem to be the case. Lucas Barbosa ended up winning the match against Nick Schrock and Tanner Rice taking third after defeating Tarsis with a submission.

At Pans I lost the opening of the open or absolute match to Lucas Rocha from team Z. It was a tough tough match, but the advantage he scored ended up costing me the match as we finished with a 4-4 0-1 advantage decision. The next day I had a match against Felipe Matos in the first round from Alliance. I won 7-0 in points and several advantages. He had a very tough guard, but I was able to pass through it and get on the board. In the second round I had number one seed Erberth Santos of Atos and lost 8-0. In my opinion the score didn’t reflect the match. There were some inconsistent refereeing going on (one that I didn’t let bother me during the match, which probably would have in previous times). I say inconsistent refereeing because there were similar moments of giving points or resents that happened for both competitors in our match, but it seems like my opponent received the reset or points and I did not. That was very strange. I referee sometimes and I understand the difficulty of making a referee decision or when to stop the match on the edge, but this inconsistency seemed very out of character with what I expect from the IBJJF. That was the quarter finals. The same finish as last year, again to the number one seed.

The following week I found myself in Oklahoma City facing Jared Dopp, an ADCC veteran and multiple world champion. After a series of flight delays it took me 12 hours to get there from Sacramento. I missed weigh-ins that night because I didn’t get in until about 11:30 that night.  The match was toe to toe until the very last minute. He was able to secure a great double leg and while I had been countering with a fount headlock / guillotine counter attack the entire night, he was able to drive up and get the takedown and transitioned right to my back. It was an impressive strong finish by my opponent. I lost the referee decision and went home the next day.

Thinking back on the three weeks I really would have liked to have finished stronger. Not necessarily in my match, but in my standing. There were good lessons to be learned from the experience tho. I’ve been changing up my attacks from the feet, and I realized instead of changing things up, I need to incorporate. Add the new things I’ve been working into my game. I think this will make me more difficult to handle. Believe in my positions. There are some positions that I just need to trust myself in more and execute from there without hesitation. I think doing so will open my game up even more. Embrace the journey and progress as much as the destinations. It’s hard to remember the fun memories you gain when you have a difficult loss, but it’s important. I had a great time talking with my students from el dorado hills, friends I don’t usually talk with and meeting new people in and out of the jiujitsu community.