The week before Thanksgiving was the first North American Trials for the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Wrestling Championships.  I qualified for the championships which will take place in Helsinki, Finland on September, 2017. The qualification is a fully paid trip including travel, room and board. The championships is the biggest professional tournament in the world with almost a quarter of a million dollars in championship prizes. Needless to say I’m excited about the opportunity to compete in the most prestigious tournament of the world, commonly referred to the Olympics of Grappling.

The trials took place at the Central Regional High School in Bayville, New Jersey. Initially I was supposed to have 4 matches to win, but after the brackets were remade, I was going to have to win 3 to qualify for the ADCC Championships.

The rules for the ADCC Trials were unlike any rule set I had ever encountered. The first half of the match was a no point submission only rule set and half way through the match the referee you yell “points” and they would start to score points. Although the point rules were similar to jiujitsu for the most part, there were definite differences in how you score. Needless to say it was a grappling tournament so heel hooks, reaping, and most any submission were legal. 

qtr final match: Was the closest match of the day with a referee decision after we went into the overtime round. This was a tough MMA style grappler from Santa Rosa, CA. (It’s always the guys who travel across country that end up going against one another in the first match….)

semi final match: Leon Jackson was extremely technical in his half guard and takedown attempts. The match was close, It went into overtime where I scored a counter takedown and won 2-0.

final match: Daniel O’Brien had a difficult style, being very long and tall, he used this to lean on his opponents and get them to shoot takedowns with their head down to set up a guillotine. Most if not all of his attacks were set up a counters so I was very cautious with my takedown attempts. I was abel to get a takedown and win 2-0 in regulation time.

Mentally, this was a very tough tournament for me. Both of my toes were mangled from a combination of turf toe and sprains and I was having a difficult time even walking, but it was one of those “suck it up and let it heal later,” moments. I was in a lot of pain the following weeks, but I’m glad it worked out. I usually take time off when I know I have an injury that won’t get better but it was important to qualify for the ADCC championships. It was interesting to note that I could feel my “adrenaline” kicking in and the pain in my toes going away after I warmed up. That was a sensation I had never experienced.

Garden State Photography has a great collection of photos on their facebook page of the entire tournament!

Thank you to the Folsom Telegraph for picking the story on the ADCC Trials!