The last weekend in January was a long one! We had the Fight to Win Pro 23 submission only show on Friday, and the IBJJF San Jose Open in the Gi and NoGi on Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, the weekend was full of jiujitsu!
On Friday, I had a match up with Kyle Kingsbury of CheckMat BJJ from the Sunnyvale academy. It was an 8 minute NoGi Submission Only match. I won the match with a 3-0 unanimous referee decision. Kyle had some legit MMA credentials on him as a UFC veteran, a cast on the Ultimate Fighter show, and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We matched up and it was a battle. The full fight is featured on flograppling. In our match I was able to stop his takedown attempt and we fought most of the match on the ground. I was able to pass his guard a few times to work my submission attempts from the side control position. His strength, tenacity, and technique kept bringing us back to a neutral fighting position. I’m thankful to Kyle for putting on an exciting show in front of the San Jose crowd.
On Saturday, I coached and competed in the Gi division of the IBJJF San Jose Open. I had a rough night of sleep with the kids waking up sobbing every few hours so I opted out of competing in the Gi. I was exhausted. In one match finals, I was matched up with Nick Schrock from Ribeiro team. He had an aggressive stand up game to the se-oi-nage. He threw me several times for multiple advantages. I was penalized when digging and chasing after him for an under hook. (This was a very strange penalty in my opinion, a lack of education on the referee’s understanding of the standing game.) In the last minute of the match Nick pulled guard and I was able to secure a toe hold. I felt some tearing on his ankle as we rolled out of bounds. Going out of bounds with a submission in place scored me 2 points to win the match. I was quite surprised I was able to pull off the victory.
On Sunday, I coached and competed in the NoGi division on the IBJJF San Jose Open. We were in a three man round robin with Nick Schrock, Vinny Magalhaes and I. I won my match with Nick after passing his guard and gaining the mount several times. Not having the grips to set up his throw, Nick chose to pull guard which gave me the opportunity to work some of the pressure passing I have been developing specifically for NoGi. In the finals, I faced Vinny Magalhaes. We had matched up once at EBI 9, a submission only tournament, but this was a different set of rules. Most of the match was with Vinny fighting from his guard and me trying to pass. I was able to score 2 advantage points off my pass and Vinny scored one advantage for an armlock from the turtle position. He was incredibly strong and moved like a lion. As a counter, I kept my base low, maintained head position from all angles, and looked so secure a quick pass rather than fight power with power.
In the open division on the NoGi tournament I got a bye to the finals facing Lucas Barbosa, known as “Hulk.” our entire match was fought on the feet and he won by penalty. The penalty, in my opinion, was controversial. In the match I received a head butt and when there was a break in action I asked the referee to watch for the head butts. (In the summer of 2016, I experienced a concussion from a head butt that seriously altered my ability to function for several weeks.) Needless to say I understand that we are in a combat sport and incidental things like that are bound to happen, but this penalty seemed malicious in my opinion. I was concerned for my health and safety and reported the incident to the referee. (Additionally, I don’t understand how all three referee’s agreed to his decision to penalize me since the finals match consisted of three referees.) As a part-time referee I was disappointed with this decision. I had a really difficult time getting any offense going in this match from my feet because there was very little engagement. The only time Lucas allowed for engagement was when he would back up to the edge of the mat and take a shot that resulted in us going out of bounds. I’ve made some improvements to my strategy for future match ups with people who fight the edge well. Here is a match from the NoGi open class finals posted on the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation facebook live feed: