The Fight to Win Pro 8 took place in San Francisco, CA on July 23rd at the Kezar Pavilion. This was a very exciting professional jiujitsu event with super fights featuring northern California Jiu Jitsu and World Class Jiu Jitsu competitors. The event had around 3,500 spectators, an elevated mat, music and had the feeling of a rock concert meets jiujitsu event.
Marcos Torregrosa and I had the opportunity to compete in the event from Team Yemaso. I think I can speak for the both of us when I say the event was a special opportunity for us both to show our best selves in front of our friends and family. We were both able to secure the submission victory, adding to the excitement of the night!
I always enjoy competing in submission only competition. I feel the submission only format, when both competitors are trying to go for the submission and not just survive, is a very different game than a competition where points are part of the game. Ideally, both styles of competition aim to go for the submission, but how the athletes play changes. It has to change.
We see this in wrestling as well. Three different styles of wrestling, folk style, free style, and greco roman. All three styles share the ultimate goal of getting the pin. However, because of the rules and scoring, we see a completely different approach with each style. Just to add a little more to this explanation, folk style and free style are quite similar. However, because of the scoring system, we could say that free style emphasizes and awards points for exposure of the back, while folk style awards points for controlled expose of the back. The need for controlled exposure alone changes the way athletes and coaches play the game. The same is true in a submission only vs points jiujitsu competition. I like them both! 
I had the opportunity to match up against one of the best of the best in the jiujitsu game. Gustavo Siri Pires, competes for Gracie Barra and has won several medals at the international level of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with the highest finish being NoGi World Champion. In my two previous matches against him, I had lost both times. The second time when he beat me in the finals of the 2015 Master World Championships in Las Vegas, NV. This was going to be an uphill battle.
Preparing for a one match bout was very different from a tournament. It was only going to be one match and I knew that. I didn’t need to prepare to 3 to 5 matches to be fought with different opponents in less than a 90 minute window. Instead, I focused on understanding his strengths (after doing some video scouting and thinking back to how our matches played out). I also anticipated him guessing and preparing for my strengths. So, I didn’t completely change my strategy for the match, but I made some minor tweaks. Instead of spending time on my passing and sweeps, I focused on submission variations from those positions. From my feet I also set up a strategy to a multi submission option. I felt doing so would give me the best opportunity to get the submission and keep him guessing about my plan of attack.
One big change that I don’t think he saw was my clinch work on the head. The double clinch, (some people call it a muay thai clinch) isn’t something I normally do, but I felt I could use it to set up a standing Kimura / choke / rolling leg attack. I made the decision not to go for the takedown and instead attack his head. I also knew he was a big jumping submission artist. So I would have to be mindful of his jumping attacks and figured as long as I didn’t allow my arms to get extended in the clinch, I would make his flying submissions difficult to perform.
The plan seemed to work. I was able to stay heavy on the head, prevent his flying submission attacks, and eventually got him to pull a sitting guard. The sitting guard was one of the positions I was also anticipating and had been working to set up submission attacks and not passing attacks. I was able to secure the toe hold with about 2 minutes left in the 8 minute match.
I look forward to participating in more submission only competitions in the future! It would be a dream come true would be to compete on a stage like Polaris or EBI one day!
Thank you:
Komainu Apparel (discount code: EK) USA Rashguard
Armor Kimonos (discount code: ek) Walk out Gi
One Body P&P (Pain & Performance Solutions)
EDH Jiu Jitsu (BJJ in El Dorado Hills)
Yemaso BJJ (Jiu Jitsu in Sacramento)
Fight to Win Pro (Promotion Company)
Mike Calimbas (Photography)
Jenni Kelly
Sal Cortez
Everyone who purchased a ticket in my name, showed up to watch, & sent me courage. Thank you. You make me stronger.