I’ve had the privilege to compete agains Xande Ribeiro once before the 2016 Master World Championships in Las Vegas. It was at an Abu Dhabi Pro trials in San Diego when I was still a brown belt and they used to mix the brown and black belts in one division. On a side note, I got to go against Andre Galvao in the open class of that tournament as well! Anyway, Xande felt very confident and relaxed in that match, we battled it out on our feet for a while and when we went out of bounds he came back and pulled immediately. He then rolled through into a knee bar. I felt tricked! He was so relaxed, almost baiting me to push forward into his roll and finish the knee bar. At the same time, I remember thinking that was such a cool move!
I think our match was in 2011, fast forward 5 years and here we were in the semi finals of the super heavy weight Master 1 black belt match at the Master World Championships in Las Vegas.
I remember thinking to myself that this was a great opportunity. A great chance to learn and try things that I’ve been working on. I had trained a strategic game specifically for a 6 minute match. 6 minutes matches are much more different than 10 minute matches in that there is very little room for error. The timing was perfect, I was able to snatch a single leg and get a quick takedown. Now the battle was on. I felt every single redirection, tug, and pull attack from the guard. Interestingly, I remember guard set ups very similar to what I had experienced while training with Tanner Rice. They were playing a very similar counter attack from the guard. I was penalized for an illegal grip on the pants, I got a little pissed because I felt the referee was playing the crowd, I showed the grip to appeal that it wasn’t illegal but it didn’t matter. With about 60 seconds left, Xande made another series of attacks to secure a sweep. I remember thinking “if he scores, I lose, don’t lose what you’ve worked up to now.” Coach Dan Lukehart was yelling the same thing. Xande almost secures a sweep and I sand up thinking if I don’t stay down he can’t score. I remember learning that in the open class finals of Xande v Galvao at the very same Abu Dhabi Pro trials. I had to get out. I think we went out of bounds and we reset from the feet. Xande scores an advantage. 30 seconds. “I have to pull this off.” The 10 guys from EDH Jiu Jitsu are in the crowd, surrounded by people wearing black Ribeiro shirts screaming! Xande pulls and 5,4,3,2,1!
I was exhausted, thrilled, elated. I remember watching Arte Suave with Xande talking about a sweep and thinking, “wow, he is so technical. I wanna be like that.” I hustled back to our “base camp” a chill area we all agreed to hang out before, between and after matches. I had just won and I knew I had to regroup for the finals. I had to calm down.
I remember starting the finals thinking, “I need more time.” That wasn’t the best way to go up against one of the best in the game, Rafael Lovato Jr. An analogy I later came up with was an engine that over heated that you tried to cool down, but there was no more time to rest. I had to turn the keys to the ignition and the engine just wasn’t starting. I got swept, mounted, and choked. ugh..
Walking away I realized if I wanted to win worlds in June, this was a great experience to have. I would most likely be up against a world champion or a very high level competitor in the earlier rounds. I would need to be ready to beat not one but several high level, accomplished world champions.
Most importantly, the team performed extremely well.