Category Archives: Tournaments

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

Professional Jiu Jitsu Competitors in Reno, NV


On the last weekend of January, Tanner Ford and Eliot Kelly made their presence felt on the stage of Fight to Win Pro 60 in Reno, Nevada. This was an exciting night for the two competitors where over $30,000 were paid to the many competitors of the night. Tanner made his Submission only debut on the fight to win card and won via heel hook. He had a dominant performance and was able to execute to precision what he had been training. We are excited to see him again on the stage!

Eliot wasn’t as successful as Tanner in his match. Eliot lost a unanimous referee decision. Needless to say he made an effort to put on a show of takedowns and hand fighting looking to gain advantage starting from the feet.

We are excited to have been a part of another Fight to Win pro card in the Nevada area! This was an exciting opportunity to compete and perform on a professional stage in the art of submission grappling. We look forward to seeing these competitors in action again on the fight to win stage!

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

Bronze to EDH from IBJJF NoGi World Championships

Eliot, Marshall, Vin, Tanner

EDH Jiu Jitsu had 2 competitors compete in the most prestigious NoGi IBJJF tournament this year in Anaheim, CA. The IBJJF NoGi World Championships. Eliot Kelly and Tanner Ford made their preparation for the competition this weekend. Eliot finished in third place on the podium with a bronze medal and Tanner, coming back after a year sabbatical from an injury, finished with one win and one loss.

The tournament was a great learning experience for both competitors as they made their way through the tough bracket at the world championships. “The best of the best compete in this tournament. It’s a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck that takes you to the next round and to the top of the podium.” Visiting black belt from Rhode Island and IBJJF NoGi Pan American medalist, Vin Canabarro, was also on the mat at EDH in the week of competition. “It was great to have Vinny in town. In his first year as black belt he’s made a name for himself on the east coast. It’s only a matter of time before he is all over the world.” Vinny fought through the tournament with one win and one loss as well.

Eliot and Diego in the open class

Eliot Kelly competed in the open class as well as the weight category. Having finished with a silver medal in 2012 at the super heavy wt division, Eliot had high aspirations to finish at the top of the podium in his category and double medal in the open class division. He fell short in the open class to Diego from Ze Radiola Team 2-0 0-3. “I came to win and didn’t, but I did get some task goals accomplished that I’ve been working on only in the last few weeks. I just need to keep working on them.”

Joao Assis, Lucas Barbosa, Aaron Johnson, Eliot Kelly, Super Heavey Wt. IBJJF NoGi World

Eliot fought his way to the semi finals of the tournament, but was stopped by Lucas Barbosa, the eventual weight and open weight champion of the tournament.

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

BJJ Tour: US Open Results from El dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu Competitors

The 21st US Open took place at the Cow Palace in San Francisco this weekend. El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu had multiple competitors from kids to adults, white belts to brown belts in action on the mats. The tournament was a great event to measure everyones progress from the beginning of the year and set some new markers going into 2018. The US Open, along with the BJJ Tour, is a great and professional tournament organization that has been dedicated to improving and enhancing jiujitsu viewership and competition from the beginning of jiujitsu in the United States.

Kids Jiu Jitsu Competitor Results

  • Slater – Godl
  • Ian – Bronze
  • Mateo – Silver
  • Mia – Bronze

Adult Jiu Jitsu Competitor Results

  • Dave – Competitor
  • Mark – Competitor
  • Coach Kunk – Gold
  • Aaron – Silver
  • Jarrod – Gold
  • Ryan – Competitor
Tournaments

El Dorado Hills BJJ Results Grappling X & Jiu-Jitsu in El Grove

We had 6 members of our Competition Team fight from El Dorado Hills BJJ & Self Defense last Saturday, at Elk Grove High School, in the Grappling X tournament. All six competed well past my expectations, all six noticeably improved between their first and second matches, and all six made it to the podium!

Gold:

Jordan (Adult- Blue Belt) competed for the first time and won both of his matches by double-digit point deficits.

Slater (Kids- Yellow Belt) had five matches and 5 finishes! 2 matches were in one division and 3 matches were in another, for two 1st place finishes!

Silver:

Danny (Adult- White Belt) competed for the first time in a Gi and won his first match by points.

Mateo (Kids- Grey White Belt) fought a very tough opponent, but was able to greatly improve between his first and second match.

Ben (Kids- White Belt) competed for the very first time and made instant progress between his first and second match as well.

Bronze:

Josh (Adult- White Belt) fought with an injured ankle. His black and blue, swollen foot was wrapped tight in a soft brace, but he went out and won his first match. He later had a fun exhibition-style match with Danny. 

It was a great day for the team and the medals were certainly well deserved, but everyone was very coachable and listened well during their matches and between. We had simple game-plans the competitors and coaches came up with. As a group, the fighters did an excellent job of staying disciplined with their goals and medaled as a result.

Tournaments

Submission Pro Tour Sacramento Results


El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu had 3 competitors compete in the Submission Pro Tour at Foothills High School in Sacramento, CA. The tournament was a Submission only tournament with EBI overtime rules. For the kids divisions, instead of the EBI overtime rules, the competitor the scored first (takedown, sweep, pass) was declared the winner.

  • Kids Division: Slater (Yellow belt)  – Gold
  • Adult + Aaron (Blue belt) – Silver
  • Josh (White belt) – Silver

All competitors had some great matches! It was a great experience to compete under the submission only rules and train for the EBI format overtime rule as well.

The EBI overtime format is where both competitors have an offensive round and a defensive round. Each get to choose how they want to attack. Either from a defended armbar in the mount position or with the back take and seatbelt grip. If time is kept to see how fast the defender escapes if there is no submission. If there are no submission at the end of 3 rounds the person with the quickest total escape time is declared the winner.

Unfortunately, EDH had more competitors signed up, but their matches were cancelled due to the lack of registered competitors.

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

Reflection from IBJJF Pans NoGi

A week after the ADCC, I found myself on the east coast getting tuned up for the IBJJF Pan NoGi Championships in NYC. A BIG THANK YOU to the Armor Kimono guys who have been sponsoring my Gi and some NoGi Jiu Jitsu.

I had one match in the division. Jackson Sousa of Checkmat in the finals. He had also just come from the ADCC tournament with a third place finish. I lost the match 2-0 on points from a sweep. Here are some take aways from the match:

  1. Scoring first sets the pace of the match. (especially when the referees only call double penalty)
  2. Use forward pressure but don’t reach forward to assert that pressure
  3. Pressure works with time. So start using it from the beginning

 

This was my third time facing Jackson in competition. The first two I lost in the gi, one by points and one by submission. This was our first nogi match, but was the closest match we shared. Although I didn’t win, I was able to close the margin, and “improve” from my previous matches. Jackson is a class act, and went on to win the open class later in the afternoon. Congratulations!

In the open class, my first opponent lost his temper when I asked the referee for him to take the grease out of his hair. He gave me the double birdie, and was disqualified.

In my second match, I faced Diego from ZR team. He had a super sticky guard and although people told me I was the aggressor on top pushing for the pass, he won the referee decision 0-0 after 10 minutes. I realize that the guard player is not obligated to stand up, but I find it ironic that the top player is obligated to try and pass but the guard player can defend and counter attack, make no attempt to sweep, and still not be penalized. I don’t questions referee decisions anymore, but I do think there is a need to better define the “lute” call and reward the athlete that is forcing the action in a match. Otherwise the defensive athlete, playing a safe game and conserving energy, is being rewarded for doing nothing. In my opinion, the athlete that is progressing forward, forcing the action to score or submit should be rewarded.

Eliot Kelly 

Tournaments

2017 ADCC Championships Reflection

I had two matches at 2017 ADCC Finland. Lost them both. One to Lovato jr. & another to Aly. In reflecting on the weekend, I walked away with some important insights.

1) Embracing my style of “fighting”

2) How quickly your mindset can influence your performance.

As a side note, to me winning & losing are only trivial moments as a result of a bout, therefore I’ve always made an effort to evaluate my performance <physical // technical // mental> in a match instead of the win or loss. I haven’t watched my bouts yet, but I was very unsatisfied after my initial match. I tried to play a strategic game and it was a total failure. Lovato Jr. completely shut me down. 7-0. I walked away from the mat frustrated. I think I played it conservative and there’s no way you will perform well or beat any of the best 16 guys in the world playing it safe.

Thank you Ty, Paul, and Ryan for coaching  and sharing your insights on the match.

The next day I faced Aly in the open class. In between the two days i was able to better understand myself as a grappler. To embrace my style. And I was damn sure I wasn’t going to play it safe on the second day. (And hopefully everyday) And I feel as though did. I didn’t win and there were some things I need to change but I could walk off the mat knowing i was a different person from yesterday. Only one thing changed between the two days. My mindset. My conscious approach to fight hard. To go HAM. (I’m quoting Tanner Rice here)
So I challenge everyone to go and fight their style every match. To embrace who they are on and off the mat. Because when you do…. It make everything so much more fun! And when you don’t it’s almost a guarantee you won’t win…

A special thanks to Komainu Apparel and AK BKK . These guys made this ADCC experience extra special for us. Thank you Satoshi for the photo! 📷

Eliot Kelly

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

2017 IBJJF Master Worlds Reflection

2017 Master Worlds Reflection

By Aaron Martinez

Last week was the sixth annual IBJJF Master World Championship in Las Vegas, and several teammates and I made the short trip to Sin City to compete. My first impression of the tournament was that there were a ton of competitors. I believe they had over 20 mats running for three days. After the initial massive line to check in and gain entrance into the venue (a large hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center), I found the tournament to be well executed and organized with even free seminars from the likes of the Ribeiro Brothers and Renzo Gracie. There were two large mat areas to warm up and plenty of space to sit and relax away from the mats. The spectating was a challenge, unless you were able to get a spot right at the fence on the edge of the mats.

The only thing I didn’t like about the tournament was that it was in Las Vegas. I like Las Vegas and participated in the first Las Vegas Open, but for the World Championships I’d rather have had as much focus as possible. Staying on the strip the night before made for a challenge to find a healthy, balanced meal, in order to feel optimal for my fight the next day. I much preferred Long Beach where I could easily get to Wholefoods and stock up on anything I needed the days leading up to the biggest event of the year for me. Of course, after my day of competition, it was fun to walk through the Casinos and go to restaurants with my teammates.

The one thing that stood out about the event, compared to the ones in the past, was the large amount of muscular competitors. I’ve never liked to assume that anyone who is bulging through their clothes with huge muscles is on some sort of PED, but I had several people make comments to me about how they would need to start testing for the Master Worlds. I was so focused on my own matches that I hadn’t really noticed the other competitors until someone brought it up. I looked around, and compared to the adult Worlds, their older counterparts were noticeably more muscular. That doesn’t necessarily mean that more Master fighters are using PEDs than the Adult fighters. Men get bigger as they get older and some of it may have more to do with being a tad older, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to start testing just to make sure it’s a more fair competition.

Tournaments

EDH BJJ Fight to Win Pro Sacramento

Friday, June 30th Fight to Win Pro will be making their show in Sacramento, CA. This will be the promotions third time in Northern California and the first time in Sacramento. The night features 60 competitors with 30 submission only fights. The event is an exciting event with lights, cameras, smoke, and music! Most importantly, the jiujitsu is the best of the best. Starting with juvenile competitors, the matches work their way up to the purple, brown, and black belts.

From El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, brown belt Sean Gonsolin and black belt Eliot Kelly were selected to compete for the organization. Sean will be matched up with local competitor Clark from Checkmat in Folsom, CA. Eliot will be matched up with retired MMA competitor and world renown tattoo artist, Luke Stuart from Ralph Gracie San Francisco. Both opponents are seasoned competitors with dangerous submission attacks.

Tickets to the fight can be purchased online Fight to Win Pro. http://cagetix.com

Make sure to purchase your ticket by selecting the competitors name before 6pm on Thursday night for the fighter to be credited with commission.

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Kids Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

The Referee’s Decision: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a Sport

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 Last weekend I competed at the Pan American Championship in Irvine. The Pan Ams is my favorite annual competition. It’s the only international competition in the U.S. where the entire competition team can participate in; from Juvenile to Master and White to Black Belt. It’s the first competition of the year where I focus all my efforts into being as well prepared as possible beforehand and give it my all when the Referee starts the match… usually.

My strategy going into my first match was to stay on top with either a takedown or letting my opponent pull guard, and then go for the pass. The Master’s divisions are short matches so I wanted to score first and be in the position to ride out the clock and work for Mount or submissions from Side Control.

I’m stretching in the bullpen, taking in the atmosphere of the building. The bullpen is a mix of tension with the fighters waiting to be called for their fights and elation with winning or being done for the competitors who already fought. The ring coordinator calls my name and my opponents and we follow him to our mat. I’m warm, I feel good, and I’m ready. The referee calls us out and I run on to the mat, bow, slap hands and fist-bump. It’s on.

My opponent is careful to engage, and we spend a couple minutes dancing around until I chase him down. We make grips and he pulls to an open guard. “Perfect!” I think. And this is pretty much where the entire match takes place. I feel good with my base and every time he tries to unbalance me I hold strong and ride it out. He has a good grip and Spider Guard on my left arm, but every time I try break it or get in a position to break it, he off-balances me and I have to focus on my base. There were a few instances where I broke the grips or he let go and I was moving and working my passes and then he’d get his grips again and we’d be right back in the same Spider Guard.

I’m watching the clock tick down to zero with the score tied at 0 points, 0 advantages, and 0 penalties. I’m thinking it would be foolish to try something risky to earn an advantage. I was on top and more active. I was more offensive and closer to a pass then he ever was to a sweep. All I had to do was not get scored on and there was only 10 seconds left. My opponent tried extending me one last time, but I stayed low and kept my weight back.

Time ended and we fixed our Gi’s. The referee held our arms and I took a deep breath. He raised my opponent’s arm and I turned away. I shook my opponent’s hand and congratulated him. I bowed to the Referee, thanked him for the job he had done and walked off the matt. I couldn’t believe it. How could I have not earned the decision win?

Well, I let the fight end with a tied score. Was the referee wrong with his decision? No, of course not. They don’t want to make the decision; they want you to score and make it clear that you won. It didn’t have to be in the last 10 seconds, but at some point in a 5 minute match you have to at least score an advantage. Otherwise there is nothing to have hard feelings about, other than your own performance.

What is the referee looking for in those situations? It’s completely subjective, yet completely justified. Every loss is a learning lesson and this isn’t the first decision that resulted in a loss for me, which is why I thought I had won. The lesson I take from it now is that it’s a coin-flip, in terms if you agree with the decision or not. They have their reasons and I’m sure if you ask, most will tell you why they ruled that way… after the fact.

Aaron Martinez