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:
- Scoring first sets the pace of the match. (especially when the referees only call double penalty)
- Use forward pressure but don’t reach forward to assert that pressure
- 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.
The ADCC North American Trials featured some of the best grapplers in North America. Eliot had three bouts to secure his invitation. In his first, he won by referee decision after no points in overtime. In his semi final match, he won by 2 points in the overtime round. In the final match, he won by 2 points in the regulation round. His bouts can be found on flograppling.com
“It’s never easy to travel all the way across the country and compete, but I was able to qualify and make it to the championships. There’s plenty of time to prepare so I’m getting together my coaches from EDH Jiu Jitsu, One Body Pain & Performance, and Apex Wrestling now to represent our community and the United States!”