My First BJJ Competition

Today was my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition that I have participated in so far, and it was quite an experience indeed. I was originally going to enter a competition a month earlier but fell sick during the week and didn't feel physically ready to compete, that and I didn't really have $50 to pay for the competition. Then along came this competition, run by our trainers and they really encouraged us to compete so I figured this would be the best time to start my BJJ competition career.

I decided to enter in the under 61kg adults division, which was the lowest weight division possible, and I knew I was pretty light from all my Wii Fit sessions so I knew I would be able to make weight just fine. However, it wasn't until the last week that I re-weighed myself and found I was over the 61kg weight limit by a few kilograms, leaving me worried. Fortunately there was a 3kg allowance because of my Gi that I wear, so I could weigh up to 64kg. So I tried to eat a little less before the Sunday, and that didn't really help that I had a birthday party to go to last night, I didn't expect a lot of food but there was tonnes of food, and good food to boot but I didn't eat much. Anyways, all that worrying was for naught because I weighed in at 62kg this morning, and my Gi weights 1.6kg, so I was fine.

We (my brother and I) got to the venue all the way in Five Dock, to Five Dock Leisure Centre, which I had never heard of before, and I'm sure neither you have, but all you need to know is that it's far away and my sense of misdirection kicked in and we got lost for a little bit.
OH! We also got to find out who we are wrestling against the night before online and how many people are in our divisions. And my division consisted of two people, David Ung, and some guy named Jerome from some club called Boxing Works. So basically, if I beat this guy, I win gold and can claim victory over my weight division! Or just victory over this one guy, but I digress...
We got to the venue, signed in and watched our friends fight in the kids/teen division, of which two of our club members were in. They both won handily and came first for their respective divisions, raising the bar in the process. After the kids got out of the way it was time for the adults to roll. I thought my match would've been first but nope, it was going to be later, after the more bigger divisions wrestled their matches.

So I watched other matches, like my brothers, in the 61-67kg division, he ended up losing to a cuff choke, and in the end lost to the guy that came first in the division. Other club members won and lost as well but since you don't know them I won't talk about them for your sake. Eventually it was soon time for my match and I didn't know whether to be nervous or excited or both or neither but in the end I didn't feel either, I was just lost and somewhat ready.
My brother recorded the match, and was more into watching the match than recording the match so excuse his cinematography, we should've brought a tripod but oh well, at least I got my first match on camera. For those who don't know anything about BJJ (which I think is most of you hybridites) I'm willing to record a commentary over the video so you have an idea of whats going on, and there's a few things I'd like to point out but can't be bothered to do in text form because it'd be weird, but I'll only do it if I get a substantial amount of interest from you, and a good microphone I suppose.
But for now, watch, enjoy, and try to understand whats going on.


Triangle choke finish!!

Just incase you didn't know, I won the match and hence became number one in my division, continuing the Gold Standard for SPMA (our club). I was so lost in the fight that I forgot to put my mouth guard on, and ended up leaving in my Gi, and it fell out when I won and stood up, which suprised both my brother "what the hell!?" and I. After the match I was so tired, and basically collapsed, my legs were dead from the triangle choke and my arms were gone from all the pulling and controlling my opponent, even now my forearms are still dead tired, if I stretch or put pressure on them it just burns! You can see how tired and lost I am in the video, but happy to have won, and in a convincing fashion no less!



I was so tired I couldn't open the cap to my bottle at times, it was hilariously bad. But at the same time was a lesson in conditioning, I've got to work on my conditioning so that next time there are more than one person to fight I won't be so darn tired if I make it past the first round. I've also got to work on my arm and leg strength too, so they don't tire out so fast. I also suffered a little injury too, at some point during the match my foot got cut, presumably by his toe nail or something. Which is another injury to add to the list of my injuries (yay).


The cut without the blood

At somepoint our club members found the time to get together and take a group picture, which was cool, and was my first group picture as well, and helped make me feel more like part of the club, so going to competitions like these are great for building friendships!


Some of the group!

After a bunch of waiting through the other White belt matches, then blue belt matches, purple and brown belt matches it was time for the awarding of the trophies! Since my division was first I got to receive my trophy first, and it felt pretty great hearing my name after the words "First Place", I also got a pair of shorts too, that I can use for training, they likely cost over $50 so that pretty much paid for my $50 entry fee I'd say. Then I had to sit through all the other trophy winners, which took a while. But I got to talk to my opponent more, he had only been training for 5-6 months apparently, and I suppose like all people who have lost he requested a rematch, to which I replied with a hearty "Ha Ha".
As things wound down and people were leaving I got a picture with my club instructor and MMA fighter Anthony Perosh, I wanted one with our other head instructor Elvis Sinosic but he was busy talking and I was in a rush to get home and eat something, and that something turned out to be McDonalds in the form of a double quarter pounder burger.

So my BJJ career is off to a good start, with one win and no losses, and an earning of a pair of shorts, I'm on my way to becoming a champion! Can't wait for the next competition to burst my ego. (Don't worry, I don't think too highly of my win)


So awesome I don't need to look at the camera