What an experience! Worlds is awesome to both compete in and watch! Well, I know a ton of my students in TX, GA and Sweden were watching and didn't get to see but 2 seconds of me on the Budovideos stream so I'll give you a break down guys. My weight was good, I was a pound under at 193.5. Some of the many lessons I learned were 1) I like this weight class, any lower is too light for me and any higher is too big. 2) I want to build more lean muscle and cut even more body fat %. I feel I should've started cutting the weight 2 months ago instead of 3 weeks ago. I felt skinny. I will add some muscle right away. (HA! Jake from BudoVideos.com just texted me as I am writing this "Get something to eat! You look skinny!") This isn't why I lost or an excuse, simply how I feel about my strength and conditioning.
Anyhow, Gary, my opponent was a respectful and seems like a nice guy. He is from Gracie Barra but I don't know what location. He mentioned to me he really likes my DVDs when we were in the bullpen. I chuckled and said, "Thanks! It's gi today and Worlds so its a whole other animal for me." (The following is as best as I can remember it-I'm sure someone got video or it will be on the Worlds DVD in case I forget anything) We get onto the mats and I'm pressing hard for a takedown so he pulls guard. I really wanted some points with some of my favorite gi throws I train in Sambo class but he didn't give me an opportunity. He transitioned to De la Riva guard, I break grips and I tried back stepping into a kneebar. Fail. In hindsight I should have toe held! I turn back and I believe he swept at that point. I kept pursuing the kneebar 3 or 4 more times. I kept rolling for the knee from turtle. At some point we ended up in 50/50 and I swept him with a 50/50 sweep. Once on top he had an odd angle on me and threatened a collar choke a couple times with no luck. We scrambled and stood. Bruno Bastos and Wesley Gann were coaching me. I kept hearing Wes saying to shoot since he was backpedalling. I suck at shooting and prefer gi throws but I shot anyway. I didn't follow through well, he sprawled and got his arm around my neck and he choked me. It was definitely his day. I was exhausted and confused. In April I was in a Super 8 man in Houston and was relaxed and calm when I fought, no nerves. Right before I shot in I remembered asking myself why I was spent in 4 minutes?!?! I went thru an extensive camp with Nova Uniao, trained twice a day, felt great and practiced rolling 10 minute rounds. Maybe it was nerves because I was at Worlds? Did I drop weight too soon before the fight? I don't know. Either way Gary was a stud and choked me. Hats off to him. He obviously knew my background because he kept shaking my gi saying how it took a lot to come out to Worlds in the gi and compete and how much he respected me for that. He was a class act. I walked over and apologized to Bruno, I should have won. I should have finished a kneebar or toe hold, they were right there. (again this is from memory during a fight so hopefully someone got video so I can learn even more from my mistakes). I lost in the 1st round my fans were probably disappointed and my haters probablly loved it but hey, at least I was there to compete and not sitting behind a keyboard. I will make myself a better fighter from this.
I was seriously pissed but later I was stoked, I learned soooo much. I don't like losing but I think this loss did me well and gave me some serious lessons on high level competitions. Like Babe Ruth said,"Each strike is one swing closer to a homerun." I now know that I need to up my strength and conditioning, stay at this weight instead of 205, am no where near blackbelt, get my butt to more classes and get better at jiu jitsu of course! Get better at passing, calm down, work on my game overall. I want to compete a ton more times this year and come back to the next Worlds stronger in mind, body, spirit and jiu jitsu. I don't just want a blackbelt in BJJ, I want to be an elite blackbelt. That's why I started training with Bruno Bastos in Dallas. Jamie Walsh, whom I got my rank from and is a JJ Machado bb, is a phenomenal coach, teacher and person but fact of the matter is he is in Cali and I am in TX. I need to get beat up everyday not once a quarter or 6 months. I know Jamie could make me a world champ if I was still in LA with him but sadly I am not. Another thing I got out of training with the guys from Nova such as Marcelinho Freitas, Rodrigo Feijao, Robson Moura, Daniel Garcia, Will Diaz and more is I want to visit some of the great instructors schools of NU and go train in Brazil.
I didn't feel a thing in the fight but a couple hours later my knee was a little sore. Pfshhhh..I woke up this morning and could barely walk and it's swollen! Guess something happened. Oh well, I was going to take a week or two off for family time anyway. I have been teaching in the mornings, then training at Bruno's and then rolling at my school again at night since February getting ready for the Super 8 man and then Worlds. It's even my wife and I's anniversary today and she needs some attention. She has stood by me and helped out extra so I could train my butt off for my recent tourneys. Rupture's Super 8 man I got third but no hardware from Worlds.
Worlds was SICK to watch! Marcelo Garcia, Abmar, Ramulo, Tarsis, Bastos, Roger, Cyborg, Cavaca, Malfacine, Dimencia, Xande, Cooper, Cobrinha, Mendes.... but that is another blog. I gotta get some sleep and catch a plane in the morning.
Never Quit
