spicy chicken deluxe
So the three of us (Clobber, Pumba and myself) left around 5 pm Friday to drive to Woodburn to get a hotel the night before the tournament. I've competed a bunch in the past and so has Clobber, so we decided to stay over the night before. Each of us has done the "drive out to the tournament the same day" and the "stay overnight" routines, and we both have found that staying over may cost a bit more but it makes for a better tournament experience/result usually.
My weight was good the night before, but I checked when I got up and was at 163 lbs which meant I could have a few things at the breakfast buffet Clobber was in the Ultra Heavy division and didn't have to cut. Pumba however was in the Super Heavy division and had to be under 220 lbs in his Gi. He was 224 when he got up, which meant no breakfast and 25 minutes on the treadmill doing sprints. He did end up making weight thankfully, and it will be easier for him next time as he plans on keeping the weight off.
Clobber was up first, but I didn't get to see it live as they called me to the bullpen. I was in there for about 3 minutes before they brought me to the mat. Pumba was able to record Clobbers match and then came over to record me. I won't bore you with details, but I got my first win in an IBJJF tournament. My joy was short lived though. In my second match, I fucked up lol. I did not break his lapel/collar grip. I did sit down. Two things I needed to work on and have been, but apparently not enough. I am going to really make a concerted effort to fix this shit. This loss really bothered me mainly because I took a private with Brian and we went over some of these things. He has told me not to sit down before...I really have to break that habit. Maybe I will start doing push-ups of burpees when I catch myself. Clobber has mentioned about the grips before too, fuck I even quote him telling me. Needless to say I was disappointed, not in the fact that I lost, but in the factors which contributed to my loss. I posted both of my fights to the YouTube page. Gonna keep plugging away though, my next tournament will be in October I think so there is time to correct my errors.
On to Clobber and Pumba...Pumba's first match went well and he won. He did exactly what he said he was going to do, pull guard and then Kimura trap. He didn't get the tap with that but he did catch an armbar. His second match didn't go as well as like me, he lost. Clobber lost both of his matches, but looked really good. I didn't quite realize just how good his Jiu-Jitsu was training with him. He dominated in his first match, but his foot got caught in the Gi of his opponent who took advantage by catching him with an ankle lock. In the second match he got beat to the guard pull, but still managed to work his way into his spot but ended up running out of time and losing on points.
Other observations:
I'm not naming names but one TLI competitor was a real db. Strutting on the mat like a tool and wiping fake sweat in an exaggerated manner off his brow. I thought this was VERY disrespectful to his opponent.
The Black Belt absolute was great. It had Gianni Grippo, Renan Borges, James Puopolo, Raphael "formiga" Barbosa, and Dan Simmler to name a few. Formiga ended up winning with an armbar over Renan.
At this point, the best post tournament meal is Chick-Fil-A. We stopped on the way home and I housed a spicy chicken deluxe sandwich and an order of nuggets and washed it down with a Brooklyn Summer Ale.