I live in a place where there are relatively few Jiu Jitsu tournament opportunities. A tournament was scheduled not far from where I live and I was intrigued to potentially enter. I had been training Jiu Jitsu for about 3 ½ years and was a two-stripe blue belt. I was 40 years old and weighed 225 pounds. I would consider myself average to above average fitness for my age.
I am a true hobbyist and am not interested in competing. I have a family (2 kids) and a steady chair job career. Jiu Jitsu for me has been a hobby that challenges one mentally and helps keep my aging body fit. I was somewhat interested in competing to test my training techniques. What pushed me over the edge to compete was my 11-year-old son who attends classes with me agreeing to do the tournament with me.
I signed up for three divisions: Absolute Gi and no Gi for masters and Seniors and Gi in my weight. I had to move down in the age division to get a match at my weight in the Gi. Below is a recap of the 6 matches that I had. In addition to the recap, you will find other articles I wrote to capture my experience and my son’s experience at our first Jiu Jitsu competition.
Bracket 1 Absolute No GI / Male / Masters & Seniors
This bracket was at the very beginning of the day and one of the very first matches of the tournament. There was a very interesting mix of 6 fighters in this bracket. There were blue, purple, and a black belt in the division. The black belt was in the 230lbs division, I was the second heaviest at 225lbs, and the other opponents were all in the 170lbs range. The format was single elimination. The rule set followed an advanced rule set where just about every technique except for slamming out of guard/submissions was allowed.
My first competition match for the day and ever would be against a 170 lb purple belt.
Fight #1
I was very nervous going into this fight as I truly didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t warm up too much either as I was more shell-shocked and ready to get it over with. At the onset of the match we immediately tied up and I could tell this was different from practice and even an intense roll at the gym. I could feel the tenseness in my opponent and their sense of urgency to fight at a level where it felt like life or death.
After about a minute of hand fighting and tying up, I was able to pummel an underhook with an outside arm grip. Before the tournament, I had been studying and practicing the lat drop takedown. It was one of my goals for the tournament to hit a lat drop if the opportunity presented itself. In my first match with a more experienced opponent, this was probably not the best time to try a new takedown but did so anyway. I attempted the lat drop and my opponent instantly tightened up with a good base and I landed hard on my back with my opponent in my half-guard.
I moved to knee shield half guard and was distracting my opponent with a reverse Kimura grip looking to either submit or sweep with it. My opponent did a good job of standing to break the reverse Kimura grip. After a couple of times of this, he took good initiative and hit a hard knee slide to pass my guard and score three points. Looking back at it I was a bit passive during the pass and probably could have prevented the pass with more effort. Pretty quickly I was able to shrimp out and get to turtle. My opponent was able to get to my back with a hook in and he started to work a choke. I was able to prevent the second hook and roll into his half-guard.
While in my opponent’s half-guard, he did a good job of elevating me and making my worst fears come to life, leg locks. I haven’t trained much with leg locks knowing the basic submissions and defenses. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but my opponent was able to roll and invert under me to threaten a calf slicer. I didn’t feel pain and was able to simply use strength to defend and escape the position. After that, my opponent threatened a heel hook or ankle lock. This time I had a sense of urgency and was able to stand up, push my opponent’s heel off my hip and secure a chest-to-chest half-guard passing situation, my preferred passing position.
I immediately crossfaced my opponent while chest to chest in half guard and based out with my head and other hand to prevent a roll. By this time, time was short with about a minute left and my opponent was up 0-3 in points. I needed a pass to tie or a mount to win. I was pretty smoked from the beginning lat drop attempt and what felt like an adrenaline dump. All of my limbs felt like jelly. I was sweating and breathing hard, it felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Throughout the last minute, I made progress freeing my leg but failed in the closing seconds as he trapped just my foot before I could get a mount or pass.
I lost the match 3-0 and was single eliminated from this division. My opponent was good, but I think if I wasn’t so nervous and had the adrenaline dump my size and strength could have made up for the technique in this match. I felt weak during the match, but was happy to hear my opponent compliment me on my strength, always a good comment to hear in Jiu Jitsu 🙂 I was completely smoked after this match and took about 10 minutes on the floor half dying to recover. It was a good first experience while rough at the same time.
Bracket 2 Absolute GI / Male / Blue / Masters & Seniors
Thankfully, I got a nice amount of rest in between this bracket and my previous bracket. Even though it was a couple of hours since my last match I was still dead tired and probably about 50-60% of my regular fitness. This looked to be a tough bracket for me. There were two competitors in the bracket with me and they were both from the 230lb+ division. Both guys looked to be in the 260lb range for their weight while I weighed in at 225 lbs. I roll quite often with bigger super heavyweight partners, but at 50-60% fitness I was a bit apprehensive coming into this bracket.
The format for this was a single-elimination playoff style. It was a bit unfair as one guy got a bye straight to the finals and the other competitor and I would fight and then face the fresh person who got the bye.
Fight 1
At the beginning of the fight, we began to take grips. I could tell this was going to be way different from my previous match. This man was large, solid, and strong. I was in no way in the right shape to attempt to take down this man so we locked up and I waited for him to make a move, and make a move he did.
My opponent grabbed both my lapels and the big man swung to the side and onto the mat. I was able to adjust mid-swing, base out, and land the mat on my knees. My opponent put everything into it and landed on his side. I was quicker than my opponent and was able to dive on him and take side control.
From there it was a pretty uneventful match that I wouldn’t call beautiful Jui Jitsu. I held down my opponent and secured the mount. I tried for a few chokes, but my opponent had a very thick neck and was very strong. Toward the final seconds of the match, I attempted a sloppy armbar and my opponent was able to come on top but did not score any points. As time ran out I won my first competition match ever with a score of 0-10.
Fight 2
I got about 10 minutes of rest between my last match and it was time for the finals against a fresh opponent who hadn’t fought yet. My opponent was less stout than my previous opponent but taller and probably about the same weight. I again was incredibly tired from my previous bout. Upon lock up I again knew I was way too burnt out to even try for a takedown or throw. Eventually after a minute or so my opponent got an underhook and attempted some sort of throw that failed with him ending up in my closed guard.
After a couple of minutes in my closed guard, I was about to get passed via a knee slide but moved into turtle to prevent the pass. My opponent straddled me when I was in turtle and got one hook in. I heard my coach yell “he has no base.” At that point I bucked my opponent off the front of me as I went to turn over and get on top he took my back with both hooks loosely in. He was awarded 4 points for the back tack.
I was quickly able to remove a hook and turn into my opponent and once again found myself in one of my favorite positions, chest-to-chest half-guard with about a minute left on the clock. This was about the same predicament I was in during my very first match, but the results would be different. I utilized heavy pressure, pushed on my opponent’s knee, and freed my leg to take the mount. I was awarded 7 points for the pass and mount. I was able to easily hold my tired opponent down for the remaining seconds to take gold in the division.
As my hand was being raised in victory by the ref, it was funny because I wasn’t even happy. I was so exhausted, I was just happy for the match to be over. My coach did a wonderful job throughout the match and was happy after recovering to have performed well.
Bracket 3 GI Adult / Male / Blue / Master (30+) 215-230
For my final bracket of the day, I would only have one other competitor in my division. I moved down an age division to have a match and my opponent was 7 years younger than me. I was still very exhausted from the bout but was happy to finally compete against an opponent my same size and skill. Since he was the only competitor in my division the format would be a best-out-of-three match.
Fight 1
I was still very much fatigued at the start of this fight and was in no shape to attempt a takedown or throw without being immediately countered, so I allowed my opponent to make the first move. Like my previous two opponents, this opponent grabbed onto a lapel and sleeve and simply big man swung me to the floor. I was able to base out on my knees while my opponent remained standing. He drove me backward onto my back and heavily pushed forward into me. Quickly as my opponent pushed into me I caught butterfly hooks a sleeve and swept my opponent over. Mid-air he adjusted and landed on his side, as he did so he exposed his back and I nearly was able to secure the back but he rolled quickly onto his own back and walla I was back in chest to chest half guard.
This was another one of my matches that I won by smashing and controlling. I was able to pretty quickly pass half guard and would move from the mount, to side control, and few passes here and there. I attempted a punch choke and an Americana but was unable to finish. At the end of time, I won the fight 16-0. I would have about 10 minutes before facing the same opponent again.
Fight 2
Our second fight started very much the same with me too exhausted to attempt a takedown and my opponent initiating a big man swing to the mat. This time I fell to my knees very similar to my first absolute gi match while my opponent fell to his back and I took top control. My opponent was able to pull me into his closed guard.
This simply was a bad match and I feel sorry for those that had to watch for 5 minutes. I think we were both gassed and he couldn’t sweep me and I was too tired to mount much effort in opening and passing his guard. For the remainder of the match, my opponent held me in closed guard trying to cross-collar choke me while I attempted to amassa pao (thrusting choke) each time the cross-collar got a little tight. In the end, time expired with a score 0-0.
The ref gave the decision to my opponent and honestly it could have gone either way, both of us didn’t do much the whole fight. I was upset with myself because I would have rather been done with my matches right then and there but ultimately was being lazy and didn’t take any risks.
Fight 3
After another 10-minute rest, it was time for the tie-breaking third match. At this point, I was the living dead and ready for a shower, some pizza, and a bed. Though a zombie I attempted a Harai Goshi throw, my opponent stumbled but didn’t fall. If you had to guess what came next you’d probably guess right, my opponent attempted another big man swing and I ended up on top. This time I dug deep and rejected my opponent’s attempts to pull me into their closed guard. I was able to drive my opponent’s leg to the mat and enter once again into a chest-to-chest half-guard passing situation. It took me about a minute but I was able to pass to mount. My opponent tried valiantly to escape the presh but ended up conceding more points including a back take in the round. As time expired I won the fight and a second gold medal with a score of 16-0.
More thoughts on my first Jiu Jitsu competition
Overall it was exhausting but an amazing experience. I wouldn’t say I had fun competing, but it was a good test of my Jiu Jitsu skill and was one of the physically hardest things I’ve done since leaving the military over 17 years ago. The part that I enjoyed was seeing and coaching some of the kids from our school throughout the tournament. The most amazing part of the tournament was getting to compete in it with my 11-year-old son. Here are some additional articles that I wrote to capture my experience with my first Jiu Jitsu competition.