IP Submission Wrestling Tournament - 9/4/11

Hanley

In keeping with the tradition of blabbing on incessantly about myself, I’m gonna tell the story of my first BJJ competition.

As some of you are aware, I turned my back on PL for various reasons towards the end of the year and turned my attention towards something new. Credit to Will for suggesting it, Barry for being a great coach and helping me along every step of the way, and all my training partners in Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu in Informed Performance. I literally would not be here without them.

I weighed in at 90.6kg, easily making the 91.5kg weight limit in a 10 man novice class.

Hung around for a few hours watching the advanced guys before my class started and enjoyed some good live competitive no gi Jiu-Jitsu for the first time.

Grant ran myself and Aaron thru some light warm ups before our class started, and then it was onto the mat...

Match 1
I’d literally NO idea what to expect going into this. I was warned in advance to go hard and not be afraid to use pressure cos this wasn’t going to be like training. Tbh the match is a bit of a blur. I think I got taken down but immediately recovered guard, played about for a while there before eventually butterfly sweeping my opponent to side control where he put on a nasty head lock that has left my ear still black and blue. There was a serious amount of pressure and it got to the point where I could feel myself drifting a bit, Barry’s calm assurance that he had nothing from there helped me thru. He ended up back in my guard, stood to pass and Barry called for a school boy sweep on him which I got.... And ended up giving him a straight ankle lock which turned into a heel hook. I heard Barry calling the heel hook (as they’re illegal in Novice BJJ) and immediately tapped out of fear for the safety of my knee, and because I knew if I did the ref would stop the match. I didn’t realise it’d give me the technical victory too, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. 1 and 1 in my BJJ career

Match 2
Came out against a guy who looked like a tight fighter and seemed eager to clinch with me. My clinch exp is minimal, at best, and isn’t something I’d be even remotely confident in engaging in. So as soon as I got wrapped up I pulled guard. In guard the guy tried soem weird twisty thing to get out of it and I thought it left him off base for a sweep. The second time he tried it I realised there was the option of a back take so aggressively rotated around him and snapped on a rear naked choke faster and harder than I ever had before. Heard a gurgle and knew the tap was going to come straight away. 2 and 2, over in about 2 minutes.

Match 3
Me –v- some lad from Waterford MMA. Was talking to him afterwards and he was a really nice bloke. Barry called for a bit more aggression in this one so came at the guy and got an ugly take down to half guard. Passed to side control, and scarf hold, and side control, and scarf hold, and finally side control again. First experience of being on top in a match and just wanted to make sure to hold a good solid position while I waited for an opening. Tried to knee on belly and north/south choke – neither worked. Going to north/south allowed him to recover to his knees and I went for the guillotine. Had it for like 45+ seconds and just couldn’t finish. Ended up tiring the dude out and stretching him along the mat so got the chance to take his back and cranked on the ugliest short/rear naked choke you’ll ever see - forearm to the throat, grab my wrist and just pull hard. 3 and 3. Over in about 90 seconds

Match 4 – The Final
Up against a guy who steamrolled thru the division. Afterwards, I think it was Barry who said something along the lines of “he dominated everyone, but against Hanley he looked ordinary” which felt really good to hear!! Match was about as exciting as watching paint dry. He shot a couple of times, I got double overhooks and sprawled him to like a open turtle position a couple of times but couldn’t pressure him in the right way to make an advance frm there. He recovered and drove at me while I pulled a half butterfly guard. Tried a couple of sweeps but was too high up on his hamstring and not enough into his knee for it to work. Went back to full guard and spent most of the rest of the match there. He passed to half guard towards the end and won and advantage for it, and that was all that seperated us at the end. 4 and 3 for a silver medal in the novice division against a blue belt in 3 months of training.

Barry talked me thru all my matches, telling me exactly what to do at all times. I just did it and profited. Same story with the training leading up to it really. So, thanks coach!

I’d a brilliant day and the bug has defnitely bitten. Next up.... MMA?

The heel hook....

squod

Congrats.

Remmy

That guy with the red shorts has some serious set of calves..Did you find your strength much of an advantage against guys who might be the same weight but not quite as strong?I tried bjj myself once or twice but always gassed out first cause I never learned how to just sit back and strategize instead of going in all guns blazing

podge57

I have no idea what the differences are between locks / holds / clinches, but congrats and the pics are pretty cool!

themandan6611

well done mate, being dipping in and out of your fitness logs and seriously impressed with the volume of training your putting in, you seem to be really enjoying it too.

I started training in mma 6 months ago and can't believe the amount I am learning and developing- bjj rules

your with a top gym and I will be interested in how you progress over the next 9 months or so. In terms of lifting what do you now focus on ?

jive

Gratz. Read the whole thing but had no ****ing clue what was going on as I have no understanding of bjj / mma other than watching UFC occasionally! Last pic is cool

Barry.Oglesby

Hanley wrote: »

Barry talked me thru all my matches, telling me exactly what to do at all times. I just did it and profited. Same story with the training leading up to it really. So, thanks coach!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83sTIfgP8Eg

Dathai

Well done dude. Just out of interest, any idea why the blue belt was in the novice category? Surely nobody could get a blue belt with less than 1 years experience..?

Conditioning > Strength in bjj so I've found.

FTA69

Dathai wrote: »

Well done dude. Just out of interest, any idea why the blue belt was in the novice category? Surely nobody could get a blue belt with less than 1 years experience..?

Conditioning > Strength in bjj so I've found.

It's possible to get a blue belt in under a year, it all depends on the mat time you put in I suppose.

d'Oracle

Fair play.

Degsy

Why you fighting topless? It cant be nice for the opponant to get covered in your sweat..

the drifter

Degsy wrote: »

Why you fighting topless? It cant be nice for the opponant to get covered in your sweat..

He does everything topless....do you not know who he is man?

I heard he hasn't worn a top since 1997...

Hanley

Remmy wrote: »

That guy with the red shorts has some serious set of calves..Did you find your strength much of an advantage against guys who might be the same weight but not quite as strong?I tried bjj myself once or twice but always gassed out first cause I never learned how to just sit back and strategize instead of going in all guns blazing

Yeah he does actually... clearly why he beat me

I don't know how much my strength helps to be honest, because I don't really know how much I'm exerting against somoene. Obviously the submissions and stuff it helps wind it on quicker and handfighting/breaking posture is aided too. Given two beginners I assume the stronger will win as long as there's not a massive gap in technique.

But when it comes to good blue belts, and even white belts with multi year training exp my strength means f*ck all.

themandan6611 wrote: »

well done mate, being dipping in and out of your fitness logs and seriously impressed with the volume of training your putting in, you seem to be really enjoying it too.

I started training in mma 6 months ago and can't believe the amount I am learning and developing- bjj rules

your with a top gym and I will be interested in how you progress over the next 9 months or so. In terms of lifting what do you now focus on ?

Lifting is at the bottom of my priority list to be honest. The last 3 months have been spent rolling, striking and getting as much conditioning work in as I could manage. Some of the conditioning blocks have involved KBs and bodyweight stuff, but by and large no lifting's being done.

I've started to reintroduce cleans, box jumps, trap bar deads, benching and pull ups/rows in now, but like they might get 2x 30 minute sessions a week or something just to maintain strength and power.

Dathai wrote: »

Well done dude. Just out of interest, any idea why the blue belt was in the novice category? Surely nobody could get a blue belt with less than 1 years experience..?

Conditioning > Strength in bjj so I've found.

A blue belt inside a year isn't unheard of, so in that regard it's entirely possible he's training < 1 year (which was the cutoff point). He's won the last two IP sub tournaments now so I'd say he'll move up to intermediate for the challenge soon!

Degsy wrote: »

Why you fighting topless? It cant be nice for the opponant to get covered in your sweat..

Mneh... I don't really care if they don't like being covered in my sweat. I'm more comfortable without a tee, and harder to hold onto. It's a competition, I'll do whatever I'm allowed do within the rules for an advantage.

g'em

moved from health and fitness