This year is the first year I've taken an active interest in the Mundials. Although a massive event, it is not televised or on radio so the only way to follow it live, is through following live twitter updates and online reports. The Fightworks Podcast arguably came out as the very best way to follow the action. Every few seconds or so, a couple of lines would feed through to whet the appetites of us eager followers.
In the black belt divisions, all the interest was on UK based instructors Braulio Estima, Vitor Estima, and of course Roger Gracie (sorry if I missed out on any others).
In a tremendous show of superiority, Roger defeated all his opponents by the same three stage technique - pass guard, mount, choke - to take both the Super Heavy gold and the Absolute gold (the first ever to defeat all opponents by submission in all matches I believe). Unbelievable! Braulio wins the heavyweight division (fighting his Gracie Barra team mate Alex de Souza) and his brother Vitor comes third in the medium heavy division.
It does seem unbelievably true, but the UK boasts some of the most successful and talented BJJ black belts in the world.
So how did my team mates do this year? Well they're not yet back from the US yet, but Daniel Strauss did post a note on his Facebook profile explaining how disappointed he was and how he simply did not fight very well and lost in round 3. Maybe being tipped heavily as a favourite worked against him, maybe just a bad day in the office. But there is no shame in defeat at the most elite tournament of them all. I salute him and all the others who entered and fought. What they maybe don't realise is that the whole build up, all those intense hours of conditioning, drilling, rolling, sparring again and again until their muscles burned in pain, yeah, all those hours - that's the true contest. And by that token, they've all walked away with something bigger than a medal. Their efforts also serve to inspire ordinary BJJ Joes like me.
In a tremendous show of superiority, Roger defeated all his opponents by the same three stage technique - pass guard, mount, choke - to take both the Super Heavy gold and the Absolute gold (the first ever to defeat all opponents by submission in all matches I believe). Unbelievable! Braulio wins the heavyweight division (fighting his Gracie Barra team mate Alex de Souza) and his brother Vitor comes third in the medium heavy division.
It does seem unbelievably true, but the UK boasts some of the most successful and talented BJJ black belts in the world.
So how did my team mates do this year? Well they're not yet back from the US yet, but Daniel Strauss did post a note on his Facebook profile explaining how disappointed he was and how he simply did not fight very well and lost in round 3. Maybe being tipped heavily as a favourite worked against him, maybe just a bad day in the office. But there is no shame in defeat at the most elite tournament of them all. I salute him and all the others who entered and fought. What they maybe don't realise is that the whole build up, all those intense hours of conditioning, drilling, rolling, sparring again and again until their muscles burned in pain, yeah, all those hours - that's the true contest. And by that token, they've all walked away with something bigger than a medal. Their efforts also serve to inspire ordinary BJJ Joes like me.
Anyway, MY mundials is coming up very soon. The British BJJ Open in Birmingham. The estimates so far reckon about 600 fighters, covering every divisions and with competitors coming over from all over Europe. This looks to be the biggest tournament in the UK this year. A win here would really mean something. As a fighter, I hope to get a few good matches in. And as a spectator, I'm looking forward to seeing brown and black belt fights as well as the juniors and women divisions.
Some keyboard warrior news - I decided to set up a Faxia Rua appreciation society group on Facebook, in fact I was surprised it hadn't been done before. To recap, Faixa rua is a recently established brand of BJJ uniform and the person who makes them, calls himself Faixa Rua (Portuguese for 'street belt'). Faixa often posts side splittingly witty comments on various forums and it was in honour of his humour that I started collecting classic statements to put up on the Facebook wall. In 24 hours, 83 people joined my group, which is pretty astonishing.
Hopefully our members will be rewarded with more of Faxia's scathing wit and sharp humour.
I'm so nervous about this one, can't wait though lol u feeling ready?
ReplyDeleteHey buddy, nice to meet you today. You'll be great at the comp, you felt very good indeed today. In a non gay way. I'll pop up again some time and come with Al to Mill Hill where Nick can totally pretzel me up.
ReplyDeleteI weirdly don;t get nervous before fights. Maybe I should. I just treat it like rolling in the gym, albeit with an A-bomb level of intensity. Good luck to all my blog readers who are competing at the British.
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