Ten thousand

The life of a working professional martial artist is not all it is made out to be. Some have jobs or full time dojos to support their income, but for most of those who are actively competing, full time training is the only way to be the best. But most tournaments in the grappling world pay no more than a token prize and that’s only if you win. Sponsorship helps, but it’s not huge sums. Sure, some of the top guys can earn tens, maybe hundreds of thousands through televised MMA events such as Pride and UFC. And there is of course the Abu Dhabi tournament which is pretty well funded. But for the rest, well, they’re doing it for the love of the sport rather than the paltry money.
So when the 10K Ground Clash Challenge was announced, everyone’s ears shot up. What? £10,000 pounds and only one winner. And here in little old Blighty? This was surely interesting enough to attract the attentions of the best in the world. And sure enough this event, being held in Hackney next March will include the very best current exponents of grappling in the world. It won’t be easy, there are no weight categories, something often referred to as the ‘absolute’ division and there is only one winner from a pick of 32.
Full marks to the organisers who are trying to make ground fighting - submission grappling - BJJ etc reach a wider audience.
Of course such an event cannot go un-recorded so guess who is to be an official photographer at the 10K Clash? Yours Meerkatingly truly! One just hopes the soon to be acquired new camera gear works properly.