The Best Pair Of Rash Guard & Board Shorts Won't Let You Win Against A Black Belt In BJJ Match

NEW YORK - Nov. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- Copenhagen 20th of November 2013. This weekend took a group of the club's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters ride from Copenhagen to Paris to fight in one of Europe's biggest tournaments - NAGA Europe Championships.

This year, we decided to try something new, and head out to Paris, see a new city and compete against people we don’t know as well (the BJJ scene in Scandinavia isn’t huge, so it tends to be the same guys you meet, especially at higher belts).

Before my first match, my nerves started setting in. The rash guard I was wearing is the prototype for our IBJJF legal brown belt rash guard; for details go to http://odinfightwear.com/. I didn’t know any of my opponents, but seeing as how this was the expert division, I assumed they were very good. I start thinking “Why am I competing? It’s not that enjoyable.” I start watching the other competitors in my group, they all look huge, and they’re all putting on a furious pace during their matches. F..., I can’t keep up with that kind of scrambles; will my cardio even be good enough? I have been training hard, but definitely could have trained harder. Luckily my self-doubt is cut short by my name being called.

I step onto the mat, nerves start dissipating, and it’s time to go. My opponent steps into the mat, he looks more like my size, so there’s some relief there, I start getting more confident but remind myself I also got more confidence after seeing a young kid with pimples and braces step onto the mat against me a few years ago, moments before he berimbolo’d me and beat me up. I mentally remind myself again of the lessons learned at Marcelo’s gym a few weeks earlier, be first and don’t wait for him to go, establish my position first.

The match started, and I did bull butterfly guard as soon as I made contact. I pulled 1-legged x-guard immediately, and worked the sweep, switching to a foot lock as he fell over before eventually getting the sweep. Guard pass, attempted back take and failed rear naked choke passed before I ended up on bottom again, and went for my favourite move, setting up the toehold from the x-guard and get the tap about a minute and a half into the match. This is the perfect first match to get rid of the nerves and get the body warm.

I watched the quarter final opposite of me, whoever wins this will meet me in the semi’s. The guy who thought he won earlier is (understandably) furious. It seems ridiculous that you can change a decision after the fact; he would’ve obviously played a different game if he thought he was behind, and not stalled out the last 30 seconds. What warmth my joints had gotten from the first match are now long lost, but it’s time to go again. The leg catches an unfortunate angle, was difficult to control with the rolling.

My opponent in the final matchup seemed like a strong wrestler, physically imposing, and had dominated 3 matches on his way to the finals. I had hoped since my matches were less than 2-3 minutes in total that I’d have a cardio advantage, but incredibly he looked as fresh as when he started. I attempted the exact same thing, pulled guard, attempting to get into my x-guard game, but he was having none of it, his hips were heavy, and as I tried to pull his thigh on top of my shoulder from butterfly half guard, my knee popped. He was passing my guard, and I was attempting submissions.

I’m incredibly given a point for a rather weak submission attempt, putting me 1-0 ahead, and decided that this could be my road to victory. I felt confident in my guard not getting passed, and if I could keep going for submissions I could rack up some points that way. I dive for a Kimura, diverting to a game I played a lot 5-6 years ago, but had barely touched in years, utilizing the knee-shield and kimura combo. Surprising myself I manage to get the kimura free, I think perhaps my opponent was distracted by the fact that we were out of bounds, but NAGA doesn’t stop matches when a submission is happening, unless they absolutely have to. He rolled out of the kimura, and I did a quick counter with an armbar on the same arm, and after some struggle I managed to get it. I let out an embarrassing and awkward scream of joy and pumped my fist to the kids watching up in the stand, looking silly in the process.