Hello internet friends.

It’s been a while since I posted I know. I have lots to tell about Martial Arts and my BJJ classes and whatnot. I promise I will get to it soon.

In the meantime, I want you all to visit this site: http://www.achanceforchase.com

Chase’s father is a dear friend of mine, and his family needs help to fund his rehabilitation. If anyone could spare just a few dollars to help them, I know it would be much appreciated. I am probably going to start a ‘weight loss drive’ on my fitness forum the Fat Guy Lounge. My good friend Slob came up with the idea for a similar charity, and I think it’s a great one. I am sitting at about 215 lbs and could stand to go down to 175-180. Getting sponsored X amount of dollars or cents could really add up I think. Keep an eye on the Fat Guy Lounge for more information.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time

Honestly, my posts here have become redundant and not all that interesting, so I am going to limit these postings to once every week or two weeks from now on instead of every class. Plus, I am going to start going to 4 classes per week instead of 2. I won’t have the time to type out the same things every day.

That being said, have a good weekend folks.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

After the tournament last weekend, we all had a better idea of where we stood compared to the other schools in town. Honestly, we don’t really train for competition generally. We train more for more real world situations and focus heavily on technique instead of for a specific competition scenario. This hurt us in some ways and a lot of our fighters lost decision victories after being taken down/held in guard until time is done or something similarly inane.

Last night we learned some passes and one attack from half guard. There is one problem with drilling half guard over and over. You will almost certainly be racked in the nuts. It happens pretty much every time. The attack was a pretty cool gi choke that seems fairly easy to do if you can control things. It’s funny how a lot of jiu-jitsu seems to be mind games. A lot of the techniques are designed to alter between A and B so your opponent doesn’t expect C. I like the mental aspect of it, but when your adrenaline is pumping as the guy who’s bigger than you wants to choke you out, it’s hard to keep your wits. Practice makes perfect I guess.

Rolling went rather well. I rolled with all advanced guys this time including 2 blues and a brown. My best match was against one blue. He was a bit gassed and I outweighed him by about 30 lbs, but I did manage to get good positions on him several times including mount, side control, and north-south. I couldn’t attack because every time I tried, I would get rolled. My worst was against a really good white who normally tools me. He tooled me with a vengeance this time, and he always uses the same techniques. I just keep falling for them. I also have a hard time posturing up in his guard. He just breaks me down with very little effort and then does all kinds of nasty attacks or sweeps. He’s really good and about to train for his blue.

All in all my school did well at the tournament. We took first and third in heavyweight white, and my instructor DESTROYED the purplebelts in his weightclass also getting first. I am not sure how our blues did, and I am not aware that any of our browns or blacks competed. In any event, a good time was had by all.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

Last night was pretty normal. We practiced some attacks from guard including a crosschoke, a loop choke, and an armbar transition. We also took these techniques and practiced them from mount, side control, and half guard. Who doesn’t love the crosschoke, really? I use it quite often.  I had noticed it was really hard to get someone bigger than you with it, but after last night, some technique was clarified and now I find it a lot less of a pain. It seems it’s getting easier and easier to see things three dimensionally to know when to do what when rolling and I think that’s very important. After all, staying calm and actually plotting your course of action in your brain is rough when the adrenaline is pumping, and the other guy is trying to choke you unconscious or break your arm.

Rolling was pretty normal. Guys were really going all out because of the tournament this Saturday. I rolled with 3 advanced guys this time. The first guy is a fantastic white belt and has been training about a year and a half. I did pretty well against him. I controlled him ok, and even got mount twice. He did sweep me both times though, and him being about 30 lbs lighter, that’s no small feat.  The second guy is a better white (almost blue). He tooled me like there’s no tomorrow. He’s better, stronger, and has about 10 inches of height on me. That shouldn’t matter, but his legs are hard to pass. The third and final guy is our school’s best blue. He literally exerted no energy and completely dominated me. He did though explain what he did and what I could do to not be caught by the same techniques again. He is probably about 35 lbs lighter than me too.

Come to the tournament on Saturday! It’s seriously an impressive sight. Info is here.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

Not much to say this time. Warmups were pretty rough but good. I am finding it easier and easier to keep up with the pace they are set at. We did some more competition training in preparation for the tournament this weekend. We learned a few more takedowns and some knee on belly to armbar transitions. We did lots of drilling last night and I am really glad we did.

We didn’t roll in the normal fashion, but instead we spent our time doing mock competition matches. It was interesting seeing how honestly GOOD our blues are. Everyone got to fight at least once. I rolled with a guy of equal skill and managed to get 9 points to his 0 before time ran out. I got the takedown, passed his guard, mounted him, but could not finish before the time ran out. He was definitely stronger than me and I honestly attribute the win to the fact that I just got lucky on the takedown.

After giving and receiving lots of takedowns, my ribs, chest, and neck are very sore today. I will have to take it easy at the gym tonight. Class is getting more and more fun and I am really getting into it. One thing I noticed last night is that my armbar game is really weak. I can sneak in all kinds of Kimuras and Americanas from different positions, but armbars are always too odd to pull off for me. I will add it to the list of things I need to drill during the next open mat (guard passes and sweeps being a much higher priority).

If anyone is looking for something to do on Saturday, come to the tournament! Get the info here. It should be a good time.

After last Saturday’s ridiculous PRIDE event, I was seriously looking to be underwhelmed by UFC 68. Three former champions were fighting: Matt Hughes (Welterweight), Rich Franklin (Middleweight), and Randy Couture (Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight). Honestly, Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin are both amazing and deadly fighters, so I won’t go too far into the fact that the UFC fed them cans to get them back on the road to contendership. The real gem of this evening was the main event. Randy Couture came out of a 1 year retirement after losing the Light Heavyweight belt to Chuck Liddell for one reason, to beat Tim Sylvia (the Heavyweight champion at the time). Tim is 6′8″ tall, 265 lbs, and a really REALLY boring fighter. He is the epitome of the cautious fighter using everything he can to win without actually putting himself in any risk. He can afford to do that with his incredible height and reach. The casual MMA fan may say, ‘What’s wrong with doing what you can to win?’ The answer is, absolutely nothing. However, this is a combat sport. You should have to FIGHT to win a match. Tim Sylvia will just peck away with crappy jabs knowing his opponents aren’t big enough to swing back or get in for the takedown. Then the judges have to give him the win due to the lack of real action happening. Randy Couture was tired of it too. Randy is 43 years old, 6′2″ and weighs about 220 lbs. He is one of the best and most popular fighters to grace the sport for sure, but with ‘jab-a-thon’ Tim fighting, it was hard to pick Randy for the win. Especially since this was his first fight out of retirement and the fact he was coming off to a bad loss to Chuck.

Anyway, here are some thoughts about the few fights I cared about:

Renato Sobral VS Jason Lambert: This fight really surprised me. Sobral is (was) considered one of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, easily being in the top ten. Jason Lambert is no slouch either though with his healthy record in the octagon. Sobral has fantastic BJJ and finishes most of his fights via submission while Lambert is definitely more of a striker. Honestly, I called this one for Sobral, but it was not to be. OUTCOME: Middle of round 2, Lambert finishes ‘Babalu’ via KO (punches). Great fight for Lambert though. Now he needs to get his revenge on Rashad Evans and he will become a true Light Heavyweight contender.

Matt Hughes VS Chris Lytle: This was Matt’s first fight after the devastating loss to Georges St. Pierre and his first NOT being champion in a very long time. He was by far the most dominating champion in UFC history during his reign and he has said he wants his belt back. Chris Lytle is a TUF runnerup. That’s honestly all I can say about him. He’s a good boxer, but has always gotten tooled by top competition. Matt Hughes did what Matt Hughes does best. He took his opponent down, got a dominant position, and beat on him the entire fight. Lytle made 5-6 really sloppy guillotine attempts, but none of them were deep. However, Lytle did a great job defending while in bad positions. OUTCOME: Matt Hughes wins via decision. A lot of people attribute the decision victory to Matt’s unwillingness to finish the fight. I don’t think that’s the case to be honest. Say what you want about Hughes, but he consistently finishes fights. The fact that he won by decision really points to Lytle being good at defending.

Rich Franklin VS Jason Macdonald: Rich Franklin got DECIMATED by Anderson Silva during his last fight and lost the middleweight belt. He wanted this fight bad. It was going to be interesting to see how he would fare during his first fight after. He is a good striker, has good submissions, and is generally very big for 185 lbs. MacDonald is a good submission wrestler with really good cardio. This happened exactly like I thought. OUTCOME: Rich Franklin via TKO round 2 (MacDonald’s corner actually threw in the towel between rounds 2 and 3). Franklin took him down, got in a good position and pummeled him. It was good to see Rich back in form. Lets hope he can bring something into his rematch with Silva.

Randy Couture VS Tim Sylvia: Oh sweet Captain America. Tim is much bigger, taller, and heavier than Randy, and is generally thought of to be a better striker. Randy on the other hand is an amazing greco-style wrestler and is known for takedowns and ground-and-pound. I called this fight for Sylvia via boring 5 round decision, but was planning on cheering for Randy and hoping for something different. OUTCOME: WOW! Randy DOMINATED Sylvia. He out-boxed him, took him down at will, got good position, and really did some major damage. Couture wins by decision in one of the coolest matches I have ever seen. Go Captain America! Sylvia of course spouted some nonsense about an injury coming into the fight, but I was too happy to care about whatever excuses he made. Randy Couture at 43 years old is the new UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world.

2007 is shaping out to be a fantastic year for MMA.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

Last night was a very fun and difficult night. It was a smaller class consisting of about 15 people, so we did warmups a bit differently. We went around to each person, that person would pick an exercise, then we would all do 20 reps of said exercise without stopping/resting in between. For example, person 1 said pushups, so he would count off 20 pushups and we would all follow along. The next guy said squats, so we immediately started 20 squats. We did different pushups, squats, crunches, leg lifts, jumps, up/downs, for quite a long time (15 people times 20 reps of something each equals 300 reps). After warmups we worked on some attacks from back mount. We worked on two different variations of the rear naked choke (single and double handed) as well as two gi chokes and an armbar transition involving a fake choke. These were devastatingly effective and very fun to do. I actually used one of the chokes successfully while rolling tonight.

Rolling went pretty darned well. I’ve decided to try and roll with that same Blue Belt every class until I get him. He’s good, technical, in great shape, and super strong. I am none of those things, so he soundly trounces me every time we roll. He swears I am getting better, but when I roll with him, I feel like it’s my first night. He’s very cool and always stops to tell me what I can do better. The past 4 classes he has made quick work of me. Heck, I’d be happy if I could pass his guard once in a while. My best matchup was against another advanced guy I roll with pretty regularly. I barely got him with an armbar from side control. He did not submit me this time (he usually does 2-3 times per night). My worst matchup was with the mighty Blue Belt. He submitted me about 4-5 times in our time together including a nice gi choke that caught across my face crushing my cheekbones. It hurt like hell, but I practically gift-wrapped that one to him. Live and learn I guess.

When i got home I was still hyped up on adrenaline and had a hard time going to sleep. This made me go to bed later, sleep in too late, and almost be late to work. I have to try harder to get to sleep when I get home.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

Last night we went over the rules regarding competition BJJ as opposed to street fighting BJJ. We also geared the class around training for competition (as we normally train for more realistic scenarios).  It was a different feeling trying to go for points rather than trying everything we can to obtain a dominant position and submit our opponents. It is definitely a little safer, and allows us to branch out our technique without fear of getting punched in the face. Mostly we worked on takedowns and did mock-competition matches with  each other.

Rolling was a lot shorter, so I did not gas. I have never gone a whole class without gassing before. I did manage to fit in 3 opponents. Two advanced guys, one guy of about my level. The first advanced guy (blue belt) is the same I have fought the past 3 classes, and as per usual, he made quick work of me. I am going to try to see if he can work with me some during open mat next Saturday. His game is really solid and he’s a good teacher. The next advanced guy usually tools me pretty badly, but while he got mount,  north-south, side control, and everything else he wanted, he did not submit me. That is a victory in itself. Against the guy of my equal level, I choked him while he was in my guard, and he submitted due to exhaustion while I was in side control. Although I dominated him, it felt like a hollow victory because he quit during the second fight.

It was an easier class than usual because we spent so long clarifying competition rules. I hope Thursday is more intense.

The best way to describe Saturday evening’s PRIDE event is this: Un-freaking-believable.

First of all, this card is stacked by some really big names. The main event featuring two current title holders, Dan Henderson (Welterweight champ) and Wanderlei Silva (Middleweight champ) with the Middleweight belt on the line. Some of the best fighters in the world in all divisions were competing that night and honestly, I expected a bunch of one-sided slaughtering due to most of the good fighters fighting cans. This was most definitely not the case and I ended up seeing some of the best underdog victories in MMA history. Here is what I am talking about:

Frank Trigg VS. Kazuo Misaki: This was the second fight of the night. Frank Trigg is currently known for two things. He is the English-language color commentator for PRIDE, and he loses constantly via the rear naked choke submission. Words cannot express my true hatred for Frank Trigg. He is a horrible horrible commentator and says things that constantly make me angry. Misaki is an amazing Welterweight and the winner of the last PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix championship. This means he won a tournament featuring the best Welterweights in the world. He even beat Dan Hnderson (current Welterweight champion) but did not take the title because of the tournament setting. OUTCOME: Trigg wins an honestly deserved unanimous decision. I wanted him to lose so bad.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira VS Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: This was by far the biggest upset of the night. A quick background on Nogueira (lil nog) basically entails that he is one of the best boxers in Brazil, AND a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black belt (His brother Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira [big nog] is considered one of the top 3 heavyweights in the world, and the best grappler in MMA). Lil nog is also considered to be among the top contenders for the Middleweight belt. Sokoudjou on the other hand, has no background. He’s a judoka. Nobody has ever heard of him before, and most folks considered him a can to be fed to Nogueira on his road to a title shot. OUTCOME: Sokoudjou wins via KO in TWENTY-THREE seconds. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I would honestly say finding a stack of cash on my doorstep when leaving for work in the morning is more likely than the outcome of this fight. This proves anything can happen in MMA.

Takanori Gomi VS Nick Diaz: This was the fight I wanted to see most of all. Gomi is the current PRIDE lightweight champion. He is a great striker, has good cardio, and has beaten the best in his division. Nick Diaz is no slouch either. A pro boxer, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu brown belt, and successful UFC veteran. He is most famous for his childish smack-talking and cursing when doing appearances. Gomi was the clear favorite to win, and I would have bet money on him too. OUTCOME: Diaz wins by GOGOPLATA. Seriously, a gogoplata. Not only this, but he honestly dominated Gomi even when standing. Good for you Nick! Now grow up, stop being a tool, and keep winning fights. Honestly, I do not know why the Lightweight title wasn’t on the line for this fight, but Diaz surely deserved it.

Main Event - Wanderlei Silva VS Dan Henderson: This is a fight that I would have sworn would end one of 3 ways. Wandy by decision, KO, or TKO. This is a meeting between two champions well established in their division as good strikers and have both enjoyed long reigns at the top. Wanderlei is a Chute Boxe veteran and has proven his knees and wild punches truly lethal. He has a killer instinct and is very fun to watch. Henderson has been dubbed ‘Decision Dan’ by some folks, mostly because he wins a lot of fights through the judges. He has been known to throw a heavy right hand. OUTCOME: Henderson wins via KO in the third round! What a slugfest this fight was. I am an instant Dan Henderson fan after his domination of Wanderlei Silva who is considered to be one of the best fighters in the world.

This was one of the best MMA events I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. If you would like to watch some of the fights, contact me and I will try to work something out.

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

I was pretty discouraged this week after the complete destruction I had endured on Tuesday night, but I was still really happy to be in class. The whole day I was dizzy, exhausted, had a sore throat/stuffy nose, and just felt really off. I didn’t even have time to eat a proper dinner beforehand and I was prepared for another sound beating. Warmups were alright. Try jumping in the air for an entire 2 minutes as high as you can with your arms straight up like you’re trying to grip the ceiling. No big deal right? Two minutes is a long time to go all out. It’s harder than it sounds. We learned some nifty passes while in an opponent’s spider guard, and an escape from a bicep crusher. I didn’t do so well with these. I honestly attribute it to my newbishness because my much more experienced partner was doing them quite well. We also worked on more spider guard bottom position transitioning between a sweep, armbar, and triangle choke. These were basically review, so they went well.

After Tuesday night I was chatting with my instructor and I was concerned with my perceived lack of improvement. He told me I was improving quite well and told me to try an experiment. During rolling, we get 3-4 opponents over the course of the night. He said to pick someone who is much more advanced than me to test my defense, then pick someone the same level as me to test things I am comfortable with, and finally pick someone newer than me so I can work on things that are a bit riskier and judge how far I have come. I did exactly that. Against the guy who was newer than me, I choked him out 3 times and armbarred him. Against the guy who was equal to me, I tapped him with a kimura and controlled him the rest of the fights fairly easily. Against the first advanced guy I rolled with, he obliterated me, but was very happy to give me suggestions (the advanced guys at my school are really cool for the most part). Against the second advanced guy (not as good as the first advanced guy), I did really well. I kept a dominant position for most of the fights and even got him once with a wrist lock from mount. He did not submit me.

I would have to say this was my best night rolling despite feeling physically drained and awful coming in. It’s amazing what adrenaline can do for your overall sense of physical well-being. It was really nice to feel like I am doing well, rather than picking the best guys to fight and being constantly humbled. That being said, there is SO much I have to learn and I need to train harder to get where I want to be.