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| Luta livre fight at ALLDERJ Championship Fight Amador 4. photo by mma4ever.com |
So it’s been a couple of weeks since
my last blog. I've tired to keep things updated as much as
possible, but it`s just easy to get sidetracked when you have so much
going on. None the less here is this weeks blog post---I’ll work to get
back into the routine of a post a week.
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| Thanks to Senki for all the great new gear! |
Also I would like to take a quick minute to thank my sponsor Senki Kimonos. Being on the mat and training full time I put a lot of wear and tear on my gear and Senki has been right there to make sure I never lack for great kimonos, rashguards and other training gear. I highly recommend you check out there store at www.senki.com.br. Thanks again!
The past couple of weeks have really
made me stop and be thankful I am in Rio. I got in awesome training,
biked along the ocean coast, competed in a super fight, and got some
hiking in. The crazy part is this is becoming more and more the norm
for living in Rio----TALK ABOUT A GREAT LIFE!
Two weeks I was called up and asked if
I wanted to compete in a luta livre superfight for the ALLDERJ
Championship Fight Amador 4. The event was set up by Eugenio Tadeu
Gomes, and is organized to help raise funds for martial arts programs
for kids. The event features luta livre and amateur MMA fights. I
readily accepted the invite and immediately ramped up my training.
Milton Viera and the guys at Rio Fighters pushed me hard and
got me ready for the match. At the nogi luta livre classes Milton had
me drilling anaconda choke variations in between rounds of rolling so
the attack would be second nature to me even if I was tired during
the match. As the match got closer I felt more and more confident
with my grappling abilities.
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| Great to have a chance to train with Mario Sperry. |
Heading into the final week of training
there was a potential hick-up in my training when nearly all the bus
drivers in Rio went on strike. I refused to let it hold me back from
training though. I hoped on Nicole's mountain bike and headed into
Humaita. The first part of the trip took me over a mountain, and
placed me right along Sao Conrado Beach. From there I was able to
follow the coastline all the way to Leblon. Once in Leblon I headed
inland until I got to the famous Lagoa. By the time I reached Rio
Fighters I had a good sweat going and was ready to train. Since
the bus strike was on most of the guys couldn't make it to training,
but if there is one thing I've learned here in Rio it's this; you
never know who is going to walk into the academy and train. I'm
sitting there on the mats stretching and in walks Mario Sperry with
his training gear. With the low number, six guys (four of which were
black belts) we decided to just have open mat and roll. After every
roll Ze Mario would take time to break down a few things he noticed
his partner needed to work on, showing us all proper technique, which
we would work for a couple of minutes and then move on to the next
roll. Soon it was my turn and roll with Ze Mario....and I felt like a
child rolling against him. He positionally dominated me and played a
pressure game like I have never felt before. The thing was though you
could tell all that he was doing with exerting as little energy as
possible. After the roll he gave me some good pointers and
adjustments to make in top half-guard. We finished out with Ze Mario
and Rogerio (another tough black belt from Carlson lineage) going
over a back attack position which included finishing the rear naked
choke the a palm to palm grip instead of the normal way. I had never
really used the palm to palm way of finishing, but the way they
showed it and their reasoning made sense.
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The rest of the week of training went
really good and heading into Fridays weigh-ins I felt great. I made
the under 70kg weight limit fairly easily and felt strong and ready
to compete on Saturday. The event was held at Delfim Academy in
Tijuca. All the matches and fights took place in a boxing ring, and
it had an old school feel to it. I had been instructed as to what
time to be there, but I decided to show up a bit earlier instead of
when everyone else was arriving. When I got there the announcer came
up asked me how to say my name and I casually asked when things about
what time I should be up, thinking he would say an hour and a half-two
hours, I was surprised when he said `You're the third fight up and
we should be starting in about 10 minutes.` Crap. I quickly got on
the phone and let everyone know I would be up MUCH sooner than
expected, and started to warm up and hoped both of the matches went
the designated 10 minutes. They did not. Either way I was warmed up
and ready to go by the time I was up. Eugenio sent a Brazilian guy to
corner me and after he told me a few things in Portuguese, I stepped
into the ring. The crowd was loud during the intros but as soon as
the match started any noise there was I was oblivious to, I was just
in the zone to compete. My opponent collar tied up with me and I hit
a slide by to a single. He defended well and we repeated this several
times. I really didn't care, I felt calm and stayed patient.
Eventually I cut him off and dropped in on a double against the
ropes, and dragged him to the mat. We landed in half-guard and I
worked to pass, he started to stand and with my corners encouragement
I dragged him back to the mat. He managed to reguard and the ref then
restarted us in the center of the ring. After a bit of grappling I
went for the double underhook pass. I pulled him up high and I could
feel him try to roll through. I let go of him and as he rolled
through to turtle I was already on his back, with one arm around his
neck. I locked up the RNC palm to palm, just like I had been shown by
Ze Mario and Rogerio earlier in the week and I got the submission. I would like to say thank you to my sponsors Senki Kimonos and Connection Rio. Also a big thank you to Dennis Asche who is a mentor, coach and above all a friend. Also to Milton Viera and everyone at Rio Fighters who helped me prepare for this competition.
About 5-10 minutes after my match
everybody arrived, needless to say they were all really bummed they
missed the match. Regardless we settled in and enjoyed the rest of
the evenings fights. As celebration we went out to Frontera, an all
you can eat pizza place about 15 minutes from the house. They have
about 12 different kinds of salgado /(more traditional pizzas) and
7-10 desert pizzas. I GORGED myself and by the time we left I pretty
much had to be rolled home. The next day Nicole and I hiked around the
trails of Pedra de Gavea to work off all the pizza we ate. We only
went up to the half way point, ship rock, but we spent a ton of time
checking out the different plants and animals along the way. There
was a large group of monkeys, that we watched swing from tree to tree
as they made their way through the forest.
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| After a great training session with Nabas, Dennis, and Hywel. Photo by HT |
For this past week I didn’t take any
time off I was back on the mats, really focusing on improving
technique. It was a good way to heal up and still work to improve.
Heading into this next week I am ready to put the peddle to the floor
and start training hard again.
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