SJJSAF and Easter

Reping Senki Kimonos and Connection Rio at the SJJSAF  Panamericano.
Photo provided by SJJSAF/ Maury Figueira

It's been a couple of weeks since my last blog. Last weekend I didn't get a chance to sit down and write because after competing in the SJJSAF Panamericano on Saturday I just wanted to relax for the rest of the weekend. The tournament was ran extremely well, especially considering it was the SJJSAF's first tournament. It was also really cool (and a surprise) to watch multi-time World Champ Felipe Costa compete. Everyone one from CR happened to look up to see Felipe stepping on the mats directly in front of where we were sitting. It's always great to be able to watch a renowned athlete compete. He did nothing flashy and didn't come out overly strong, but he just kept a constant grinding pace that wore down his opponent and racked up the points.

The day was so-so for me. After starting the day strong with a 10-0 win, I may a few key errors in the Semi-finals and in my third place match, and took 4th overall. While is SUCKS losing (especially when I feel like I didn't perform to the best of my ability) the lessons I learned from those loses will help me to improve more than any training session. When you loose a match or a fight by making a mistake or not executing a technique properly it really burns it into your memory. I am looking forward to competing again and most importantly continuing to improve and get better.

Drilling at CR.
Photo by bjjpix.com

I do want to give a big thank you to my sponsors Connection Rio and Senki Kimonos for all your support. I would also like to thank Professor John Machado for allowing me to compete under his team RCJ Machado, all my teamates and coaches at Rio Fighters, and to Dennis Asche for making me better both on and off the mat.

This week was a bit lighter in training due to the holiday and a case of the flu. With the flu the timing couldn't have been worse. Nicole and I went over to a friends for his wife's birthday. He had spent all day preparing a TABLE full of traditional Korean dishes, and about 20 minutes before eating I started to get horribly ill. I ended up having to go back to the house, but don't worry, Nicole stayed behind to stuff herself and came back to CR and told me how delicious it all was. I spent a lot of time this week looking back over my matches, making notes, and fine tuning some technique. I was also a good time to reflect back on some goals and have some fun. That said I can't wait for the week to start on Monday with some hard training.

Cafe du Lage.

Like I said above because of Easter weekend a lot of the gyms were closed, but we had guys training here on the mats. I even got the chance to do some mitt and pad work with Nicole. I think she kind of threw off Adriano, the handyman, when he came by and she was hammering the mitts and throwing kicks to my body. For Easter we went to breakfast at Cafe Du Lage, in Rio's Parque de Lage. When we got there the line and wait was huge. Luckily we ran into one of my friends and training partners, Daniel, who was finishing eating with his mom and girlfriend. We sat down with them and he explained to the waitress that we were late to meet them, so as they closed the bill we ordered and had the table to ourselves when they left. Sure is nice having Brazilian friends. The Cafe is situated around a large marble pool in the middle of a mansion. Looking like a scene strait out of the Great Gatsby, you are surrounded by large archways and beautiful paintings. With the cafe being open air you can look up and get a view of Christ the Redeemer while enjoying your food or coffee. We had a delicious (and huge) breakfast of fresh breads, cheeses, jams, fresh fruit and juice, mini sandwiches, coffee and yogurt with honey and granola. Afterwards we walked all through the parks grounds, which included a waterfall, a large koi pond, and a castle tower. It made for a great Easter and a relaxing day.

Gearing up for Competition

Training with Nabas on the CR mats. Getting ready to
Represent Senki on the mat next week.

It's been a great week here in Rio, one full of fun both on and off the mats. Summer may be officially over but the temperatures are still in the low 30's (mid to upper 80's for those in the states) and sun filled. When not on the mat it's been perfect for relaxing at the beach or getting acai. On Saturday the entire house went to one of the various nearby beaches. Nicole and I went with several other people to Pepe Point on Barra beach. Named after a deceased hanglider, Pepe is where you find the young beautiful people in Barra on sunny days. We went down in the late afternoon stay until the sunset. On Sunday Nicole and I went to a friends house for a BBQ. There was a ton of meat and I probably ate a bit more than I should have. As we got back to the house a few of the guys were throwing on kimonos, so I threw on my Senki kimono and got a few rounds of rolling in. The first round I was still full of steak and chicken. But after a roll, a few burps and a near puke I felt good and got in a few more solid rolls. It was a great way to work off all that food.

At the beach relaxing with friends.

I have to say that having a house full of training partners is one of the great things about staying here at CR. On a relaxing Sunday night we had six or seven guys rotating in. The belt levels ranged from blue to black, and I rolled with people from all over the world. It was a great clash of styles with really entertaining rolls. Rolling on Sunday was one of four sessions I got in this week on the CR mats alone. Throughout the week I drilled with several different partners. Some of the sessions were structured with exact techniques to be drilled and others were more exploratory flow rolls where the intent was finding ways into or out of certain positions.

Nicole draining my ear.

Most of the house is gearing up for the SJJSAF Pan Americano this coming weekend, myself included. The officials of the tournament were nice enough to arrange transport for the guys who are competing to get to the tournament on Saturday. It's nice because it is just one less thing to worry about on the day of the competition. Because of the tournament this weekend my focus has shifted a bit from MMA to training in the kimono. I still got hard MMA ground training and wrestling in this week, but even then I kept the the tournament in mind. I pushed myself to attack takedowns more relentlessly and when on the ground work to smash and pass looking more for submissions than working ground and pound.

In addition Nabas, a great BJJ competitor and training partner, and I were led through training sessions by Dennis. For those of you who have never trained with Dennis, it's an intense but great training. You get stronger not only technically but mentally as well. A big focus for me over the last couple of weeks has been working my takedowns in the gi and chaining my passes together. After not training in the gi for awhile it took me a bit to get used to breaking grips and the subtle differences, but after all the hard work things are feeling smooth and crisp. On Saturday's open mat at Gordo's I had a great intense roll with one of the younger blackbelts there. It was one of those rolls that took us from one side of the mat to the other. There was face grinding, elbow in the neck and sternum, hard scrambles and harder submission attempts. In other words I absolutely loved it, at a couple of more intense moments I even smiled. To people watching it may have looked like we hated each other or had some grudge, but we just both love to roll hard. Afterwords we shook hands talked and after open mat worked a couple of positions. Having rolls like that is exactly what I need to get me ready to compete. I have to say a week out from the tournament I am feeling great and can't wait to step out onto the mat and bring home some gold!

Enjoying Sporting Events at CR and Exploring Rio

Sparring at Rio Fighters, while wearing my favorite Senki
rashguard.

It's been a busy week here in Rio, full of fun, good laughs, and great training. Last weekend we had a huge house BBQ full of steaks, burgers, sausages and different salads. Everyone chipped in about 15R and we ate like kings for hours. When the BBQ finally died down we settled around the TV to watch UFC Shogun vs Henderson 2. Watching exciting fights with a group is always a ton of fun because everyone always gets into it and there is a ton of crap talking. This was especially the case this past weekend for Metamoris 3. Everyone chipped in and ordered the live stream of Metamoris, one of our guests has a portable projector which we used to project the event on the back wall of the living room. We rearranged the couches, chairs, and made space on the mats. Guys chipped in for snacks, chips, cookies, pizza, bacon wrapped hotdogs--- you know all the stuff that would fit right in with the Gracie Diet. Kevin, a guest from 10^th planet JJ, created a very in-depth betting system and just about everyone threw in there picks, for winners, submission types, and even what position the submission was hit from. In the end the pool was 55R and Irish John had a come from behind win to get the pot of cash. The event itself was entertaining but what made it was the in house commentary from people hoping to win the cash.

  

Nicole and I also had a chance to explore a bit more of Rio. On Saturday afternoon, we went to Parque de Lage in Jardim Botanico. The park is a huge estate built in the late 1800's by a wealthy European who had immigrated to Brazil. The grounds of the estate is filled with lush green plants, huge trees and quite a few monkeys. The main house is a massive stone building, with huge archways and marble flooring. The center of the house opens into a large courtyard, with big swimming pool in the middle. The old kitchen has been converted into a cafe/restaurant and the rest of the house is used by one of the local university's art program so as you drink your coffee you can watch aspiring artists paint. We got there about 45 minutes before they closed, but we really enjoyed it. After the park closed we walked a bit to the Jockey Club and caught a couple of horse races before heading back to Barra. Even after living in Rio for well over a year, there is still a ton of great new things to experience.

The manor house in Parque de Lage

Training

Over the course of the last week or two I have really started to ramp up my training, getting two sometimes three sessions in daily. A lot of it is official classes, but I am spending more and more time on refining and drilling technique both in grappling and striking. I've been working a lot on my butterfly guard and developing ways that I can using my wrestling to aid and strengthen my submission game. It's a trial and error process on my part, some things work great, others I get burnt on and find my self in a horrible positions or caught in a submission. A lot of the time though I am seeing the potential for things, I have to refine the techniques and mold them into something that will work for me.

Rolling with Milton.

With my striking, I am finally feeling comfortable again. I went through a long period of just feeling out of rhythm when sparring. My feet might work well, but my hands wouldn't release combos. I might be throwing a lot of strikes but my distance was off and I was loosing position. Things like that. It was getting frustrating, but I have been putting in a lot of extra time shadow boxing, doing bag work, and hitting pads, and things are starting to feel good again. I still have a ton to work on, but I am making improvements. After a particularly hard sparring session, consisting of about 6 rounds of kickboxing, some grappling, and two rounds in the cage, Milton said I had sparred the best he had ever seen me spar. That's a great thing to hear after you feel exhausted from leaving it all out on the mats, it makes you hungrier and want to work harder because you know you are making the right improvements.

Lately a lot of my grappling training has been luta livre and wrestling, but in the last couple of weeks I have been making the effort to train more in the kimono. I've been drilling in the gi and on Saturday's I have been going into open mats and sparring the tough blackbelts at Gordo's. The intensity is high and I have been having a great time. I am looking to train in the kimono more and more, because I want to compete as much as possible. I feel great and I really have the competitive hunger again. I am planning on competing in two weeks in the SJJAF Pan Americano Championships. The next couple of weeks I am going to be putting in a ton of work and I can't wait to step back out on the mat and get some hardware.

Birthdays, Concerts, and Leg Locks

Another week down in beautiful Rio! This past week things finally “quieted down” and it was business as usual here. All the gyms were back to their normal schedules and packed with top notch blackbelts and/or fighters hungry to train after Carnival. You couldn't ask for better weather this week, the days are hot and filled with sun but as the Rio summer begins to wind down the nights are cooling off and are very comfortable. By comfortable I mean I can finally sit outside in a pair of shorts and be able to relax without sweating.

It's been a fun week both on and off the mat. On Thursday Nicole and I went to a Jack Johnson concert down at HSBC Arena. Jack Johnson has always been one of our favorite artists, so when we heard he was coming through Rio on his South American Tour we knew we had to go. We had a great time, and Jack played all of our favorite songs. Being there in Rio listening to him play was really a special occasion for the both of us. Early on it our relationship we spent a lot of time listening to Jack Johnson and talking how great it would be to travel and live somewhere tropical, so it was a really nostalgic moment for us. There were a surprising number of gringos there, many of whom walked up to Nicole, with her bright blue eyes and blonde hair, and tried to ask questions in horrible Portuguese. We must really be looking like we have mastered the city if people think she is a Brazilian. On Saturday afternoon Nicole and I went to one of her friend's mothers surprise birthday party. It was a day full of fun and there was a ton of delicious homemade Brazilian food to eat. When we left they pretty much had to roll me out of their house. They even sent us home with a big batch of chicken estrongenoff, which several of the guys in the house and I have been working our way through. It was really nice to be welcomed with open arms into the family and to make new friends. Plus it gave me a chance to work on my Portuguese as well. Other than Nicole's friends most of the people there spoke little to no English, so I had to either try to speak to them in Portuguese or just stay quiet. By the time we left my mind was a bit burnt out from talking and listening, but overall it went well. When we got back to the house their a large group of guys were seated around the TV watching the UFC 171. They quickly made room on one of the couches and I settled in the watch the main card of the event. Overall it was a great card with an even better main event. By the end of the fight between Johnny Hendricks and Robby Lawler guys were up on their feet and yelling at the TV. All in all it was a great day!

Coaching at Rio Fighters. Photo by M. Vieira.

In the gym training this week has been, as always, great. Like I said above with Carnival being over everyone returned to training with a new vigor. With everyone training hard it was impossible to not train hard as well. I have been coaching wrestling at Rio Fighters for two months and it's awesome to see how much the wrestling of the fighters there has improved. These guys are tough, hard working, athletic, but above all else they are extremely open to learning. Everything I teach they, try ask questions, and they are always hungry for more. In the next couple of months a few of these guys will be fighting, and it will be great to see them perform.

Teaching some technique.

One training that really stuck out in my mind was training leg lock defense. One thing I that surprises people who roll in an MMA setting (and myself included) is just how many leg locks some of these guys will go after. I'm not just talking about straight ankle locks or toe holds, people will go after knee bars and heel hooks and seize on any opening. This is something that at a lot of places around the world is viewed as almost taboo. I remember I when rolling back home, unless I really trusted the person to know what they were doing, I would tap to heel hooks attempts and ankle locks fairly fast. Down here though, at least in the MMA and luta livre world, its a different story. I had a very decorated black belt explain it to me like this. A leg lock is just like any other position, you have to work both the offense and the defense to get comfortable with it. He said when people refuse to train the positions because they view it was dangerous that they leave themselves more open to injury because they have not learned how to properly defend and counter them. Milton taught the class and showed some excellent technique. He built the techniques around several leg lock situations that he saw while watching the UFC Fight Night that had taken place the weekend before. He used situations that were fresh in our minds and used those as reference points. He even covered some leg lock defense and counter work from 50/50. The defense work from 50/50 was good, but the counters were mind blowing. He showed countering to straight armlocks and some transitions from there. You know it was good stuff when you have about 7-10 blackbelts staring open mouthed at the technique. In rolling that day I was able to use some of what I learned, as some of the guys were feeling extra leg-locky that day. Overall within the world of leg locks I am feeling a bit more comfortable with the positions and as I was told I am approaching it as just another set of techniques needed in the world of grappling. I still tap fairly quickly in some situations, but that is more from knowing when the guy has the submission locked in tight rather than out of being uncomfortable with the position.

Carnival Happens

Carnival Music Truck at a bloco.

It has been a busy few weeks here in Rio. And this is the first time in the last two weeks I have had a chance to sit and write up a blog. You may be wondering what happened? Carnival happened. While it officially lasts for only 5 days it's pretty much a week and a half long affair. A lot of my time leading into Carnival was spent training or welcoming a ton of new guests to CR. When Carnival did start I did make it to a few blocos on Barra beach, and spent some time celebrating with friends For those who don't know Carnival blocos are the staple of Rio Carnival. They are large street parties/ slow moving parades that are scattered throughout the city and at various times. They can vary in size and theme. Some are smaller traditional blocos for the family and others are huge and crazy. How crazy? Real crazy (some blocos attract 50-100 THOUSAND people). Most have live music of various kinds and lots of dancing. Another common theme for blocos are dressing up. This year was my second go around for Carnival, last year in 2013 I was less than impressed with Brazilian standard for costumes; it was pretty much cheap version of halloween. The girls mainly dressed as cats and the guys in drag. This year though the Brazilians really redeemed themselves. I saw Mario and Luigi's, blind futbol refs, indians, a beach singer (with his girlfriend who was dressed as a campfire), doctors, and smurfs. That was just the guys. For the women's costumes there were belly dancers, snow whites, police, angry birds and less than inventive girls just in their bikinis.

At the beginning of a bloco in Barra

The blocos I went to were smaller, about 5-10 thousand people. I didn't stay the whole time but both lasted about six hours, with the huge buses with live bands playing music slowly making their way along parade route. Both of the blocos I went to were along the beach so at any point during the day I could just duck out of the crowd and jump into the ocean to cool off. While I had a lot more fun this year at Carnival there are definitely a few downsides. One major downside is that training can be limited to downright non-existent during the 5 days. Most training sessions will be open mats and you aren't guaranteed to have a lot of people there to train. But that's where being here at Connection Rio helps. Even with the city being on a 24/7 party schedule for Carnival there were guys in the house who either wanted to drill or roll here on the mats. While most of the academies were closed at least 3-4 days of Carnival most guys only took one day off the mats. Don't get me wrong though there was plenty of time for guys to go out and have some pretty hilarious stories in the morning. Including someone who paid their bar tab in a club by giving them a sock full of money. We got this story (and a whole lot of other ones) after he showed up the next afternoon when he came staggering through the door with only one sock. The moral of his story is if you tell everyone at the club you're a millionaire be prepared for a millionaire’s bar tab.

After training at Bope HQ

Another major downside to Carnival is the traffic. Because there are blocos throughout the city a ton of the streets were closed off. This left the bus routes messed up and trying to get form point A to point B in a vehicle a very time consuming. For example on Saturday I met up with Antoine and Dennis to go train at BOPE HQ. The trip itself should have taken about an hour but because of having to change routes because of blocos took close to two hours. The trip took longer than expected but it was definitely worth it. While at BOPE we trained with the CO and a couple of his guys. The training was relaxed but competitive. We rolled several rounds of submission grappling starting both from the knees and from standing. There were several tough luta livre and BJJ blackbelts there so the rolling was top notch. After grappling we did a couple of rounds of boxing and MMA sparring. The focus was more on movement and technique than hard sparring, which was good to get timing down and to try new things. I have to say it's a pretty unique feeling to be training and look over and have about 10 guys in full tactical gear and assault rifles watching and nodding. After about an hour and a half the training wrapped up and we slowly headed back to Barra trying to weave our way around the blocos.

Overall I had a lot more fun at this years Carnival. I knew what to expect and how to navigate the city better and I think that is one of the reason why I enjoyed it so much more this year than last. I had my fun in the sun, relaxed at the beach, and got in some great training. This is what being in Rio, embracing the BJJ lifestyle is all about.

Summer Days in the Rio and Coaching/Training at Rio Fighters

Some of the CR crew with Milton Vieira.

Another week down in beautiful Rio de Janiero! Today is a bit atypical weather wise, for the first time in nearly a month it is overcast and even raining at times. The rest of the week was nothing but sun and hot temperatures. The temperatures this week were in the upper 30's to low 40's so when not on the mat or working I spent a large portion of my time in the pool. It is nice that whenever it gets just too hot I can just go outside for a quick swim. There have been frequent daily trips to both Barra and Joatinga beaches from everyone in the house. We have a couple of guys at CR who surf frequently back home and they used the weekend downtime to surf fix up a couple of boards ride here in Barra. On Saturday Nicole had some friends over and after they cooked some delicious Brazilian food, everyone got in the pool. With a few Brazilian girls in the pool it didn't take long for the rest of the house to suddenly “decide” to go for a swim. Before we knew it about half the house was relaxing and joking in the pool. That night a few guys went out to one of the clubs while a group of us stayed in to watch the UFC fights at the house. 

I really like these weekend opportunities to get to know people better. Over the course of the week I am out training or working on a project and many of the guests are training so while we talk and hang out we might not really get to know each other. The weekends are different, people aren't saving energy for training and things are a bit more relaxed for me as well. It makes a great time get to know other people. For example there is an Irish kid here who trains a lot and spends a lot of time resting up for training, but on Saturday he really came out of his shell and is one of the most hilarious guys in the house. He had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at the things he was saying. 

You never know when a pool party will break out at CR

Week in Training

On Monday a large group of us from CR headed down to Humaita for Rio Fighters first official luta livre class. While there has been pro MMA training going on, the gym did not officially open until Monday. There were around 30 guys on the mat for the inaugural, many of which were luta livre black belts. The class started with a long warm up of running, calisthenics, and BJJ specific movement drills. We covered a pass and then a couple of attacks from side control. The techniques were taught with great detail and I was able to pick up a few new things I think will work great for me. The rolling was competitive and faced paced. The guys weren't mean or dirty, they were just plan tough. You had to fight for every inch, everybody had a very never never say die attitude and refuse to accept a negative position. It actually reminded me a ton of a wrestling practice, so in other words I felt at home. I had a very fun roll with a luta livre black belt that sent us from one side of the mat to the other. I used my wrestling very heavy to pressure him and he responded back with attacks of his own. Right near the end of our roll I attacked the head from side control, he hipped out and changed the angle and I immediately felt off balance and in trouble. I made my normal adjustments but realized I suddenly couldn't get my arm back and the next thing I knew I was in the craziest wrist-lock and I had to tap. All I could do was just sit there for a second dumbfounded and say “boa, boa submission” (good, good submission).

Me with some of the guys in the house.

As you might have guest from my earlier posts, I am training full time now at Rio Fighters. In addition to that I am happy to also say that I am the wrestling coach at Rio Fighters. I am teaching there two days a week and training there everyday. The gym is a great fit for me. The style is very aggressive yet technical which allows me to really embrace my wrestling mentality and learn to adjust it towards luta livre, BJJ, and MMA. After every training session I walk out of there tired but feeling great because I know I made improvements over the course of the training. Being there training just feels right. Milton said part of the reason he wanted me to coach/train there was because my style of coaching and wrestling compliments his style of grappling, coaching and fighting. He wants fast paced hard practices for the wrestling classes, with a college wrestling intensity. Another cool thing is when I am coaching Milton is just another one of the guys training, he is there to train hard and learn. 

A Day at the Races and Hard Sparring

At the horse races.

It's been a busy week here in Rio. We had a wave of new arrivals from all over the world come in, plus we were working on several projects around CR (add to that training) it made for a packed schedule. As a result Nicole and I decided to make the most of the weekend and get some good R&R in. On Saturday afternoon we decided to head to Rio's famous Jockey Club, Hipodromo, in Gavea. Built in the 1920's the track and grand stands look like it was straight out of The Great Gatsby. The buildings are all granite with marble flooring and wood seating and betting counters. The club itself is free to get into and if you are betting there is a 3R bet minimum (less than 1.5 USD) so you can have a good time for a fairly low price. Nicole and I decided to use going to the races as an excuse to get dressed up, so we ditched our normal attire of shorts and tshirts for nicer clothing. We met several friends there and we spent the afternoon placing small bets and drinking a few cold beverages and overall enjoying the day. At first we really had no idea about making bets and how to pick a “winner” but by the end we could at least make a more educated guess (even managed to pick a couple of winners). Overall on the day I think I left about 7R down but it was more than worth it. After the races we headed over to a small restaurant and split a couple of pizzas before heading back to Barra. We all had a ton of fun and I think we are going to make a trip to the horse races a monthly thing.

Nicole and I at the Jockey Club.

On Sunday Nicole and I got up and did our normal thing of going for breakfast and the farmers market. After going to the farmers markets for so long the vendors know our faces and often times make sure that we get some of the best fruits and veggies that they have to offer. When we got back to the house we relaxed and read, trying to wait out the hottest part of the day. About mid afternoon we headed down to Joatinga beach. Joatinga is a small semi-private beach located about a 10 minute walk from the house. Tucked away in a really nice neighborhood, the beach is a small patch of sand surrounded by rocks and cliffs, when the tide comes in the beach itself disappear under the waves so you have to time it just right to enjoy the beach. It's a very relaxed atmosphere where you see very few non Brazilians and most people are spending their time tanning, surfing, or kicking around a futebol. Nicole and I spent a few hours relaxing at the beach before heading out as the sun was setting and the tide was creeping up the beach. There is no better way to recharge the batteries and get ready for another hard week of training, than to just sit back and enjoy what Rio has to offer.

Week Training

Showing some technique. Photo by M. Viera.

Even though it was a busy week I still put in plenty of time in at the gym. Things clicked a bit more for me this week grappling wise, I was still getting it handed to me but overall I felt a lot more solid and smooth in my rolling. I have been spending a lot of time thinking back over my rolling and trying to analyze a few things and I have really found a few gaps that I need to work on closing. BJJ (like most martial arts) is incredibly humbling, you think that you are on a certain level and then BAM! Someone serves you a slice of humble pie and you realize you have a long way to go. That's kind of where I am at with my jiu-jitsu. I could look at it with frustration (it's VERY easy to do), but I am trying to embrace it with open arms because I know in the end that is what will make me better.

It feels really good to be getting back into hard training. Training in general is never easy, but I'm talking tough, taxing-- both mentally and physically-- training. This past Friday's sparring session was one of those. It was probably close to 37C day so you almost started sweating as soon as you stepped on the mat. We warmed up and drilled striking combos and takedowns for about 45 minutes and then moved onto sparring. We did three five minute rounds MMA-- strikes and takedowns with quick stand-ups if there was any static positions in grappling. Each round we rotated to a new partner. The first two guys I sparred were bigger than me and I had to try to use speed and movement to avoid being out muscled or eating heavy shots. The third guy was was a little bit smaller than me but lighting fast so I had to find ways of slowing the pace down so I could get in range to land solid strikes and takedowns. The toughest spar was my second one against a big, tough, and experienced fighter. I started strong and landed a hit, a couple of nice takedowns, and was holding my own on the feet. As the round wore on though he used his strength to wear me down and tire me out. My punches and shots got slower and my hands got lower and he started to put it on me a bit more. I didn't wither away though, I used getting tired to piss me off and I kept battling (although sloppily) until the end of the round. It wasn't a great round for me, but I used it as a gut check; a test of my gameness. Instead of curling up letting the guy pummel me I kept fighting and throwing until the end....I do have a nice black eye to show for it though. After the MMA sparring we took off the gloves and rolled two five minute rounds of nogi submission. I felt the best I have rolling in awhile and was able to pull some good things from the training session. Just sitting here writing this is getting my blood pumping, I am excited for Monday to come so I can get back into the gym and continue to get better!  

New Senkie Website is up please take look at there great kimono's and gear
www.senki.com.br