I was on sherdog reading in the grappling forum and came upon this analogy of BJJ, and it COMPLETELY makes sense....so I had to post it!
"White belts knows words, blue belts can use the words to put sentences together, purple belts use the sentences to make a paragraph, brown belts can put make the paragraphs into a coherent argument and black belts can openly debate in jiujitsu."
A white belt rolls to survive
A blue belt rolls to win
A purple belt rolls to grow
A brown belt rolls to hone
A black belt rolls to create
So yesterday at BJJ class I had the opportunity to teach the Flying Armbar...haahaha. It was pretty fun! It was a wrestling/take down class and usually Andy (which is a phenomenal state wrestler and BJJ blue belt) will coach/teach the class, but he gave me the opportunity to teach this technique. They never touched on that subject or technique before, but due to my instructor and gym members pretty happy I submitted my opponent at Combat Corner VI BJJ tournament, they were interested in learning it. I honestly wasn't taught the flying armbar by anyone but myself and youtube...LOL. But I drilled it so much in my head that I understood the technique of it. I did my best to teach it, getting into details of hand placement, where to kick your legs and swing it into the armbar. It was quite funny watching the bigger guys in the gym drill it, because they would fall on there backs and groan in pain while trying to kick the leg over to secure the armbar...hahahaa. Over all, it was a good class.
Oh man, what a weekend...Completed my little adventure from Combat Corner VI BJJ tournament in Milwaukee, WI. A lot of great great competitors and competition. The gym was a lot cleaner and nicer then previous events I've been to and that's always a plus.
This is my 1st time going into the Intermediate division, which consist of competitors with 1-3 yrs experience and from observing most of the competitors in my division, they're mostly blue belts with more experience and bigger then me. My 1st match was against a blue belt, Joseph Flores of Gracie Barra. Was I nervous?...I can honestly say a little bit, but was more excited and relaxed then anything else. I kept controlling my breathing to the best that I can and just focusing, staying relaxed because I tend to get jitters. As we both got on the mats, slapped hands and the match began. I was hopping around so I could loosen up, faking a couple of shots to throw Joseph off balance. Joseph grabbed my wrist and got low on me trying to control my posture, so I just tied up with him as well. While circling around, I just hit my switch not even thinking one bit of what the hell I just did. I attacked with a Flying Armbar! Securing his arm, squeezing and extending my legs as much as I could, I held on so tight as I could feel his arm slipping away, then he tapped. I was honestly in disbelief for a split second, thinking to myself, "holy shit, did I actually land a Flying Armbar...???" If you watch closely to the video of it, after I finish him, I get up slowly walking towards the ref. like I'm totally lost, dazed and confused. Coming into reality as I could hear my buddies screaming "Good shit!", I finished my first match. At Green Bay Jui Jitu, they never teach or taught flying armbars. I always daydreamed and visioned doing a flying armbar in my head from watching Shinya Aoki performing it on Youtube...LOL..Always thinking to myself, "Wow, that is a beautiful technique". I was pretty stoked and happy with myself, because that was 1 of my goals...to land a Flying Armbar in live competition. Now I can scratch that off my To Do List.
I made it to the finals and now I'm up against Joel Maldonado of 360 Brasa. If you know 360 Brasa, they are a legit team of BJJ fighters based out of Milwaukee, WI and I would love to train there sometime. Scott Huston is there head instructor and he is to me, the top and most technical BJJ fighter in WI. I've seen Joel around before and we've talked. He's a really cool, nice guy. It's kinda cool and funny how he told me, he had a feeling we would meet in the finals, as we did...hahaha...In the final round, we both slapped hands and it began. I was hopping around as usual trying to juke him out. I didn't wanna shoot in because he has a good guillotine and caught the previous opponents with it. Joel was tall and lanky, he grabbed me with no problem and tied me up fast. then he jumped guard and slipped a leg past my head, locking in a triangle choke. I was like, "Damn, I got caught..." but I maintained my posture, relaxed and stayed calm. It was a really deep triangle too and I was really close to tapping, but I fought hard not to tap. With 2 minutes left, I knew I was losing so I burst and broke his triangle. Now in his guard, I said to him, "Good job man"..he didn't hear me clearly the first time due to my mouthpiece, Joel responded, "What?...", I replied again, "Good job". He then stated, "Oh shit, naw man...good job defending". It's quite comical we were chatting during the finals, LOL. I was trying to pass and I was so close to passing and scoring 2 points. I got swept instead, sticking my ass too high, not controlling my posture as he controlled me and now I was on my back. I'm down 2 points now, knowing that I'm losing. I try my best to sweep him and attack with an armbar. Time expired and I knew I lost, taking 2nd place. It was OK though and it was a great learning experience. As long as I gave it my all.
My next matches were in Gi, white belt division. I'll make this one short. My first match, my opponent pulled guard, I passed, got side control, mounted him, locked in an arm triangle and choked him from full mount. 2nd match, my opponent was really really tall. He pulled guard, I almost passed, and again I got swept. Now down by 2 points, I lost in the semi finals. My 3rd match was for 3rd place. I shot in, took my opponent down, controlled him, mounted, attacked sweeps, triangles and more sweeps. I beat him by 9 points.
Overall, it was a fine fine day of Brazilian Jui Jitsu competition and I was bummed out by getting swept and losing by 2 points in the finals and semi finals. But! I was happy and surprised myself with the Flying Armbar and how well I did in this tournament under pressure with no coaching at all. I have the will and desire to fight and defend, just not the technique and skills to control my weight and keep my ass low...hahaha, but then again, I'm still and only a white belt.
For the last couple of months, I have been training as much as I can and putting my time on the mats. I already see improvements in my BJJ game, but at the same time I have a lot of errors and gaps to fill. I have a Brazilian Jui Jitsu tournament this weekend and I'm excited! Except the only thing is, I'm also injured. Went to class this Tuesday and it was focused on takedowns/wrestling. I knew I should've sat out of class participation because I know I could get injured. But being ignorant as I am, I didn't and participated in class and got injured. Now my whole body is aching and my ribs hurt the most. I hope hope hope my body heals in 48 hours, so I'm ready to compete. If it's not healed in time, then I will have to pull out.
