I'm baaack!

NAGA was a blast!!

I made weight!  Woohoo!  I was so happy. I weighed in fully clothed, with jeans on, 134, and low and behold..... No other lightweights show up!  I had to fight middle weight anyway!  It was okay though.  What they ended up doing, was taking the two lightest middle weights, who were 141 and 147, and make us our own division so there was not to big of gap, and one girl was much shorter then I am.  So, it wasn't that big of a deal.  I just really wanted to fight tiny girls!  Oh well... maybe next time.



My first fight, I was determined to do a take down.  So, I tried... and failed so epically I basically took myself down.  Oops!  Oh well!  I know my take downs are garbage, but I wanted to try, so I did.  Fail or not, I tried, and that was my goal.  It helps that I won that fight after a minute and a half by submission.  =)  Guillotine!  That was my go to submission when I was a bigger newbie then I am now.  I also stayed calm the whole fight.  I actually stayed calm every single fight.  I kept my head clear, and didn't get gassed, even a little.  I stayed calm
almost to a fault I think.  In the middle of my first gi fight, we broke apart and instead of scrambling to get on top of her, I just let me come to me.  LOL  Next time, I am going to stay calm AND get in the zone.  I am sure I can accomplish both.  I didn't ever get really nervous or scared though, and that was good.  I didn't psych myself out at all... but again, being too calm I underestimated my last fight of the day.  The girl looked like a push over, and I went in thinking she would be one... but she wasn't.  She was really good, and wiped the floor with me.  But, it was a clean win, and I am fine with having lost.  I truly do not mind losing, when I know that I lost.  If a ref made a bad call... then it's a little annoying.  I found out after ward, the girl who beat me in gi, won second in no-gi intermediate so, she has been grappling over two years.

So, anyway.  I ended up taking gold in no-gi and silver in gi.  I won both of my no-gi fights by submission.  Guillotine, and Triangle.

My second no gi fight, I had the girl in my guard the whole fight, and she was hell bent on jamming her forearm and elbow into my neck.  So, every time, I shucked it off and tried to take her back... but she was the most spastic woman I have grappled in a long time, so I didn't have much success getting on to her back, but about 2 minutes into the grapple, we'd moved our way on the mat toward her coach.  He was right in my ear telling her to swim one arm into my guard.  He kept saying "Next time she makes space, swim that leg!" ... at the top of his lungs. Meanwhile, my coach is shouting, "Triangle next time she puts her arm back there!"  So, I made space...she put her arm in my guard, and I tangled her.   hehe    I watched the fight later, and she had tried to swim an arm into my guard once before, but I was busy getting an elbow in my neck so I didn't notice.

Since my division was only three people, I only had two fights, and got gold.  Yay!

I only had two fights for gi as well, but I lost my second one and took silver.

My first fight, I am pretty sure the girl was really new. I tried this half guard pull thing that land with you able to get on the back, but it didn't work, and I think I landed in guard, or maybe half guard, and went to guard.  She didn't try to defend any of the chokes I put on.  She would just stand up in my guard, and I would sweep her instead.  Toward the end, I just let her stand up, and tried to finish a choke, but I ran out of time.  It was funny though... I was choking her, and I looked down to make sure she didn't have her chin or a hand in the choke.  She didn't, and she was turning a really nice shade of purple... but I could hear one of my instructors voices in my head loud and clear... "If you can see your choke, you are too far away", so I buried my face in her neck and shoulder, and she started gurgling.  I'm not exactly sure what happened... I think she pushed me off of her and stood up, but the match ended, and I won 10 to 2 with two advantages.  The funniest part was that she BIT ME!  Mid gi choke, she turned her face into my hand and bit me.  It MAY have been an accident, but I felt teeth on the top and bottom of my finger.  You can even hear me say "Did you just bite me?!" on the video.  lol  She slammed me a few seconds later, and you can see me give her a dirty look.  It is pretty funny to watch the expressions you make while you grapple.


My fourth fight is the one I lost.  I thought the girl looked like a push over, so I figured I would work take downs again.  I practice them with sleeves to grab on to so I figured I would have better luck.  But she jumped guard in like 3 seconds and started going for submissions RIGHT away.  She went for a kimura, and while I was trying to defend it, she pushed me over and went to mount.  Fail.  I ended up in her guard again somehow, and being so annoyed that she just pushed me over, I made sure not to let her do it again.  Eventually, she went for an arm bar, and as I escaped she landed a triangle.  I didn't fight it like I should have, once I felt it sunk in I tapped.  I don't know if I could have escaped, but I didn't really even try.... but like I said, I honestly don't mind losing if I feel I actually lost, and that girl wiped the floor with me.  lol

In all honesty, I am glad she did.  I learned not to underestimate anyone, and to go into every fight thinking it is going to be a hard fight.  Not to sound egotistical, but I didn't feel that challenged in my first three fights.  Two of the girls were clearly pretty new to Jiujitsu, and the other fight I had guard the whole fight, and it is not difficult hard to defend from guard.  I am glad I had one hard fight.  It would have been awesome to have one hard fight and win, but lose or win I wanted to be challenged, and I was.  That is an important part of competition... be challenged and see where you fail.  My guard pass failed me this time, so I am going to work on it.  I never passed that girls guard.

All and all, I am very happy with this NAGA.  I did everything I wanted to do.  I made lightweight, won gold, attempted a take down, was challenged, won a fight by submission, and have a new focus.

This is my first no-gi match.  The most epic take down fail, of all take downs.


My second no-gi fight.



My first gi match.


Youtube is being lame right now and not letting me upload my gi fights, but I will put them up when I get them online.