FINALLY!!

I finally got my first win today at the Fight to Win tournament in Austin. It was a long time coming. I finally have this weight off my shoulders. Won a close match 2-0. It was kinda funny, because I have no recollection of the first half of the match. NO IDEA how I actually got two points, but I remember being dog tired with about a minute left. At that point I had the guys leg stuck in half guard, and I decided that I should focus on not letting him pass into mount for 4 points. So I spent the next minute blocking his knee with one forearm and protecting my neck with the other arm. I ended up being in 5th place overall I think, but I'm really not sure. Fight to Win tournaments are so freaking unorganized.

My two coaches at the event, Robert Yamashita and Julian Vega both did well too. I think Robert got a silver in his gi tourney, and Julian placed first in both gi and no gi. No one even challenged him the entire tournament. I really appreciate their support and advice. It had a lot to do with me actually squeaking out a win today. :)

I felt bad for some of the kids and teens though. My friend Joe (14-yr old white belt) actually tapped a kid out, but the ref didn't call the match, and he ended up losing on points. Our other 14-year-old fighter, Brooks, got pitted against an orange belt in both Gi and No-Gi. F2W was so worried about rushing the kids divisions through that they didn't even create a novice and advance brackets. They just threw everyone in the same brackets and said "fuck it". It is kinda insulting actually. (Even worse, they didn't DQ one kid for ankle locking someone, but turned around and DQed a different kid 10 minutes later for the same thing.)

Ever since F2W has been doing joint BJJ/MMA shows, the BJJ aspect has been pretty much an afterthought. It seems that they only host the tournaments to get people to show up to their lackluster MMA events. It was a piss poor event, but I still had fun. After the lackluster NAGAs and this, I really can't wait for the IBJJF to come to Houston in March, so they can show these guys what a real tournament looks like.