Fernando Yamisaki's seminar

Such a good seminar, very glad i attended!

Rant and Review from Sunday's Mass BJJ tournament. (updated with videos)

The fact that i got to compete in this tournament was a great testament to my family, friends and training partners support, I didn't want to compete to save money but they know how much i want to become a black belt world champion one day. I have been having a rough time financially speaking for the last few weeks because of the Department of Veterans Affair being so backed up and not paying former Soldiers their monthly stipend for attending school. Im not complaining though, I will work part time and be successful until the VA can figure their mess out.
On to Sunday. Firstly I was sick unfortunately from thursday. I felt very weak, and saw the Sunday as a rest day. I was Late registering, so I was over my competing weight by 11lbs with the Gi on. So with me feeling weak, there was no way I was going to try and cut weight. So I was pushed up to Super Pesado, no problem, Jiu-Jitsu is Jiu-Jitsu, especially if your within 20 pounds of your opponent, no excuses.

My first match was a testament to how the division was going to look for me. I fought a very big strong kid, i was able to get my sweeps off and stay on top for most of the fight, until i won a lot of points to zero. I just knew i was winning, and had no energy to try and figure out how the point clock they had running worked.

My next match was very short and sweet. I pulled guard, swept him, mounted him and then finished with an armbar in less then 2 minutes.

Match number 3 had me fighting someone much stronger then any of the opponents and was very explosive at that. I was able to pull guard and work a sweep, take the back, and was on top and scrambling most of the time. This kid wore me out, this is when my weak body presented it self to me. I never felt myself this way before in a tournament. The "why am i here" feeling. Any way it turns out that the pace i was giving that kid was too much, and when we were put back on our feet, he was thoroughly wasted from trying to explode out of all my techniques. He ended up just giving up when i was trying for take downs at the end. He almost threw up on the mat. And I actually have it all on tape. Very funny

Gold Rush...

Will update with review and videos later...I fought at Super Pesado (a division above my usual one),I was sick and did fairly well and won in my division...I am a bit dissapointed in my showing in the absolute. I won 4 fights at Super Pesado, and to win the absolute, I somehow had to win 7 more fights. It was tough testing out super pesado, those guys are super strong, but im proud of my divisional performance.

Competing on Sunday...

Indeed, i shall be present at a Massachusetts BJJ tournament to be held in Natick, Mass. It will be a nice turn out for the division i will be competing in, Super Pesado. This marks the first time i will be moving up a weight class, at Super Pesado. I was really late at registering but who cares, at the end of the day jiu-jitsu is jiu-jitsu. Im ready technically, and this should be the last tournament in 2009 and of course i will be at the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials in Florida.

Whats your jiujitsu game..? figure it out ASAP!

I was thinking about this today and throughout the week seeing my friends train and seeing some of my teammates go through this problem of trying to figure out who they are on the mats, and wanted to share my opinion on people and developing games. Experienced jiujitsu practitioners know what games are in Brazilian jiujitsu. For example there are guard games we can develop such as De La Riva, Spider guard butterfly guard to name a few. Those are guard games. Those are broad examples. Now me for example, I've figured out I love spider guard, and de la riva. Those are my guard games, and i go back and forth with them, and I've stuck with them and never gave them up! There are of course games within games but I dont want to talk about that right now. I remember starting out at my school i would play spider guard and i would GET SMASHED by Tim of course, Daymon , and the brown belts and this super talented blue belt jimmy, and some purples. I mean i would get passed, and i hate being passed, i will be honest! And people actually told me, "hey man, abandon that guard game","i dont think thats going to work for your junior", "that armbar setup is trash junior, what are you thinking?" "THAT 50/50 JUNIOR??? THATS SOOOOO STUPID!!!"and thank god for instructors like Tim, great and awesome training partners like Dan Faggell aka Micro that just wouldnt let me give up. I knew there was a trick to making this spider guard stuff work for example. Now I believe i have a fairly decent guard game, actually pretty good and the only people passing these days are blackbelts, and talented cardio freaks lol. I dont want to say it doesnt happen but if i am passed someone will have earned it. And one of my ultimate goals is to have the best guard in the World! Move over  Braulio Estima and Pe De Pano here i come!

So my point is this. Figure your game out ASAP, we could be talking about passing guard, playing guard, how you control side control (that sounded weird), or how you approach taking the back from various positions, stick with it, your supposed to take beatings, your supposed to get passed, your supposed to lose these positions. A good anology would be the college student who KEEPS SWITCHING MAJORS! and spends loads of time in school and spends loads of money trying to figure out what he or she wants to do in life!

And I own lots of instructionals myself, and my advice is to use them for filling in the holes in your game. There are talented kids who want to be eddie bravo, be Marcelo Garcia, Jacare, Braulio Estima, Robson Moura etc, etc...These guys Ive just named, have totally completely different games! And people admire them so much and so do i for what they've done for our sport and thats great because they are awesome to watch but dont try to copy and paste their game to your game because in the long run you will pay the price for trying to emulate so many different styles.

So get a hold of techniques you love and do it to the fullest! Take a look at any blackbelt who was a blue or purple or brown..They still have the same games from those times until the time they are blackbelts, its just they are totally better at those positions.
Even now im so infactuated with the 50/50 position and guess what? People are telling me to throw it away. tsk tsk... Helio Gracie's mission was to make non believers.. believers in our beautiful art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I want to do the same with anyone who doubts.

Train hard, train more, train always.