[BJJ NEWS]

01.07.05
After a restful Christmas / New Year's break, I'm back to training hard in Rochester. I've got a couple of potential tournaments coming up, including the Greater Toronto Area Grappling Championships, the Northeastern Grappling Championships III and possibly the Arnold Classic Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Tournament, although there's no info up on that last tournament. I've stepped up my workout routine so that hopefully I'll be in good shape for the later events. I'm back to lifting, I've incorporated Bas Rutten's MMA workout plus technique training from Mario Sperry and Roy Harris. And to help maintain some discipline through all of this grueling training, I've developed a bit of a mantra:

11.07.04 [Joslin's Canadian Open Grappling Championship :: Hamilton, ON]
A select few of us from the Saunders team made the trip up together to compete in this good-sized competition. The gym was a little cramped, but that just seemed to compress all the energy it held. My two teammates, Jordan and Eric, both lost there first matches by submission, but gave hard fought battles. My match was in the 163 to 183 lbs Advanced division, a step up from my last competition, and I barely made weight, hitting 183 on the nose. The opening minute of my match was what eventually killed me, since I lost on points. My opponent took me down (2 points), which I didn't mind all that much, and then passed my guard (3 points). From there we rolled around and finally ended up with him in my guard, where I locked it in and began to work. From then on, I was on the attack, going mainly for my kimura, but also trying for a straight ankle lock, a triangle and my backwoods, unorthodox knee choke/crank (I stick my knee in their throat/upper chest and crank). He could not move without allowing me some opportunity to attack, so he did the smart thing and remained fairly stagnant even though the ref kept telling him to "work to pass." At one point, I was able to slap on a solid kimura and wrench it away from his body, but I couldn't move my hips out to the side because he had his upper body trapping my leg. He was able to wrench it free, and by the time I had another good hook in, time had run out. I'm definitely pissed that I lost, but I recognize my overall dominance in the match, so I'm happy about that. Even my opponent admitted that he was scared quite a few times throughout the match that he was finished, and as far as I could tell, he seemed more winded than myself when time ran out. Again, I walked away with some very good experience to carry into my next tournament.

10.26.04
The time has finally come. Today Kyle honored me by assigning me the rank of blue belt. I have been training now for around a year and a half and this accomplishment is an extremely important and proud step in my overall mixed martial arts development. Now starts another chapter in my training!

07.24.04 [Northeastern Grappling Championships :: Ithaca, NY]
I entered the Intermediate division at 178 lbs (although I usually weigh about 182 - 185). I ended up waiting all day and had only two matches, both against members of a BJJ school in Syracuse, Tai Kai. My first match seemed like a great battle, even though I won decisively. I swept my opponent with a Kimura sweep two times, had a solid arm bar attempt, and finally was able to finish on a Kimura sweep turned Kimura. The other match was disappointing - I jumped into guard, pulled my opponent to the ground and slapped a guillotine choke on. Couldn't have taken more than 30 seconds. I took home a nice 1st place trophy and some valuable experience to take into my next tournament.

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