Athletes Prepare for Battle!
I was the first member of Team Lloyd Irvin to fight on Saturday morning in the open weight class division. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I had heard so many stories of how different Brazilian fighters are and how much higher the level of competition is. Well, its true. Everyone seemed like they were really good and moved like a belt ahead of the one they wore. With the amount of money being offered for winning these divisions there were A LOT of fighters there.
My first match was against a fighter from Check Mat BJJ. I was able to keep my opponent off the score board and take the match 3-0 after securing a guard pass. The second match was 4-0 courtesy of two half guard sweeps we have been working on in the white belt basics class. In the third match I fought a very big fighter from Alliance (maybe about 230). I pulled guard right away and was able to get my sweep scoring 2, as I went for my guard pass my opponent turtled and defended well, the match ended 2-0. I felt very good at this point.
My next match was against a fighter from the Cavaca school. He made my previous opponent look small! I could tell this guy was a good Judo player because of his grips, he tried for a very nice throw but I defended and went for a take down of my own. I was able to hit decent fire mans carry that would give me a 2 point lead. As I began to pass my opponent benched pressed me off of him causing a scramble. I ended up on the bottom of turtle. Next thing I knew he lifted me up off of the ground and was able to secure a very strong choke from behind. My absolute division run was over, but I felt warmed up for my weight class. It was a short night after a long day of fights everyone just wanted to go to bed. Our weight divisions would start early Sunday morning.
More Pictures of the Arena
PS – We hope to see everyone at this weekend’s Holiday party. Get the details at the Crazy 88 facebook fan page…
