grappling x

woke up this morning and got convinced to do a tournament. did two divisions- 145 mens blue belt, and 145 mens intermediate.

blue belt-

first match- otto at undisputed
i probably pulled guard to start off. i eventually swept a few times and passed. i won on points, but i'm not sure by how much. at one point i almost had a clock choke. he was very strong and i got tired out!

second match- renato from city boxing
i pull guard again and get some sort of open guard sweep. i start passing and get pulled into a triangle. i have the knee in initially, but he clears it and eventually sweeps me over to mount. game over.

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men's intermediate-

first match- johnny from throwdown

we start out and i try to flying guillotine him. he does some crazy judo throw and i land on my head. i get up and jump guard and throw on the tight armlock immediately. his arm pops and then he taps.

second match- chris from fight lab

he pulls butterfly and i start trying to slide the knee. i nearly pass a few times, and he recovers nicely. i put the pressure from half guard and pass to side control with like a minute left. scramble to feet, i pull guard and just hold for the win.

finals- sergio from undisputed

i try a different strategy this time and try for the flying guillotine. at one point in regulation i nearly take his back but don't have the harness grip and he gets out. no score by regulation, overtime. OT- he tries for a takedown, i counter the single leg. somehow i hit him with the omoplata but he does a weird upside down donkey guard and i am sitting in reverse mount with my torso trapped. i sit there for a bit, but leave an arm behind me and get kimuraed. no good.

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two main things went wrong-

1- conditioning! i was quite tired the whole time. if i would have been at full speed, i could have won.
2- gameplan- i need to work from full/half/open guard. i can easily sweep from here. less tiring than passing. or i just need to work on my top game. bottom feels much better in tournaments. less tiring as well.

oh well. putting it behind me.