Anyone here compete?

[Ghosted3]

Just as the title says, do most the practitioners on here just go to class, or do you guys hit up the tourney scene as well? I ask because I am about to join in my first tourney - NAGA Ohio first of Dec. (hopefully Pan Ams will follow). And any of those who have been around the tourney scene, is there anything that I may need to know in advance that might help out? Thanks :D

[Ari Bolden]

Be prepared to sit around for a long while. Bring food and drink. Touney's ALWAYS run late. The last thing you want to do is weigh in, then sit around for 4 hours with no food. Usually the food around a tourney sucks too (hot dogs, pop..total garbage and not what you want to feed the body after cutting).

Remember that the intensity of the match will be much harder than the mats at your gym. The other guy will try and take your head off. Be prepared for this.

First match your nerves will be going through the roof. Make sure you have a corner man to yell at you to breathe and give you pointers. LISTEN to your corner man, he'll be able to see things on the mat you can't

My 2 cents...GOOD LUCK and video tape it....you learn so much from watching footage after the fact.

Peace
ari

[Fox1s2]

Great advice ari...

I'm actually leaving for NAGA Miami this Friday (Saturday competition), been training for it hard for about 3 months and training bjj for around a year(man, this year has flown by....i can still remember when i started)...anyways...i'll keep you guys updated on how it goes. Possibly bringing back a few tips on how NAGA works.

[Ghosted3]

Nice fox, and GL, bring back some pix if you can, and are you doing Gi, no gi or both?

Ari - ya I have been told about the long waits, so I planned on bringing my portable dvd player....and Lights Out of course, get a few refreshers before I roll (if that is allowed anways) lol. One thing I will luck out on is one of my best friends is going as well so we should be able to talk between fights and keep an eye out for each other. We are in different age brackets and weight brackets so who knows really.

[Tom Gavrilos]

Ari took the post right out of my mouth!:D

[Fox1s2]

Yea, i'm competing in gi/no gi blue and white belt....gonna try and get as many matches as i can in...hopefully they don't schedule matches together or i'm gonna have to forfeit a match =/

[TheRob]

don't compete right now but I'm going to someday

[Fox1s2]

Leaving now for NAGA Miami, i'll keep you guys posted when i get back, maybe have a few videos =)

Wish me luck. :)

[Ghosted3]

GOOD LUCK! Have a good time, and lemme know if there are many vendors there too ;p

[Fox1s2]

NAGA was amazing guys....big event, ~860 people,great matches, great people, 2 great pro fights also (Carmelo Marrero vs Renato Sobral "Babalu")...great match...also there were 2 of the Gracie barra coaches that went at it. also a very great match.

Anyways, i competed in teen intermediate(<2 years) Division at 170-180 lbs and went 13-1 taking 1st in GI and 3rd in No-gi (more on that later....).

won 9 of my fights by points, only thing bad about 4 min rounds and two equally matched opponents. my one loss was just my mistake, didn't guard my back enough and tried to roll out from bottom of side mount, he slipped his arm away and got my back ...o well, great job on him...I got him back in the Gi division via Arm triangle(my favorite)...got my other 3 opponents with omoplata, guard armbar and kesagatame.

Anyways, back to the No-Gi 3rd place...after i lost to that kid i was pretty bummed but i got over it, until the finals came, and the kid that beat me happened to go up against one of his teammates, and they both decided that he was just gonna forfeit and not compete...cause they didn't wanna fight each other....that really made me mad that they were throwing away the finals...when anyone else, including me, would gladly hop in and put up a challenge, even if i lost, atleast i'd get to roll again...only complaint i had, but hey, those are the rules.

Overall, i had a blast, met a bunch of great people, Cole Miller from TUF 5 was even there, that guy is pretty big for 155...Anyways, they are coming back to florida in march, so i'll be back and training...

Some pics- Sorry for the lack of, my dad wasn't too worried about pics, more coaching...which i thank him immensely for.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2408/nagamiami005il0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7198/nagamiami006lo3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2592/nagamiami013ul5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5075/nagamiami015vm4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Fox1s2]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/272/nagamiami017wz3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9621/nagamiami021rh7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5797/nagamiami025qc1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7117/nagamiami029fm7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Ghosted3]

NICE JOB!! grats on the sword and the bronze, awesome! Looks like it was pretty cool. I cant wait til Dec. 1st to get here, hopefully I will do half as well, my only goal is to win 1 match and gain experience ;p How did Babalu do in his fight? Grats again.

[Fox1s2]

Thanks, yea it was really fun, and rolling with new people is just amazing, they definitely are not afraid to point out every flaw you make ;)

Babalu won actually, last ten seconds did a NICE judo throw to gain the advantage and take the match by 1 point =D


O about how NAGA works, believe me, your not gonna have any time in between matches to go up and eat, maybe drink...so make sure and eat up before your division starts, they went through matches one after another, especially when you get to semi finals, you have maybe 5 mins to drink something and then your on the mat again.....so STAY STRETCHED...dont just sit there.

[Ghosted3]

Thanks for all the info about the event, Im sure it will help me alot when my tourney comes around. Grats again

[Ari Bolden]

Way to go Fox!

[Ryan]

Did Babalu let go when told? :) Anyway, whats he up to? Fighting in another org. yet? Congrats on your record.

[Ryan]

How much to enter a competition? 1st and 3rd out of how many?

[Fox1s2]

Thanks ari and ryan,

yea he let go, barely =P....it was more of a demonstration rather than a really big fight...but still cool.


Um, it was $80 for as many divisions as you could enter, i only did 2 because it was my first tournament but there were 19 no-gi and 17 gi competitors in my division. but some divisions actually had to be sub-divided because there were so many people 30+ those were mostly kids and adult ~180lb.

[Ghosted3]

Ryan - Babalu signed with Strikeforce.

[Ryan]

Ryan - Babalu signed with Strikeforce.

Good. Thanks for the update. I didn't think he would be a free agent for long.:D