Lockdown vs. IBJJF Asian Open
I would like to share my experience at Asian Open IBJJF Jiu Jitsu Championship (Tokyo) where I competed in the Master 4 Blue Belt Division last Saturday. Sorry for the long post!
My background:
I am a member in an independent (non-affiliated GB or IBJJF) BJJ school in Tokyo which has a large number of non-Japanese members and has high-level instructors. I also train at the 10th Planet Tokyo Hotbox (hopefully obtaining an official status in the near future) and I had the chance to train at 10PJJ HQ in the beginning of May which was an amazing experience for me.
Asian Open
Light weight:
First match: lockdown, electric underhook, dogfight, old school, swept the guy, controlled him from top half, won by points.
Second match: half guard, full guard, rubber guard, went for the dead orchard and got too excited, the guy slipped out from the back door, passed and side controlled me through the rest of the match. Finally he mounted me, I tried to use the Hail Mary escape but it was too late and I missed it (forget to push his armpits) lost by points.
Result: second place
Absolute:
First match: lockdown, sweep, mount, monkey mount, mounted triangle armbar combo, won by submission.
After the match one of the Brazilian referees (sitting outside during my match but refereeing my previous ones) came out to the side, and warned me. He told us that I use the lockdown which is acceptable in NoGi tournaments, but as the opponent’s knee can be twisted it’s not good for Gi IBJJF competitions. Sanni Wehbe, the head of the Tokyo Hotbox said him that I didn’t use the electric chair so there is no twisting of the knee. But the referee told us that even the lockdown can twist the knee so I shouldn’t use this “Eddie Bravo style” technique, and he will watch my next match closely. (Btw I was flattered by his remark that my style is “EB-style”.)
Well, my next match happened to be against a Russian heavy weight (who was Gracie Barra, but no conspiracy theory).
Second match: half guard and I switched between regular half and lockdown, didn’t dare to extend my legs in the lockdown, and obviously didn’t even think about electric sweeps. The guy controlled me through the whole fight in top half, he won. (He got the first place by submitting a middle heavy guy by armbar.)
Result: third place
I am glad that I could use 10PJJ techniques and show that they are effective even in the GI, which could help our hotbox to recruit more students. It felt great to show the 10PJJ sign after receiving the medals.
Hopefully I will have a chance to roll with the ref in NoGi or to use worm guard & berimbolo combo at the next year's Asian Open, if they don't prohibit it until then.
Next year I would like to go to HQ again to receive advice from Renato on the GI game because one roll with him in NoGi wasn't enough to learn his secrets.
Thanks for Coach Sanni for watching my back during every competition we participate, Compella for the private lessons, Scott Ross for helping with my half game and all the other guys who shared their techniques and rolled with me at HQ. It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without Master Eddie, his work on developing the system and taking BJJ to a new evolutionary path. Without his books, DVDs, and MTS I wouldn’t even have considered to compete in Jiu Jitsu at the age of 48.
