Made my Amateur MMA Debut this weekend

[Martin.Harris]

Even though I lost by decision I am extremely happy that I entered the cage. I learned so much from this loss, I know my game will be greatly improved after seeing some major flaws.

I would greatly appreciate any critiques that any of you can provide. Nothing you say will hurt my feelings. I love jiu jitsu and MMA and just want to learn and improve as much as possible.

Here is some interesting info to know before watching the fight so you know my strategy and my own critique of my performance:

Background/Strategy:
I have been training MMA for approx 18 months and have no other combat sports experience (never even threw a punch before I started training).
I train 5-6 days a week 1-3 hrs a day, I train standup 2-3 times a week and jiu jitsu/grappling 3-4 times per week.
I live in a small town and we have a small gym with about 10 regular training partners, the heaviest of which is about 180 lbs.
My opponent is 250lbs with some college wrestling experience but has been wrestling his entire life.
I expected him to be pressuring forward at me or looking for the clinch.
I expected that I would be able to hit him with my jab from my natural orthodox stance but found I was coming up just short so I fought southpaw the majority of the fight.
I feel like my game is well rounded in all areas so the focus of my strategy was to breath, move and fight my game no matter what position I was in.
I do know how to sprawl but honestly had no idea how to defend the low single/ ankle pick.
I was not interested in sprawling as I love to fight off my back.
I expected him to try to ground and pound and planned on making my attacks / escapes / sweeps when he was punching.
None of the submission attempts he makes are even close to finishing me. It appears that I am getting ready to tap to an Americana at one point but I was actually trying to decide if me c cupping his arm pit and bridging would improve my position.

Lessons learned:

I need to improve my clinching - Vaseline+Sweat+gorilla strong wrestler is hard to hold onto
I need to improve side control escapes against a strong wrestler - Gorilla strong wrestler hell bent on pinning you down on the mat is hard to prevent
Don't skip invisible collar
Learn/drill the Hazelett before attempting Should have sat up for omoplata
If you have a significant striking advantage you should standup and strike no matter how much you love jiu jitsu
I should have went all out (scramble/ get up) in third round I managed my breathing perfectly in the first two rounds and my opponent barely made it off the stool for 3rd.

I am also 100% sure that if this were a 5 round fight or if there were no time limits I would have beat him. I dominated the standup and took no damage on the ground.
I saw him in the locker room 15 mins after the fight sitting on the floor with the spit bucket between his legs (puking maybe?), looking like he was about to die while I was ready for another fight.

i walk out first to "dropped" thanks Eddie/Compella for the inspiration). I walk by the DJ you can tell he likes it )

The actual fight starts at the 6 minute mark if you want to get right to it though.

[Kurzy]

Video is set to private. You will have to change that before anyone can see to comment.

[Martin.Harris]

Video is set to private. You will have to change that before anyone can see to comment.

Thanks Kurzy! Should be public now

[DavidHamp]

spend hours on sprawling if you plan on doing any more mma i am also a HW and also wrestle your butt off it compliments JJ sooooo much alot of stuff changes in bjj when punches start getting thrown. From guard work to those underhooks more also either way amazing job getting in there people dont realize that being put in that cage is a way different world i have actually went from training 100% of my time to the system to 50%wrestling 50% bjj and it has made my bjj game go way up. Having a HW in your guard is alot different then it is for the smaller guys

[nathan orchard]

Good job Martin. You double bagged like a gangster in the second round. Try to be a little more patient with your rubber guard. make sure you have complete control before you move on. and you may have finished that omoplata if you sat up and put your arm over his back. You did a good job of recovering guard but realize in mma if you don't finish from the guard the man on top will always win in the judges eyes. I am sure you learned a whole bunch as losses are always the best lessons (at least they are for me). Did Nick or Bryce fight that night?

[Martin.Harris]

Thanks Nathan. Nick fought also his fight ended with a bit of controversy and a lesson learned. Nick's opponent had Nick's back with an anaconda body triangle locked in and then just started whaling punches to the back of Nick's head. The Ref came over and looked like he was going to break them up, both fighters made eye contact with the ref and the ref warned Nicks opponent but Nick lifted his chin and stopped defending himself briefly and while the ref was still talking the guy slipped in a tight RNC, fight over. Lesson learned defend yourself at all times and don't stop fighting unless the ref pulls you off.

[Kurzy]

Nick lifted his chin and stopped defending himself briefly and while the ref was still talking the guy slipped in a tight RNC, fight over. Lesson learned defend yourself at all times and don't stop fighting unless the ref pulls you off.

Oh, that is SHITTY!!!