Naga Chicago comp vid

[Nick Lerch]

This is only my second jj competition ever and the first nogi. I seriously didn't even want to do it because of weeks of the pre-gitters. But then because it scared me, I made myself do it. Even though I didn't win I wanted to throw it up for the hell of it, maybe some people will give me some good constructive criticism. First off Ive never taken lessons from anyone on nogi, I took lesson with the gi but I never even earned a stripe before I had to move away. I haven't had a steady place to train since then. I just drop in at a few places out of town and try to get rolls in occasionally. After not rolling at all for over a year I had just 3 weeks to get ready for this. It was really cool getting to listen to eddie talk about preparing for the rematch while I was preparing for this. It felt kinda like I had him training with me. I was registered for the beginner division but I fucked up only got there 1.5 hr early and they started my division so it was do intermediate or drive 1.5 hrs back home for nothing so I eagerly stepped up bit the bullet. I'm 31 and they said I should do the 30+ division because it would be easier but I told them no, and to put me in with the < 30s. I don't know if that was smart or not but my pride wouldn't let me take the easier of the two choices. I watched my opponents first match and knew he could easily out wrestle me so I settled with a controlled take down to start. From there it was pretty much the underhook battle of my life. He was so strong and I was so worried about opening up and committing too much and him scrambling and passing, and me probably never really recovering, or spending the whole time battling to regain a guard. I almost rolled him one time when @ 1:00 but the timing didn't feel right and I was worried about failing and him scrambling. I tried getting up to dog fight a few times but he shut that shit down hard. I know I coulda transitioned to butterfly but Im not very good from there.... yet. Besides that sorry about the megaparagraph but its 2am and I need things to do.

[Josh Passini]

Where do you train at?

[Nick Lerch]

Hey Josh, in Dekalb at United Elite MMA. I really wanted to meet you yesterday and introduce myself but I didn't see you in the short time I was there. I did see one guy right before my match with a white 10p chicago rashguard but I didn't recognize him or the couple people he was talking with.

[Amber Kamischke]

You probably saw Dan Conway. Feel free to introduce yourself at any future comp. We are all usually wearing something 10th Planet. Josh and John are doing IBJJF no gi next Sunday and some of us are doing US Grappling in September so hopefully we can meet you then!