Miguel On Life

As you guys may know, I ‘ve been training Judo  for like 2 years (but very irregularly, of those years I approximate 9-11 moths of regular training). Although Judo is a fine martial art , from the beginning I  wanted to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ),  a similar martial art focused in ground fighting (chokes, joint locks and son on) whereas Judo is focused mostly in takedowns and throws. The problem is that in Medellin (and I presume Colombia) there are not BJJ academies, so I train Judo instead,  which is considered for many as the father of this Brazilian martial art. Still,  In my Judo training  I focus my game in the ground fighting part of it (called ne-waza).

As there wasn’t a BJJ academy nearby, I begun to learn by myself by using instructional videos and then trying to apply those  techniques while training Judo. This was not always possible and I constantly got criticism from Judo purists. After some months of training, I recorded one of my fight with myJudo  sensei and posted it on YouTube. Through the commentaries of the video I met Fernando,  a Renzo Gracie’s Colombo-American BJJ purple Belt which was going  to fly to Medellin for Bossiness.   He came to our Dojo and train some of us on basic BJJ techniques. It was good finally to have a taste of real BJJ;  I  got more excited about the art.

Two weeks ago he came back to Medellin and we went to train together,  this time it was more one-on-one training, with just one guy from the Dojo staying to watch and learn.  After training some basic techniques we rolled (spar) for a while. I have to say that I was in no shape and I have stopped all Judo training due to time constraints. But that’s not the reason I lost, I mean, a white belt BJJ guy like me have no chances against a BJJ purple belt . Anyway it was very fun and  I am looking forward to train again (and hopefully have some rematchs!).

This time we trained without Gi’s, the uniforms with the color belts. This is called No-Gi BJJ or sometimes Submission Wrestiling. We recorded the two fights, I  lost both off course, but I learned a lot that day.  Below the videos of the fights. the Rashguard I am using in the videos was gift from Fernando, thanks dude!.

First Fight

In this first fight we started from the top, Fernando tried to get me in his guard, but I initially avoided  it but while trying to get him side-controlled I fell in his guard and then he tried to apply a triangle choke (from which I barely escaped), then he tried a Armbar from which also I escaped (I can belive I did it but it was neat). at that point of the fight I did a serious mistake: exposing my back to him, from there he tried a rear naked choke. Initially I was able to stop him, but while trying to scape I uncovered my neck and he finally applied it which made me tap out.

Rematch

It does not look like, but sparring is a very energy consuming activity and needs a lot of cardio. By the second fight (we rested like 30 secs) I was already tired.  We started clinching and I got the opportunity for the take down I and I took it, I did not  grabbed his legs properly so I ended up in his half guard. He did a excellent sweep and got me in his guard from which I stared to  look for ways of passing it. I eventually stood up but I was  really exhausted  and he took me down easily and got the mounted position. I taped out because I was really tired and I could not continue (we were training from 11:30 and it was like 2 PM when we stared to roll).

I had a really good time training BJJ with Fernando, it looks like he is going to come more often to Medellín, which will allow me to train BJJ more regularly and sharp my ground fighting skills. Thanks Fernando! Looking forward to get my ass kicked one more time hehehe :P.

PD. For some of my Judo frieds that say that I only post videos of me  winning I just posted two where I get defeated very easily. Nevertheless,  I can still kick your individual asses.