things to learn

After my last matchups I got a very clear view of what still has to be done..
In the first place, my takedowns need to improve, and not just the technique on its own, also the different aspects of the game.
The hand fighting is the first thing that comes to mind, I need to work more to create the angle's I need, because now I'm mostly waiting for something to present itself,and that just takes to long.
Further I will focus myself completely on my wrestling style of fighting,so I have a solid base.

For my guard work its obvious I need to work more on keeping my opponent where I want him.
A higher guard, more rubber guard and also more movement from the bottom, if he's not going to move then its up to me to start moving, this is also the reason I cracked my ribs this time,because I tried to force motion out of him.

Last points are my pressure, even though I'm pretty good at that, I need to reposition myself better, with strong and active fighters my poor positioning from the side control is costing me precious points.
And although my Passing the guard worked great I need to switch more between different technique's, so I dont become predictable.

Strength and conditioning will also play a bigger factor in the EC, So next week when my ribs are healed enough I will start my fitness regime again.
Cranking training up to 8 times a week in January.

If I better these things I will be ready for the EC for sure.

Those two pics floated around the web, the moment I injured my ribs(+-) and Christian with his medal.

Ede ends in injury

Last saterday was the Grappling ede competition witch I always participate in but due to some bad luck I bruised my ribs in the second match,went on to winning the 3th and 4th but injured myself further when I fought my 5th match.. Had to quit a tournament prematurely for the first time..
So Its a week rest now and I'll be back on the mat in no time,Still, I'm a bit disappointed.

pica

Official results Dutch open

Here are the official Dutch open results.
I only placed the rankings of Rickson Gracie Holland fighters do:

Whitebelt
class -70 Feather M
1 Elderson Christiaan . (Rickson Gracie Rotterdam)
2 Dae-young Holten . (Carlson Gracie)
3 Nguyen Pele . (UCT )

class -82,3 Middle M
1 Bas tros Bas . (Rickson Gracie olympiawaard)
2 Dennis Vanwegberg. (Team bad boys)
3 De Kort Paul . (Rickson Gracie Holland)

class -94,3 Heavy M
1 Rahad Darpinyan . (Van Os Gym)
2 Joca Rodrigues . (Rickson Gracie Rotterdam)
3 Roest Eric . (Rickson Gracie Haarlem)

class -100,5 Super Heavy M
1 Ronald Gouverneur . (Rickson Gracie Olympiawaard)
2 Roseboom Hans . (Budo Academy Phisical)
3 Vos Robin . (Team Yamasaki)

Blue belt
class -88,3 Med. Heavy M
1 Henk Heneweer . (Team Agua/Kaishin)
2 Sebastiaan Mook . (Rickson Gracie Holland)
3 Juan Argentina . (Gracie jiu-jitsu köln)

Open Class White Belts

1 Rahad Darpinyan . (Van Os Gym)
2 Ronald Gouverneur . (Rickson Gracie olympiawaard)
3 Joca Rodrigues . (Rickson Gracie Rotterdam)


Pics and vids wil follow later

Antoni Hardonk, michel verheij and raoul promoted

Antoni, Raoul and Michel where promoted to purple belt all this week by Henry Akins who was here for seminars and private lessons.
Apparently Kron tipped Henry about it being time for Antoni to move up.

Congratulations to them all.

Dutch open, when things just dont connect

Today was the big Dutch Open.
The final Gi tournament of the year, and for some reason, I just cant manage to create a lasting impression there..
In the first place my own matches started out with a bye, witch meant the second fight(my first) was already the semi final.. I won that on a RNC, and controlled the whole fight.( leo who apparently won the Scandinavian open) Sadly,the second fight was against Henk, a guy who I have fought 8 times now(!?!) but I cant really get the edge over him, and this fight ended with him winning with a 3-0 score..(I thought I had figured him out..) Making me the silver medal winner..
Nice,but not what I had hoped for(2 matches?!), still, preparations for this tournament where not as ideal as for the Amsterdam Open,so a lesser result wasnt such a surprise, and Henk is a good opponent.

The open class went oke, but yet again only two fights, but this time purely because of my own poor performance.

As a technical note too myself, I should get a more solid take down game, I should work more on controlling my opponent in the guard and making him work.
Besides that there is a load of small details I have to work on, Of which some Henry and Danny already pointed out for me.

Amsterdam Open 2008

Amsterdam Open proved to be a good tournament for me once again, as I could Submit my three oppenents in the -88,3 kg division.
Sadly there werent more fighters, but Desmond and Henk proved to be good tests of my skill.
I won the first round in the openweight class,( with 22-00 ) But sadly lost my rematch against Henk, altough it did give me more insight on how to beat certain fighters (like him.)
Hopefully I wil be able to use these experiences for the Dutch Open thats comming up.
The importance of a set of good takedowns and an agressive game for me seems clear..

For fun,some of the pics that where taken.
I hope to post some vid's soon.

Short Circuit

Had the Short Circuit tournament in Fred Royers Gym,
Did not do to wel, won two matches and lost two matches.
Stil, I did not have a lot of trouble making the weight, and I got a good chance to polish my technique.

Danny and michel beating Gracie Barra Blackbelt

Tournament results.

Wel nowwww!

God dam what a shit preformance from my side again, won 3 matches, lost 2.

3rd place again, but I have to say I never felt so fucked yp during a match,dizzy,sick and a horrible conditioning.. But it wasnt as bad as it could have bin..

I should do better next time if I keep training more serieusly!

Kenan and Rutger both did very wel do.

The nicest story about this day was that there was a Gracie Barra black belt from Brazil, and guess what..He was owned by both Danny and Michel, my coach and our head coach, who are only purple stripe's!!

There should be some footage of those fights shortly.. Till then,have fun with the Pic's!

5th of july asociation tournament

Next in line, asociation tournament, a good chance to see if I can beat Antoni,Pieter and Niels.
Its bin a while since I fought a Gi tournament, and it wil be a good lesson.

Also, teaching BJJ at MMA-Rotterdam is a lot of fun,but its stil a very smal class.
Hope it fills up in time.

When I was scroling around on the web, I found some easy tool to download youtube vids, so I can finaly post some new vids of myself at tournements and some other shizzle.
Here they come:P

Antoni Koíng Sanchezzz(because it such a nice KO)

My first open weight fight at zona no-gi, at brazilian speeds:P

This was a real Bitch of a fight, and my greatest weaknes is clear here, takingdown an opponent.
Besides that, fighters in Holland tend to stall the shit out of you!

Damm!!!

Just returned from Ede...
Damm that was a shitty profromance by me.. I weight in at 86kilo's(!) and could not sweat it of in the sauna,only getting my ass to a 84, stil to heavy!
So I fought in the -91 kilo division, a dicision that proved not to be the right one for me before..
I'm rather weak if it comes to pure strenght, and these guys tend to be on my level,but much stronger.. I stil won 3rd place, but I serieusly dont care for 3rd places... And I got Submitted!!! For the first time in Grappling I had to tap...By a god dam north/south power choke..Just brute force and I just could not figure out how to get out of the dam headlock,and when things started to daze..I dicided that it was better to tap out..But shit that made me angry!!
Mostly at myself, I came unprepared to this tournament, and I paid for it.
Very unprofessional...
The other matches I won by RNC, points and I lost an other on points(just on the edge,but a loss is a loss)..Wich pissed me of even more.. A poul of 5 guys, and I win 2 and lose 2..
Thats the score of a biginner..
Wel the positive note is that I know some nice things to work on, and I should focus myself more if I want to win the next one.
Cry in the Dojo, laugh on the battlefield..The last 3 weeks it was the other way around, and i paid for it..

New gi!

Just orderd this new Gi, Keiko Special Black edition.

Not very expensive,85,-

I also bought booster MMA gloves,sadly,the old edition,not this cool new version, but their okay :)

Ommoord

If things turn out wel, I'll be one of the new instructors at Team MMA-Rotterdam at gym Ommoord.
Got myself some new gloves for the ocasion :P
Nothing certain yet, but with a little luck this wil give me an axtra income around 90,- a month.

Ede

Saterday yet another edition of Ede, where I wil fight in the -83 division again, altough I'm not really sure how heavy I am at the moment..
Nice twist to the usual competition is that the official representetiv of the Rickson Gracie Holland schools wil be fighting in my wieghtclass, Miechel verhoef.
A good challenge but a hard fight,because he has way more experience then me..
Luckely,I know footlocks are his weakpoint.

My stand up and especialy my sprawl have improved a lot,and it wil be good to test these skills in competition.
We'l be going with a large group, so it might be a nice day team wise.

Ringsports

Ringsports Featured a short part about the Zona Cup! With my name in it! Sadly, they also posted a picture with my name..With the winner from the -85 beginners...
I'll post the pic,its kind of funny,but on the other hand it sucks,I finaly get a magazine spot, and it they place the wrong photo :S..

Seminar and tournament

Sunday there wil be a seminar from one of the best coaches around, Henry Atkins!
We wil be training grappling technique specificly because of the upcomming Grappling tournament in Ede where I wil try to secure my first place again and with that making almost sure I wil be Dutch National Shooto Grappling champ once again!

Gracie magazine

From the website of Gracie magazine!!

29.04.2008
Zona No-Gi Cup images
Sunday of submission in Holland
Submission grappling athletes gathered on April 20th, in Amsterdam for the 2008 Zona No-Gi Cup, sponsored by GMA member Zona MMA, online store. The event had a lot of great fights.An excellence note goes to Sebastiaan Mook, who won the advanced -85kg division and the open class division. Among beginners, Achmed Belmadani cameback from a 3rd place in the -91kg division to conquer the absolute. The Zona No-Gi Cup will be featured at the the next GRACIE Magazine issue. For more info, go to zona-mma.com. Promoters has sent some pictures of the event.

=85 and Absolute Champion!!

Zona no gi challenge ended really wel for me!
The -85 poule was not to hard, and that was partly to blame to the fact that there where only 4 other opponents.. Wich gave me only 2 fights.
I was able to win both wel within the 6 minute limit on armbar and traingle.
Victems: Ritchie from physical gym holland and Chritian Eden from Luta livre Germanie.

Now the absolute division was the best part of the day, 2 poule of combined 10 guys fought for the open weight cup, having me fight semi final against a -75 fighter from belgium, wich I could submit by traingle. (I won the first round on RNC)
And my final match against the 2e place super heavyweight cup winner who could beat the 1e place winner Jesse gibs in the semi final.
Respecting his strength and weight I simply went for a butscoop in the hope I could Armdrag him, but sadly he landed in my guard, still, I could sub him withing 3min by traingle choke!
Making me the first Absolute advanced tournament winner!

Nicest part of it al is that the sponser Zona Gear gave me a grappling short and is sending me a rashguard because of the wins!

Zona no gi challenge

10! training sessions to go to the Zona No Gi challenge,

it appears to be a pretty big competition and every first place winner gets a zona kimono!

Atleast that is what their website says at the moment.

After winning Ede last month I have a good feeling I might stand a chance, but I really have to put some serieus time in training if I want to come out victorious again.. I'm working hard on my upper body control and underhooktakedowns, I also want to focus on better guard opening and sidecontrol is going wel already.

My guard work is still improving,but I dont want to depend on that..

pic's ede

Two pics I got form

Christiaan that he took

at the last competition.

Grappling ede

First place!

and it was a nice run of wins, only one point lose, and it wasnt the worst match at all.
My team mate Christiaan won 3 or four matches in his division,but the cool thing was, he fought at -83 while being 65kg himself.
Toby from MMA Rotterdam did a little less wel, but stil preformed very good for his first time.
I'll upload the vids soon!

Feeling Ready

I'm feeling very ready and have kept my training on a good intense level.
Only a week and my second tournament wil be there.
My first prelim fights for the national title.

Victory! Sort of..

Won second place in the Holland Gi challenge!
And I'm pretty happy about it,especialy because it went so wel.

-The first match posed no major problem, the guy(blue belt) was a little bigger then me, and seemd to have better standup skills, so I chose to just sit down and buttscoop him into fighting my guard.
My open guard is my strongest point by far! So after he treid to pas me by going under one leg, I got him in a traingle and could choke him from mounted traingle position...Win number one under a minute!

-Second match was much tougher, a frenceman(blue belt) with a lot of stamina just kept on moving and running around, he didnt realy put me in trouble, but I had a really hard time to keep him down! I ended up winning the match 14-02, but it was a hard fought victory.

-third match was an awaited rematch with Daniel(purple belt) from Carlson Gracie acadamie, after a big lose to him last year(7-2 or something) I really wanted to see if I had improved enough to beat him!
We got it to the ground pretty quick and after I almost past his guard he try'd to move away and I was able to take his back, and after a short cut checkup he needed for his Chin I could choke him out in the first 2 minutes, Win by KO.

-Fourth and final match was against Christof Deferme(purple belt?), a fighter I look at with respect, and I guess that played a part in our fight, because I was really carefull not to make mistakes.
Sadly for me, he got the sweep and mount,after wich I chose the wrong strategy by trying an armcontrole and upa,but I should have gone for simple Ebi,but in all cases he choked me with the Ezecuel choke, and I was forced to tap.

Thus I won Silver, but I'm still pretty happy about it, because it was my first real tournament as a Blue belt and I finished Second, that could have gone far worse!

Highlite

I thought it would be fun to upload a overview of my matches of 2006,my last amateur fighting year,2007 wasnt very good to me,only winning one medal,but I have good hopes for this year!

MMA movie ready to hit the screen in the US

Wel here's a new one! An actual MMA movie.
And the production seems good,flashy and good filming and some good actors!
Still this might make MMA look bad because it might focus on the wrong things,but to be honest,from my perspective it
can only be a good development, this movie might launch MMA mainstream.
And if it does a good job, it might as wel be played in Holland!
Wich would be good for the sport,I hope.

Check the trailer!

2 tournaments are comming this way

19 Feb there wil be a new edition of "Amsterdam Open" in wich i once was champion!
So this wil be a nice start of the new year, and a good oppertunity to see if my skills have improved!
Also there wil be a Grappling Ede competition first of March, in wich I wil slim myself down to compete in my own weight class, -83 kilo's.(I fought in that wieght for 2 years)
Lets see if I can be a national champion again..

Possible work!

There is a possibility that I wil be the new BJJ/Newaza trainer at Gamerensport.
No clear deal yet,but i'm working on it.
It would be great to teach myself, I really enjoy that.
And besides, it would be a great oppertunity for me to practice my Technique while teaching it.
That would give me a 5 day training regime, which would be great.