there and back again

It has bin a while since I updated this page.

I was out with injury's for several months..(broken rib,busted knee,etc)

I'm taking a few day of now and will be back to full training next week!

I did compete in three tournaments in the meanwhile, the first one being the Rickson Gracie team tournament,in wich I was able to submit everyone in the advanced open class, but it took enough toll on me to disable me from winning the next tournament 5 days later.. Having me lose a lackluster match in the first round.

Luckely, I had a several weeks to recover and a full week to train for the next big tournament, the Zona no-gi.

Wich had me placed 3rd in -85 and absolute.

Not back up there,but I did win 7 matches, and was beaten by a brown belt and reigning european champion, and the second place winner in olympic wrestling/pro judo player.

So I'm pretty happy with the results, I learned a lot.

Tournaments comming

Its almost time again for the first competitions this year!

And I'm really looking forward to it, especialy because I could not fight in the European Championships.

The first one comming up will be the watterland cup, wich is nothing more then the anual Rickson Gracie Holland tournament, and will be a Poul competition.

Meaning you can always fight atleast 5 matches.

This wil make a great warmup and test for my skills,because the weekend after that on 15 Feb, the Amsterdam open will be held again, and I would like to prolonge my winningstreak at the Amsterdam tournaments.(I won the last 3 championships I fought there.)

Besides that, in March the new Zona no Gi challenge will be held,and I also want to aim my aerows on that prize as well.

Helio Gracie Dies at the age of 95.

Sad news has reached us that Helio Gracie has died.
As grandmaster of the sport, and example to many he will be sorely missed.
He died at the age of 95 at the consequences of pneumonia.

1 oct 1913 - 29 jan 2009

injury update

I wont be going to the European Championships in all likelyness..
My ribs are still not healed, and I want atleast 3 or 4 weeks of full speed training.
Sadly this wont be the case, since I still not healed enough at the moment, and the tournament will be in 3 weeks..

I guess I just have to point my arrows at an other target..
European champion in 2010!

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..