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.

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.

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

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.

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!

=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!

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!