My experience in "mma"

Tim's Discussion Board: Ba Gua Zhang : My experience in "mma"
   By Kelly Crofts-Johnson on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 - 10:07 pm: Edit Post

So, I just entered a tournament in las vegas a few weekends ago that was titled the "Las Vegas World Championships" or the "las Vegas Internationals" haha. Big names. It was your classical karate tournament with the flashy weapons forms and thousands of kiai!s. I was only interested in a new aspect though. It included kali stick fighting, simulated blade fighting, and "controlled mma sparring." I only competed in the mma thing but i watched the other two as well. The kali was brutal, but very entertaining to watch. The blade fighting was somewhat monotanous (sp) as every match looked just about the same.

The mma was a ton of fun to watch and to compete in. There were about 25 adults it looked like and about 30 kids. So all the 18 and youger kids had their own devisions and they were great to watch. Some of their jitsu was ausome! If they keep at it in like ten years they are going to be leathal. The adult devisions got pretty interesting. They were broken apart into three weight classes: everyone under 155, people between 155 and 175, and people above 175. i fell in the middle devision. There were probably like 12-16 people in my devision. I got a pass and then had two fights. I won my first match against a muay thai/taekwando guy because the other guy got too hurt to continue at around 4 minutes. (the matches were one five minute round). The second match was with a purple belt in brazilian jujitsu who had obviously done a lot of fighting and a lot of competing. Haha, we threw hands for a few moments and i caught him with a couple stiff hooks so he decided to take it to the ground. He went in for a double and i was able to stay him off until i took him down. I dropped a knee though and got too close and he started wrapping me up with legs and arms and such. From then on it was me fighting off submission attempt after submission attempt after submission attempt and working his body for about 3 minutes. (we actually have a great picture of me stuck in a pretty deep triangle clenching my teeth with my face very purple trying to punch my way out of it). Eventually i was able to get past one leg of his guard and start punching hard enough that i could stand back up and get away. He stood up and we threw hands for like a minute until he bumrushed me into the corner and held me there for a moment. my corner shouted out 20 seconds to me so i assumed the guy was going to try to get one last takedown and the end of the clock so i did a very poor sacrifice throw and pulled him into a tight guard with him still standing up. i tried to take out one of his base legs but he had a solid base and the clock ran out. The three judges called it a draw but then the promoter said one of us had to win so they took a vote. i got one vote, he got too. pretty fun actually. I went over and talked to him after laying down for a couple minutes. he was pretty cool. I told him that if it had lasted another minute or two he would have submitted me, haha. He then told me that his liver is really going to hurt tomorow. It was a fun experience. I am hooked and i want to do it again soon. There were a couple more rules in this tournament than regular mma and you had to wear head and shin gear. so, now i would like to try the real thing. This tourney gave me some confidence to try it out. I have about 50 seconds of footage and a dozen or so pictures. it was all taken with a digital camera so the quality is terrible but i am trying to get it on the computer pretty soon and up on youtube, ill send you a link once it is up. you guys will have a lot too say i am sure.

Haha, in the upper weight devisions we actually had the ring kind of tip over.


   By Backarcher on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 - 11:22 pm: Edit Post

That's great!

I respect your courage, for many are talkers and not doers.

I'd keep doing similar things for awhile and if you still like it, go all out MMA.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!


   By Bob #2 on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 - 11:35 pm: Edit Post

congratulations! That's great.

My cousin entered an MMA event in Arizona recently... it didn't go as planned:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0708081bruno1.html

Bob#2


   By robert on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 02:32 am: Edit Post

"i got one vote, he got too"

hate it when that happens...

sounds like fun.

you sure you werent at bruno's event???


   By garrett stack on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 06:43 am: Edit Post

Fair play


   By Tim on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 01:09 pm: Edit Post

Well done Kelly.


   By Kelly Crofts-Johnson on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 02:40 pm: Edit Post

"you sure you werent at bruno's event???"
pretty sure. It was in vegas. Unbelievably hot right now.

"I'd keep doing similar things for awhile and if you still like it, go all out MMA."

I am trying to get registered for the UCE which is a local mma event that happens every saturday night at a club. I have also been looking at other tournaments similar to the one i just entered.

Funny thing was that i didn't know the second guy was a jitsu guy until we started fighting. It was submission attempt after submission attempt... nonstop. it was rough. After our fight i went over to his side and talked to him.. thats when i found out how long he had been doing jitsu and tournaments.


   By robert on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 07:26 pm: Edit Post

be careful, i hear there is a bunch of blood borne pathogens circling the underground fight scene...


   By Joseph G Bellone on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 10:49 am: Edit Post

Good job Kelly. Congratulations.

Best regards,
Joe

http://www.thestudywithin.com
http://thestudywithin.blogspot.com


   By Kelly Crofts-Johnson on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 05:13 pm: Edit Post

"be careful, i hear there is a bunch of blood borne pathogens circling the underground fight scene..."

I dont believe that what i competed in or plan to compete in would ever be called "underground."

Thanks guys.


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