Competition Report: Submission Challenge Omaha, 8 Dec 2024, Men's Masters 1 171-185lb White Belt

I may detail more on this, but I wanted to get this out while it was fresh in my head.

Spoilers is I took first place

Alright, I might do a bigger write up sometime, but lemme get to the matches.  I lost the first by guillotine choke, won the second with an americana (no shock there) and won the third by forfeit

The dude I was competing against chatted with my briefly before the match.  He asked where I trained out of and I said "I don't...but I wrestled in high school".  Well he relayed that to his coach, who stereotyped the hell out of me and kept yelling "He's going to hunt for the shot!  Watch out for the shot!"

Fun fact: I never shot in wrestling.  I was terrible at it.

But, that said, after too much time standing, we were warned that if we didn't have a takedown in the next 15 seconds, they were going to implement some sort of "get down" rule.  I'll admit I panicked upon hearing that, and decided to go for a takedown.  He responded by sinking a standing guillotine that was VERY locked in.  I got a little upset because I was violently tapping him and the ref was just ignoring it for nearly too long before finally someone from the audience yelled "He's been tapping for a while".

Upon reflection, there was no need to go for that takedown, because I realize, in all of these tournaments, I have NEVER felt threatened when I've been on the ground.  I may not have much in the way of offense there, but no one has ever put me in a threatened position.  So from here on out, I'll make them play my stupid game of standing until something happens, and if we get forced to the ground, even better.

I DID benefit from that first round though.  Got to feel him out, determine he wasn't stronger than me, nor did he have better cardio than me.

That came into play for the second match.  I decided to just be a bully this time.  I came out aggressive, shoved him, secured a thai clinch, which was of no value whatsoever but still cool, and forced my will on him.  At one point, we nearly repeated the same ending as before, with him locking in a guillotine, and it got me angry and I said to myself in my head "no this time motherf*cker!"  He pulled guard on me, and that's where I was better able to work my "magic".

I got out of the guillotine, and then just kept pressuring him as much as I could.  He went for a triangle, but I never felt threatened by it, and I just kept stacking and pressuring him.  Whenever I was in his guard, I'd put my weight on him, and I noticed that, whenever I got a forearm across his throat, he REALLY didn't like that.  He'd panic and give up position.  So, of course, I kept doing it.

Just like my other 2 competitions, I could feel the exact moment that his energy and strength left him, while I still felt dandy.  In my head I said "You seem tired: I can do this all day".  I guess I'm a nasty person inside my head.  I eventually wore him down to the point that he could no longer put up any resistance, at which point I locked in an Americana I had been hunting for for the whole match.  

Come time for the third match, and his corner informed me he wouldn't be coming out.  I had exhausted him so much he didn't want to do a third with me.  I had noticed between the first and the second match his fatigue level was already pretty heavy, and it seems he reached his limit.

What's cool is, on my record for this organization, it categorizes that final win as "win by KO"

Definitely jazzed by my performance.  I came in wanting to win just 1 match, and I did exactly that...and then another, haha.