Açaí, gi grips and a rugby match via a four hour slog to Bristol and here’s how it went down:

Myself and James headed to Bristol to represent Factory yesterday along with Big Phil (under Braulio) and our very own “Sensei” Paul for moral support. All week I have been ribbing Phil about his opponent, professional rugby player Matt Stevens (currently serving a ban for drug use) who has recently been making waves in the U.K. BJJ scene. Both myself and James competed in our respective adult brackets as well as ticking for the absolute with Phil squaring off in the Senior division.

We arrived as things were being set up where I had a chance to say hello to Mat of Grappling Dummy’s (formerly Martial Fart’s) complete with Scramble store packing all sorts of cool Japanese gear. More on that to come. I was first to fight in the Adlt Blue Feather weight category so I warmed up and donned my Gi heading strait for the weigh in.

My fight:

I weighed in at 67kg’s in the gi and was fourth to fight which gave me a chance to eye up the competition. Nerves were a slight problem, I think mainly because I haven’t fought since last year, but as soon as everything started that was ok. My opponent was a fighter called Curtis Dodge from Pedro Bessa. The fight started and he shot in for a double leg take down strait from the off which resulted in him slamming into my guard and scoring points on me. Not where I wanted to be so I attempted to get things back up to the feet which resulted in us standing and a ring out. Resetting now and again he went for the shoot only this time didn’t get it.

Somehow we went to the ground again, only against his open guard. I worked a pass and got to side control. I didn’t settle my position though and he was able to bridge me off resulting in another scramble. Dodge went for a huge sweep lifting me right over. With my cat like agility I was able to flip in the air and land on my feet the other side. The rest of the match was more of him in my guard and he got side control somewhere although I think that was earlier. I got an advantage for the pass but lost ultimately on his points to a take down and side control.

Everything felt good though, its not like I got a pasting. I felt like I had fought hard and not gassed out (thanks to Mat Leighs cardio sessions) against a physically stronger opponent.

Losing was disappointing but my opponent went on to beat everyone else by submission and take the gold, so me not getting submitted served as a small consolation. It also left me with plenty of time to eat Acai ice cream, roll with Mat Benyon and watch the rest of the fights including James in the purple division and Phil “The Rugby Ball” Clegg against rugby ace Matt Stevens.

Having already had a good start to the competition year James Nardone took to the mats proudly being sponsored for the first time by Gameness Europe. His division was small so the organizers had merged the weight divisions to light and heavy. James faced off to a smaller opponent in his first fight who played a very technical game. James put in a solid performance and won with a collar choke from the back and also racked up substantial points on his opponent.

James next fight he faced off to a senior purple belt who had a size advantage on him. James pulled guard first and controlled the opening moments. He was able to sweep his opponent with a sweep he has been working a lot at the gym and secure the opening points. James was looking to pass and began to get caught in a bad spot. His opponent had separated his arms and was looking to armbar. It was on tight and began to look like a sweep as well with James tapping mid air from what he described as “on so tight he heard a crack noise”. James managed to medal in third place as his opponent went on to take the gold in a well fought final. Not bad at all James. James has now medaled twice out of three competitions at purple belt.

Next up was Big Phil trying his hand for the first time with the blue belts. It couldn’t have been a tougher competition as his first fight was against non other than England Prop Matt Stevens. This was as much a highlight as any to watch and for me was more interesting than some of the black belt fights purely because of the sheer power of this professional athlete and the fact that my freind had drawn the short straw to fight him first. That being said Phil had as good a chance as anyone and in a gi its anyone’s game. Its certainly not rugby that’s for sure.

All I will say is the match went like this:

Phil fought off initial take down attempts by Stevens until Stevens eventually picked him up. Stevens slammed him down and the entire hall made an “Oooo” sound in response to a combined weight of over 40 stone hitting the floor hard.

Phil did well, kept his cool underneath and attempted to escape resulting in a restart from the feet but was eventually beaten by an arm lock from side-control. MASSIVE kudos to Phil for stepping up and for not cracking to my roo’s all week.

It was a long day that eventually saw us take on the absolute with similar results. In fairness we had wanted to go home earlier but as is the nature of these comps things ran over slightly. The highlight of the day after competing for me was hanging out with Mat again and this time we got to roll in the warm up area. He showed me his triangle techniques he picked up in Japan which I had until then been unable to figure out. His store did well too with what seemed like all of the Reversal Gear being sold (a good chunk of which to James and Paul).

I had a much more positive experience of competing this time around and came away know that I need to work hard. Settling in to controlling positions is going to be a big one for me over the coming months if I am to transfer my gym game into competition well. Big thanks also to Paul shooting a good chunk of the stills. Im looking forward to seeing the Vids from the day from Paul and James.