BJJ Master Worlds, UFC Lincoln, Nebraska, and on to Japan!
I did Otakon, NAGA tournament for kids, NAGA for me, IBJJF jiujitsu world master competition, and yesterday I got back from UFC Nebraska helping support JoJo! My final thing on the list for my busy August is JAPAN!
But first, to report where I left off in my last blog.
I went to IBJJF Master Worlds competition. I managed my weight through water and food management, and weighed at 140 with my gi on feeling pretty good, only a few pounds dehydrated.
There were nine women in my division, which is a lot for women. Men can get into the twenties or thirties or more. It felt like I had to wait forever! FINALLY around noon they called my division and brown belt females started to gather around the waiting area, where we enter onto the mat to fight. OMG SO EXCITING! It’s SO RARE to see other brown belt females and they were CONGREGATING like ….like…I dunno. A pack of wolves! A flock of geese! A pride of lions! I dunno I was so excited to fight them all.
My first girl no-showed! I was sad! COME FIGHT ME. So I got a bye, and was matched up against another girl.
So I went out there and she kept inverting and going for a knee bar, except I didn’t feel in danger at all. Coach Casey called it “The tornado guard.”
I wasn’t feeling in danger but I also wasn’t sure how to pass or proceed because I started getting the feeling her goal might NOT be to knee bar me, but sweep me instead. I think we both were even with one advantage until the middle of the 6- minute match when I was just about to pass her half guard when we went close to out of bounds, so the ref restarted us. DAMNIT.
My heart sank because I KNEW we could never restart in the same position. I tried to notice every position but to no avail. I had a deep underhook and my knee was knee-slicing, but we restarted with her having a strong knee shield and her forearm in my throat. She immediately got her guard back when the ref said go. I was so upset. ;_; I knew in the back of my brain what was happening but told myself I’d just pass anyway. I’m too fair. I always do poorly from restarts. Well, who knows, I’m not going to blame my loss on a restart, only one lost opportunity. From there, she reversed position and got sweep points, and then got side control, and after a while, the match was over and I lose on points. I think she got the sweep points before the restart. I lost because I was unable to pass her guard and get my points.
I’ve never fought anyone with her style before, so that was interesting. I was kind of disappointed in my performance, butbecause I knew I had improved since my last competition, that wasn’t what really depressed me. I was most upset about the fact I wouldn’t get to fight anymore. ALL THE BROWN BELTS were around and I DIDN’T GET TO FIGHT anymore. So sad!
At least I got to compete. My coach got an injury so had to pull out, and a friend at Dunham’s got food poisoning and had to pull out. So I’m grateful I got to do that.
I asked a staff guy running around if I had another match, and he said “no” without checking my name or any papers. hmmm uh…okay. My head was spinning, still in fight mode. My friends were telling me to go pick up my gift bag, and I started thinking about making it on time to teach my kids class. We left and went to eat tacos. That was nice.
My heart hurt, though. I felt like I just lost an MMA fight. It’s not just about losing, but it’s failure after all the HOURS of blood, sweat, tears, and effort that lead up to that moment. It’s mourning the time that was put into something that resulted in failure. And it hurts deeply.
When I got home, I checked my Facebook and a girl I met (who resembles me) and made friends with messaged me and said that they were calling me on the podium for 3rd place. Where was I?!? Because I had gotten the bye, it counted as a win and I had one more match. WHAT?! I could also have competed in the open weight division as a bonus. WHAAAAAAT? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG I was so devastated! All I had wanted to do was fight more and I COULD HAVE FOUGHT MORE if that stupid guy had made more of an effort to check his notes! ;_;
Well, I sensed something was amiss so I could have asked someone else, but I was still not thinking straight, having come straight from combat. My coaches could have asked. We all share a bit of that regret. I’m just going to focus on the positive things: I didn’t get injured, like many of the people I saw walking around with ice taped to their body parts. I was able to compete, unlike some of my friends with serious or minor injuries/afflictions that kept them out of the tournament, and I heard that some flights were delayed so some people didn’t arrive on time! MY first opponent had a Polish name, so I wonder if she didn’t arrive in time. How much would THAT suck? Spend all that time and money to fly in internationally only to arrive two hours too late to fight? I also know that the very fact I competed leveled me up a bit. I always feel it. On Monday when I went to training, I FELT a little more…. I don’t know how to describe it. Aware of movement, balance points, technique.
Al Powers took the pics. Thank you!!
Thank you to Casey and Serena for always being there for me, and to Mike, for coming down, hanging out all morning, to coach and support.
I trained normally on Thursday…. was kind of depressed but forced myself to train, and really enjoyed the session. I like helping out Linda, our Indonesian visitor.
Friday, I did a strength session early in the morning and then flew to Lincoln Nebraska! I’m sorry I couldn’t get there sooner, JoJo. I hadn’t been sure at the time if I would fight on Wednesday or Thursday.
Anyway, JoJo was weighed in and ready to fight! Saturday we passed the day, and then in the evening, went to Pinnacle Bank Arena.
I helped JoJo warm up. She was sharp and ready!
It was my first time cornering in the UFC. It was the first time I could actually enjoy walking out to the cage, and enjoy the audience’s cheers without being a hella nervous and trying to shut everyone out and focus on my own fight. Some fans in the stands above us actually shouted “ROXY!” lol Hi, guys, okay, you’re sweet but cheer for JoJo now! It’s her night! 🙂 It was my honor to stand beside her (behind her). She helped me train for my fight, and so I helped her train for hers.
I hadn’t even sat down yet when the fight started. I was trying to keep track of the bucket and her clothes and figure out where I was sitting….I thought there’d be an organized little table or something but there were just stools off to the side, and I was half blocking the ring announcer. I didn’t even see how it happened, but her opponent threw two strikes, bum-rushed her, and took her down. Oh no! JoJo managed to fend her off and keep her from mounting or landing effective ground and pound, but couldn’t get up. Her opponent was flailing on her and overextending herself. I wanted to tell her to try and off balance her or go for an arm-bar but it wasn’t my job to shout stuff. That’s John’s job. Then he called out for her to do that. Then suddenly BAM, she slapped on a triangle and got the armbar with LIKE TWO SECONDS LEFT!!!!!!!!!
She ran around the cage screaming, and slammed into the poor staff guy trying to open the cage door to get to John. XD haha
It was great. omg I was so happy!! Various people were joking that John is turning the BJJ girl into a striker (me) and the Muay Thai girl into a grappler (JoJo). Well yeah, because John Wood is the BEST COACH IN MMA! JoJo said in an interview that he’s the glue that brings her MMA game together. Yep!
We relaxed backstage and ate (I ate dessert for her since she wasnt hungry) and watched the rest of the card. Justin Gaethje won by KO! YAY so happy. Everyone else I wanted to win won, except Angela Hill. I wanted her to win. oh well… :/
I love training with JoJo. Her striking is better than mine, but she has great control on her power so I’m not afraid of getting knocked out. She foils lots of my techniques so I have to figure out how to improve them, and thereby improving. And we made friends. I’m so glad she came to Syndicate six months ago! <3 Sunday I spent literally all day waiting for my 5 PM flight, and I got back to Vegas at 9 PM. Thanks for picking me up at the airport, Billie and Serena! 😀 Today is Monday and I'm ready to train! Thursday I'm off for my yearly trip to Japan! so excited!! My blog sponsor can help you with business IT solutions! 😀 www.myconsumerit.com…