Last weekend I partook in the Australian Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition, and came fourth in my division.

I left on Thursday with Nathan, Mike and our coach Adam. Tim and Roseanne we already in Melbourne with Karen. John, Karen’s brother, relocated to Victoria a few months back so we ran into him a few times over the weekend also.

Our team ended up doing pretty well, with both Roseanne and Nathan taking out their titles. Roseanne won all 4 of her fights to win the women’s white belt open weight division and Nathan one his only fight to take out the men’s purple belt middle weight division. In Nathan’s division there were only three competitors, and he beat a guy who beat the other guy, so he only fought once. He had a slick 30-40 second ezekiel choke. Tim lost his first fight in the men’s blue belt middle weight division but it was a see-saw battle that was great to watch.

My first fight took about a minute and a half. The guy was a fair bit older than me and had a gi that looked like it was 20 years old. I had about a foot in height over him, and I topped out the scales at just on 90kg (men’s heavy weight is 80-90kg) so I new he wasn’t heavier than me. We went to the ground fairly quickly and he was in my guard. I swept him pretty easily and ended up in his half guard. I moved into mount, collected the guard pass and mount points (3 + 4) which put me ahead of him (2 for the take down). From mount I moved to side-mount and sunk a lapel half-nelson choke in. It’s one of my favourites. I think it was a bit across the jaw, but this is competition standard so I really cranked it on and he tapped.

My second fight was against a smaller blonde haired guy who looked a little wild and unruly. I took him down and ended in his half guard. He put his arm in the wrong place and I set up my head-arm choke. I passed his half guard to side-control and upgraded to mount, then switched off to be parallel with him. He tapped after I gave the choke a good squeeze.

The third fight was against Dave from Potential Unlimited MMA, a club that seems to mirror our own standards and expectations. We danced around for about 4 minutes with nobody really getting any advantage. I kept trying for an outside leg sweep but was doing it all wrong, and it was only a matter of time before he caught my leg and got the takedown. He was up by 2 points, but in my guard and I was working. With a minute to go I tried a few sweeps but he bunkered down in my guard and stalled. 30 seconds left and Adam’s yelling form my corner to get something. I had half a basic sweep done but he posted and sunk back into guard. Time up - I’d lost.

We had a great chat after the fight and Dave said that he’d been watching me compete and changed his game plan to “just survive.” Although I lost the fight, it didn’t really feel too bad because I knew that he’d felt like the only way to beat me was to not really compete. It was disappointing, but that’s part of the game, and I should have been able to move him from my guard.

Then I get called onto the mat - I’m fighting it out for 3rd/4th place. What the hell? I thought I was out. Crap! This was the biggest wrestle I had, with both of us getting good movement and I had some nice escapes and controls, but in the end I was caught with an ezekiel choke when I was on my back in half guard.

Again, I had a good chat with the fighter and congratulations were shared. I was invited to train with his club any time I’m in Melbourne, which I might take up in the future. He also said that watching me in the first and second rounds he thought I’d be the hardest fight for him, and when he won he was shocked. These kind of compliments made me realise that I’ve come a fair way with my BJJ and that people respect my abilities.

I was wrapped with the competition, especially the sportsmanship that everyone displayed. Compared to the last tournament I was in out in Malaga (where people stole figure-fours when you were resetting in the centre) I found the mats were much better and people were really fighting clean. I got my nose flattened in the first fight and the guy stopped to check I was OK before we continued, without the referee intervening. In my third fight we danced off the mats, so Dave and myself “reset” ourselves in the centre and started again, without the referee instructing us to. The choke that beat me in my last fight was released when I tapped and not when he was told to.

I was lucky to have Gerald (who’s now a brown belt, and trains at the Submission Factory in Perth) referee three of my fights, and he was great. When we reset, he made absolutely sure that both fighters were happy, and said that we’d continue when the person on the bottom wanted. This prevented anybody getting an upper hand when they didn’t deserve it, and I really respected him for that.

So all in all it was a good tour for our club, with the only disappointment being that I didn’t win and Mike not competing because he crushed his hand at work a few weeks back. Look out next year, when the tournament is being changed to the “Austrlasian Nationals” to better reflect the broad competition that was there, notably the New Zealand and Asian fighters.