From International Judo to First No-Gi Show

“Welcome to adulthood” my land lady usually responds to me when I bring up how fast time seems to be moving.

Around Easter my friend Aaron, who works for the GrappleMax event team, rang me up asking if I’d like to compete on a no-gi grappling show they were planning for the end of August in my hometown of Shrewsbury. Having never had a competitive no-gi contest, and being happily retired from international Judo competition, I took a week or so to mull it over then agreed to compete. It feels like a click of the fingers and the preparation, the event and the six weeks post competing have expired.

Anyway, I wanted to sit down for a few minutes and take stock of what was another new experience in sport for me.

PREPARATION:

I upped my training a little in the build up for GrappleMax. My baseline of sessions for a week is normally 3x no-gi BJJ and 2x strength training. I added another strength session and 1 weekly fitness session in the run up to competing- in an ideal world I’d get more mat time as opposed to extra strength work but I am no longer a full time athlete- my coaching and working endeavours take priority. The gym work can be fitted in around existing commitments. I managed to get in 3 no-gi competitions to gather a little experience in the build up too.

A ‘SHOW’ AS OPPOSED TO COMPETITION:

Through my entire 28 year competitive Judo career the only event format I’ve done has been that of a tournament; multiple people in a weight category, those medalling having gone through multiple rounds. The idea of a one off 10 minute contest seemed appealing, especially in my mid thirties! Pre-contest interviews, pictures, separate warm up rooms, walk out music, single contest area, Saturday evening crowd behaviour were all new experiences for me. I found it exciting. 

To speak completely frankly the other side of it though, I found the whole thing nowhere near as demanding as a tournament. I’m even more solidified in my mind that the best, most resilient athletes and winners are the ones that succeed in tournament format. A show I suppose is exactly that, a show for the crowd, based mainly around entertainment and ticket sales.

THE CONTEST:

I loved it. Physically being out there competing is the thing I’ve missed the most since retiring from Judo. I always loved the buzz and found that I still do. Fair play to my opponent who continued to return to standing when he could have easily stayed grounded. I train with a few lads that know him and I had been advised that he likes to have a go on the feet and put on a show. I was also ‘warned’ about his wrestling ability which I had a quiet smile about. No doubt I found him to be a keener and better ‘wrestler’ than the other athletes I’d encountered in the few events I did in the run up to GrappleMax but people that normally say those things have little to no understanding of how demanding and all-encompassing international Judo is. I felt good, controlled in advancing, reactive, fit, strong.

THE RULESET & RESULT:

The organisers were crystal clear in terms of scoring, only submission attempts would count. I dominated 90% of the contest but lost on one point after the opponent got in with a heel hook that took me 10 seconds to kick free, clear my knee line and get back to my feet. I appreciate it’s easy to say that my main concern was putting on the most exciting match of the night after losing but that was my primary idea going in; I wanted to have some fun. I expressed that to the event staff in the days leading in.

RULESET THOUGHTS:

To reiterate, Dave Weston and the GrappleMax team could not have been clearer on the ruleset and ultimately that’s all that sport is- a set of rules that two parties agree to compete under. Grappling for me though is far more than just submissions- submissions are just one piece of the larger puzzle; positional dominance, control, throws, takedowns, staying standing if wishing to, intention and aggression, in my mind those are all equal and valid elements. Not to be discussed more in this post though, food for another more in-depth conversation later on down the line.

Anyway, I’ve stayed training since GrappleMax and will be competing again inside the next six weeks, looking forward to it.

My full GrappleMax contest can be watched HERE, it’s a quick start so be ready :-)

Thanks for reading,

Danny