Training Log -- 8/24

AWESOME night on the mats. Techniques were:

- counter to underhook escape from side control. Take the whizzer and hop around their head to take their back.

- From this position, grab around their neck and take their collar. Grip their pants and lean back for the modified Bow and Arrow choke. Alternatively, don't grab their leg and instead use that arm to go behind their head for more choking pressure.

- armbar from this position.

Drilled with JC, Katie, new dude Michael, Antony and lastly Coe, because he insisted on rolling with people 80lbs lighter than him. I ran my mouth as usual and thus got the knee-in-ribs treatment from him. New dude kept telling me how to complete an armbar and choke during drilling, which was kinda getting on my nerves. Nonetheless I stayed quiet with him until rolling, where I swept and armbarred him from mount. He waited too long or maybe tried a bad escape which got his arm cranked more than he liked. Again swept him, tried for the same armbar but he turned into it. But instead of faceplanting I hit a sweeeeeet shoulder roll sending him upward and over, right into the armbar. He pounded the mat in frustration. Gotta love seeing that lol.

Antony was a blast and brought some very nice standing pass attempts to the table, which is different because Josh rarely passes standing with me. Antony hit me with a NICE "modified De La Riva", as he described it, but I tried to remain composed and prevent the pass. Recomposed guard and tried for a Sickle Sweep and also the butterfly hook variant of that sweep, but he saw it coming and stepped back with his lead foot. I took the single and reversed the position into his guard, but I don't think he fought the single leg too much anyway.

Overall I played a ton of top game and thus my body isn't as sore as usual. No guard passes on me and never really in a bad situation. Good progress. I tried for one of those rolling toeholds on Michael but as he defended I recalled my goals from Sunday and took top control. So yeah, good stuff.

Training Log -- 8/21

Rolled with Josh at 6pm and had a few good rolling toeholds, straight ankle locks and guillotines. Actually hit a d'arce off a front headlock, which is a first for me because I'll usually look to take the back off that position. I feel like my leg locks are getting really good, particularly the toehold. I'm going to try going for them less at this point so I don't get too hung up on lower body submissions.

We had a massive main class for the first time in forever. We had a couple ammy fighters come in from Jefferson to work on their ground game before the fights at Bad Manor (see bottom of post for information). One is a 140lb guy who will be fighting Ralph from Hardcore Gym. He was a really nice dude and it looks like he'll be joining us from now on. There was the other new guy Michael who is kinda spazzy still, and a couple bigger guys who I didn't roll with. There was also that kid Sean who I remembered as the guy I choked unconscious back in October. Fun times! Well, for me, anyway.

Rolled with JC, Josh, Sean, Michael, and that fighter. I think his name was Paul. His jits isn't too bad, but his guard retention is his biggest weakness. I had little problem passing into side control and shifting around between there and North/south. I think his best bet is to stand with Ralph because he's gonna get owned otherwise. I haven't seen Ralph roll but he's a purple belt and this guy is still white belt level.

I had a similar situation with Michael but he had an easier time muscling me around so I mostly played from my back while threatening with armbars and chokes. Sean ended up being player's choice so I subbed him from anywhere I wanted.

We did "Octopus Guard" which is eduardo telles's game. I was actually 100% unfamiliar with it so it was awesome to check out some stuff I'd never seen before, including anywhere on the net. There was a back-take, shoulder lock, and sweep into mount using a butterfly hook.

Anyone who is Athens and would like to see some great live MMA, Bad Manor will be hosting "Battle for Athens" or something to that effect. We have a few fighters from my gym competing so it's gonna be an awesome night. Check it out!

http://www.thebadmanor.com/FightFusionFightNight

Training Log -- 8/17

Well most of my injuries had healed, so that's good. Wednesday's class was speed armbars, more technical armbars, and armbars using your opponent's lapel -- all from guard. Rolled with JC, Steven and a newer guy named Michael who claimed he had been training at a Karate school (sounded McDojo-ish) and won 2 NAGA tournaments. He was a good bit stronger than me, maybe 170lbs, but the only thing he pulled off was tossing me off mount and coming back into my guard. He gassed me out BAD but I armbarred him from mount, Kimura from North/South and took a toehold off a scramble. Not too bad.

I've been laying off the fast food and I think I feel a bit better. Weight is maybe a little over 145 now, which is good. Not much else to report on. Oh, and my right ring finger is still jammed.

Zuffa Assfucks Golden Glory

Just read that Zuffa has fired 3 Golden Glory fighters: Einemo, Valentijn Overeem, and Marloes Coenen. This almost certainly has something to do with the firing of Alistair Overeem, which was fishy in and of itself. Now it seems like some sort of guilt by association thing. Thing is, Marloes was a big representative of WMMA and her firing is a clear sign that Zuffa doesn't care about promoting women fighters once Strikeforce is dissolved, which makes me VERY sad. Einemo may have lost his first UFC bout, but he put on a hell of a show and was awarded FotN. This makes no sense and I'm looking forward to more information coming forth.

Training Log -- 7/31

Went in at 6 and was happy to see some of the kids and Ian there as well. We drilled escapes from knee on belly, side control, half guard, mount and north/south. Flow rolled with the kids and lastly with Ian. We finished up at 7 and I relaxed a bit until the main class.

For the first time I think, main class was pretty much straight rolling with an emphasis on working on stuff we need to improve upon. Rolled with JC, Brian, Vinnie (a muay thai guy with some mid-blue belt BJJ experience), and a girl Amanda who does Muay Thai but apparently had some BJJ experience from a few years back. I was able to work for 90% of the time on top of JC, switching from mount/side control/north-south before hitting a keylock and getting a somewhat rare tapout from him. Messed around a lot with butterfly hooks on Amanda and tried to really pace myself, monitor my breathing and generally not burn energy while flowing through techniques. Brian steamrolled me like usual but I can definitely see my improvements when I train with him. I almost passed his guard and took a front headlock, but didn't base out and had him gator roll me onto my skull using patented "Brian Strength" which sucked really bad. Vinnie didn't murder me too bad, but I expect he was going maybe 60% with me. At one point he heel hooked me HARD and I felt it in my knee. Gave him the "you should know better" look and he obviously felt like shit.

This morning my knee was awkward so I braced it while I walked around campus. It's feeling better and should be fine in a couple days, so luckily no major ACL injury. My shins and kneecaps are still purple.

I'm thinking of taking a small amount of initiative and changing my diet. I think my recovery is being affected by my laziness and I'm concerned about my overall health, in general. I still eat a lot of fast food, especially after training. Coupled with immediately going to sleep, I'm getting heartburn in addition to being hurty in the morning. I think the main goal is going to be cutting down on fast food. Greasy and fried stuff in particular.