In my post “Why Am I Writing About Gi vs. No-gi” I talked about the differences between the two in my opinion and how I was going to but my thoughts to the test. I did compete in a No-gi tournament. I did lose and it was not for the reason I would have expected. I couldn’t get the guy to let go of my wrists and I showed forth some really poor escape technique. I was also very unprepared for the intensity with which I was meet. I was too relaxed about it. The match went like this: After some grappling back and forth he got both his hands around my neck and we just sunk into guard position. I quickly passed his guard and got him in cross body. This is when I couldn’t get him to let go of my wrists. I transitioned in a upper cross body and worked his legs. I made a nice smooth transition to mount and began looking for a arm bar. I was in complete control at this time. I was up 7 zip, then things went bad. He managed to get a hold of my wrist on one side and with a nice upa rolled me over. I escaped being mounted by pushing him right over me. Before I could completely turn around he hit me broad side and fell into mount on me. It was tied up at that point. I could have still won but I made a sad attempt at escape from mount and then I make the critical mistake of turning on my side giving him a easy arm bar. I was especially upset with myself after seeing the video when I realized I didn’t try a hitch-hiker escape. I didn’t try any escape. It was a sloppy arm bar too. I was stunned by the speed of everything and the intensity. Do I feel No-gi is a subset of Gi still? Yes. Do I feel you should train Gi first and then No-gi still? Yes. Will I do another No-gi tournament? Yes! But not before I have a few classes to get the feel for the speed and bump up my intensity. All BJJ rocks! I learned a lot from that 3.5 minutes on the mat. Just like when Helio Gracie came away from losing to Kimura. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
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