Lisbon, Portugal was the site for this year’s IBJJF European Championships. I was excited to get back to Lisbon. I had competed here at brown belt in 2019. It’s a beautiful city and I recommend that anyone who visits should plan a few extra days to tour a castle or palace.
This was my first competition in the Master 7 division. I signed up for the heavyweight division along with four other competitors. I was given the number one seed based on points achieved in the previous three years. The seed gave me a first round bye.
The semi-final match started off with my opponent pulling guard.
After I passed and attempted a North-South position, he went to the turtle, at which point I took his back for the remainder of the match.
On to the heavyweight final…
I secured a take-down early in the match. After passing and earning knee on belly points…
My opponent was able to regain half guard.
Unfortunately he injured his knee while tightening a lock-down position and could not finish the match.
I was very excited and thankful to have been able to compete at the Europeans again and come away with the master 7 heavyweight title. On to the open division…
My opponent secured a take-down early in this quarter-final match. During a sweep attempt we returned to neutral where it was my turn to achieve a take-down. I then passed and secured a victory via knee on belly submission.
On to the semi-final…
I ended up pulling guard early in the period. I was able to secure a sweep a bit later. The rest of the match was mostly me attempting to pass and him defending his guard well.
The final started out with a guard pull by my opponent. I was able to break his full guard, and get to half guard briefly. As I continued a pass attempt, he went to the turtle position, where I was able to take his back. Later, he briefly regained guard and I passed that near the end of the period.
It was a great feeling to win my first absolute final at a major IBJJF tournament!
At the beginning of the day 43 men competed in the Master 7 black belt division at various weight classes. Of those that placed, twelve signed up for the open division. I am thankful to be healthy enough to continue to compete, and I’m thankful to have opponents that are willing to compete as well!
