Hey guys and girls, I’m gonna do this blog in no particular order as usual, so I’ll start by talking bout the thing thats on my mind right now……………my thumb. It’s 6 a.m. in the morning and I have just been woken up by something throbbing, purple, and swollen. OK I know what you’re thinking, "Jack it’s a usual thing for guys", but this isn’t morning glory. This is my thumb. Yesterday when I was rolling, I landed on my thumb and bent the end bit all the way back. At the time I was like ouch!! and carried on rolling, but by the end of the day I could feel it was gonna bother me. In BJJ not so much, but latley me and the guys have been playing motorbike games online and my records are dropping due to this injury. Thumbs are important in the gaming world. If they weren’t, monkeys would be doing it. OK that’s enough of me being a girl (no offence, but girls do tend to whine a lot more and I do appreciate a woman’s whining, but there’s a time and a place).
Copa Novo Leblon — I’ll run you through the 12 hour day I had there. We decided to get a taxi there, as there was enough of us to fill one and the busses in Brazil are a bit hit and miss. We arrive in the area and the taxi driver drives around for an extra $5 trying to drop us off at the door (very kind you may think but the cabs run on meters), so we got out and walked the rest of the way. On arrival, I saw a few friends in there from the academy. All smiles and hugs asking each other how they felt, talking about game plans, ect. I’m not the most chatty person before fights or matches, so I decided to go for a walk around the venue and clear my mind. On doing this, I kept bumping into people I knew from the beach or from other spots around Barra. It was kinda nice to know I was remembered. Jesse and Jason were first to compete and Dennis showed up just in time to coach them. Jesse fought really well and had the guy dominated a lot, but wasn’t stabilizing enough and lost his first match (but his guns were looking good). Jason’s match was hard to watch. Since Jason came here I thought he was a nice guy, always polite, and very respectful on the mat. He is a white belt who is close to his blue, but what I liked about him is that he would joke around with people and treat them normally outside the gym regardless of their belt rank. That’s pretty refreshing. Also, he actually stepped up and competed as a blue belt. He came against a super strong, tough guy, who took mount for pretty much the whole match. Good work guys and keep training hard.
Now my fights. I was feeling ill on the week coming up to these fights, so rather than cut weight and feel worse, I cooked up a potato and veg soup and stayed at 78 kg. The lightest guy in my weight, but it’s no biggie in BJJ. My first match, I was super calm and subbed the guy with my signiture hip bump to triangle. Second match went the same. Third match, I changed my game a lil, as i knew the guy I was fighting in the final was watching me, so I opened up and won that match 16-0 on the points. Not one to let it go to the judges, especially in Brazil, but I did dominate so there was no arguments. So I make it to the finals and I’m fighting a guy who was in my bracket at my last comp and I pretty much know he’s a strong guy and I also know he doesn’t want to mess about being in my guard. He shoots for the takedown and ends up in my butterfly guard. I instantly go for the sweep and he based out, so I wrap my legs around his in a way that is illegal and get disqualified. I wasn’t aware of this rule, nor was I aware that the guy I was fighting was a little bitch who would abuse this rule but whatever. So I came 2nd and the guy who came 1st was celebrating like he had destroyed me. Next I signed up for the absoloute, in hope I may fight the guy who beat me in the finals. Instead, I fight another heavyweight who I have fought before and he layed on me in side control last time. This time, I jumped guard and immediately sunk in the loop choke …..not deep enough. He escaped my guard and layed on me again and won on points. By now it was 5 p.m. and the white belts Tommy, Sam, and Niall turned up. Tommy and Sam lost their first fights, but gave a good effort and Niall went on to get 3rd after four tough fights with some really good guard work. Congratulations, Niall Mullen.
Sunday I stayed in bed all day chilling, chatting to my familly, and discovering I had a lil upset stomach after several trips to the lil boys room. Monday I decided to wake up early and do sprints on the beach and take a dip in the water to refresh myself for the week. The water was nice and the session left me feeling fresh and sexy for the weeks training heading up to my next torney. Dennis’ class was me, Dennis, Niall, and Ross. We had a pretty easy session. Grip breaks for 5 minutes, sweeps for 5 minutes, a few of Dennis’ special sequences, then 6 rolls back to back no rest — that’s where I smashed my thumb.
Well its now 7:45 a.m. and time for training. Hope you guys enjoyed this blog and if you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Mad Jack Magee
”If it ain’t Mad, it ain’t Jack”