Have Mat! Will Tap!

2005-07-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

Slapping on a Figure-4

Sticks and stones won't break my bones but an armlock can dislocate my shoulder. Good thing I didn't get injured this weekend even after slacking off and not training in Mixed Martial Arts for a month or so. I had to semi-force myself to get back on the mat, really, cause it was simply so tempting to just vegetate on the couch and watch DVDs. Still, through John Alindogan's gift of kakulitan, Ramil's ever-readiness to grapple, and Tony Boy's kind heart (for always letting us borrow the wicked mats), we managed to set-up over at my garage on a late Sunday night.

It was a good opportunity to get some grappling shots too. Only problem was my garage was in it's constant state of disarray and, if you look closely enough, you may find Waldo somewhere hidden between the straw brooms and dustpans (For my "challenged" readers... don't bother looking, that was just me being hyperbolic)

Mike Banayad has given up on me, I think. He doesn't text me anymore to invite me to the special weekend grappling sessions over at the City Gym. I think my status in the AFC (Alliance Fight Club) right now is persona-non-grata and deservedly so, but really it's not about me slacking off on the team, more of it's me finding myself very busy with almost every other part of my life. Work, for one, is eating up a lot of my time. Plus, as those of you who follow my blogging know, I've been sick for quite a while. Hay. I hope I can get back on my training track soon...

Sunday Training

The Sunday training went on pretty well considering it was raining like crazy. We got in a couple of hours of grappling on good mats. I'm kinda disappointed cause I finished all my matches with armlocks and wasn't able to finish with chokes or leg locks. The failed-arm bar to Omoplata was nice, though, and I managed to lock a good Kimura and an Americana. I went for one Reverse Triangle Choke but I got tired and put John back in my guard. Both Ramil and John are getting better every week, demonstrating their knowledge of bottom sweeps and ground control. Ramil dominated John in terms of positioning, forcing Dogan (John) into turtle positions and bottom north souths. He was quick in getting his opponent's back and transitioning between subs. He even got a Reverse Triangle Choke on. Dogan, on the other hand, wrestled pretty well. So well in fact that I had to stop one of their matches on account of a powerful slam that had Ramil clutching his butt cheek and wincing for a good 10 minutes. Dogan also showed how he could relax in choke holds as he stopped himself from tapping out to all our chokes.

Ramil with his favorite Guillotine Choke

Starting with a kneel clinch

I also let them put on grappling gloves and try some NHB (No Holds Barred) with me so that they'd start learning about Ground and Pound. We had a single pair of gloves available and so I let them punch me while I simply defended. Dogan got some good shots in but it was obvious that they have a long way to go in terms of real MMA. Next time I'd probably ask them to bring gloves and let them experience how it is TO BE PUNCHED on the face while on the ground. Hehehe.

Dogan working on a straight armbar	Reverse Triangle Choke
RNC attempt...	...transition to a straight armbar

TJ entering

URCC VI

On a related topic, Dogan and I got to watch URCC VI (Universal Reality Combat Championships) over at Casino Filipino. They didn't let cameras in so I wasn't able to get some shots. All in all it was an enjoyable night but the match results weren't too ideal from my point of view. Some of the fighters I was routing for lost their matches.

Carlos Tiongson (AFC) lost to Charlie Angel (Way of the Warrior) via a soccer kick to the head while on the ground. While Tiongson is a very good grappler and submissions specialist, Charlie was able to sprawl well and contain his shooting. Charlie then punished him with strong Muay Thai leg and body kicks. There was this one time when Tiongson slapped on a perfect Rear-naked Choke but Charlie wouldn't tap out (I lost my voice shouting "Tap Out na!") and eventually powered out into Tiongson's guard. Oh well, it would have been great to be there and witness an AFC win.

TJ Tiu (Freestyle Wrestling), whom I've rolled with a couple of times, successfully defended his Heavyweight Championship against Phil "The Beast" Bryner (Tough Republic) via referee stoppage. After a controversial first three minutes where the referee restarted the match while Phil was pounding a headlocked TJ (apparently Phil used an illegal small-joint manipulation move on TJ), the match devolved into a battle of clinches and short punches from the clinch. TJ, though, eventually got Phil on his back and finished with a full-mount ground and pound.

Monsters duking it out

Erwin GnPing from Richard's Guard

Newly minted Machado Blue-belt, Erwin Tagle, leader of Submission Sports, the other half of the Pinoy Top Team (along with AFC), got a draw against the current Flyweight champ, Richard "The Dancing Devil" Lasprilla (DEFTAC Jiu-jitsu). Now this was a very Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba kinda match with Richard finding himself dominated and on his back most of the match due to Erwin's non-conventional but highly effective fighting style.

High point for me was when Erwin threw a Piston Punch at a downed Lasprilla in the corner. As mentioned, the match ended with no definite winner (URCC rules never goes to judging) and so was declared a draw. Richard retained the title but Erwin Tagle took the fight... and everyone who walked out that arena knew who really won.

Things I'll be doing in the Future

Man, I really got into this article. Watch out for more about Philippine MMA on this spot. I'll post new training pictures and hopefully I can get back to training with AFC again. For now I'll do my best to go back to daily heavy bag training and cardio. Plus I need to lose weight... don't wanna fight heavy weights in competition. I'm at 210 lbs. (actually down from a regular 240) right now... I want to get down to 179 lbs if that is possible. Lastly, I might be posting on the URCC Message Boards soon.

Bakbakan na!

Note: I'm using URCC VI pictures from James Deakin's website. Thanks, James... hope okay lang. If you are a fight fan, you should check out his site.

MMA Philippines

Have Mat! Will Tap!