matt.makalumedia.com by Matt Henderson

European Gold

This past weekend was very special to me, as, after several years of training in the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), I traveled with our team Gracie-Barra BH Marbella to Lisbon, Portugal, to compete in European BJJ Championships.

All the training paid off, as I won the gold medal in my category (Blue belt, 76 kg, Seniors 1) and nearly won a medal in the Open Class (all weights) category.

In all, I had five fights. Three were won by submission (foot lock, choke from the mount, and arm-bar) and one by judges decision. In the third round of the Open Class, I was disqualified as I went for a foot lock and rolled. The judge said that turned the move into a leg-bar, which is illegal.

I met a lot of interesting people at the event, including US grappler Mike Fowler, PrideFC fighter Fabricio Werdum, Carlos Gracie Jr., and Gracie-Barra north american representative, “Papa John”.

I plan to write up a team report on the GB Marbella website, with videos and photos.

Technorati Tags: bjj, portugal, lisbon

Enhorabuena “Campeón” no esperaba menos de ti. Me alegro mucho por este resultado, era algo que te merecías después de tanto esfuerzo y entrenamiento, por no mencionar eso de pasar hambre durante más de una semana ;-)

Un abrazo “Campeón de Europa” :-)

Congratulations Matt! Now I know, next time we sit together for a negotiation, I will avoid getting you too excited ;-)