Grab and Pull North West BJJ Open - Liverpool

Back from a great day of jiu jitsu action and a smoothly run event from Gus Oliveira, Reuben Browning and the rest of the Grab and Pull officials and referees; I had two guys competing at the event in the white belt brackets and both guys walked away with a shiny medal for their efforts. 

Duncan, YT and Ross with their bling

Ross Thomasson was up to the mats first in the Adult Middleweight bracket and won his first match 2-0, courtesy of a sweep; the second fight saw Ross take the win with a sweep, pass to mount and finished the match with a tight Ezekiel.  Third fight in the finals, Ross lost the match on points, against a tough opponent from my good friend Thomas Hanlon's gym in Preston.  

This was Ross's first ever BJJ comp after only a few month's training, a commanding start for the young warrior, who's strong as an ox and has a lot of potential, expect to see a gold medal round his neck very soon.

Ross at the podium

Duncan Aitchinson fought in the Adult Heavyweight section and was winning the match right up to the last thirty seconds, going for sweeps and subs and opened his guard with thirty seconds left on the clock; this gave his opponent a chance to pass and Duncan got to his knees to defend and his opponent managed to get the hooks in and score the points for the win. Real nail biting stuff on a great match, that goes to show it's never over until the timer runs to zero.

Duncan at the podium

Duncan entered the Absolute and won his first match via submission and fought in the semi finals and lost on points in another tough match and ran out of gas in his third place fight off and succumbed to a submission, again, another great match, tough opponents all round.

HUGE well done to both lads for stepping up and laying it all on the line, as always there are no losers on the competition mats, you either win or you learn.

Also, big shout out to Andy Lloyd and Rob Matthews who had travelled all the way from the Isle of Man to have a taste of their first ever BJJ competition, it was a pleasure to meet you guys and hope to see you again real soon :)

Rob Matthews, YT and Andy Lloyd from IOM

A big shout to my brown belt buddy, Thomas Hanlon from Team Sukata, who was there with a team of warriors; nice to see you as always my friend :)

Tomorrow, the lads head over to Manchester for the Evolve No Gi event, pix and report on that event will follow.

Big thanks to Alan Howcroft, our designated driver, smash 'em up in Amsterdam pal!!