Hereford Open - sometimes you're the nail......

Had five fights in all at the event last weekend and managed to video all of the fights; as well as showing off the matches I won, I am sharing with you the fights I lost, as I believe you can learn so much about the ones you lost.

Fight 1 - my first match was in the -88.3K bracket and I faced Alliance UK member Lee Bown; I started off with a pull to open guard, which didn't go the way I wanted and then I made a HUGE error which lost me the match. Lee defended the open guard attack and I switched to pull half guard and work for a sweep to get on top; however it wasn't one of the most secure half guards I have pulled and I ultimately paid the price. Lee slipped through the half guard and had me pinned with knee on belly and started work on subbing me.

Lee was very very strong and the pressure he used was overwhelming and I knew I was in for a tough match; every time I defended the knee on belly, he pushed me back and secured the knee, squeezing the air from my lungs every time and from then on all I could do was to try and hang on in and gut the seven minutes out.

From the knee on belly position, Lee attacked with a collar choke and almost caught me in an arm lock on two occasions and so it went on; I defended knee on belly only to be pushed back into position. The video tape missed the closing seconds of the match, which had Lee in knee on belly which I tried to defend and went for an underhook; as I went for the underhook I got my wrist trapped in his armpit and the arm was locked out, plus I had pressure on my neck and eye from the knee. I tried to escape from this horrendous position and could feel huge pressure in my neck and eye as well as a possible arm lock creeping up on me, so I tapped out, with thirty seconds left on the clock.

I knew I couldn't hold out that long from the pressure of the knee on my face/head, so I wasn't too disappointed at tapping out (I was at first) and turned a negative into a positive, by thinking I had made him work hard for the win. I wanted to go to the changing room and slam a few doors and make some noise, but had another two fights to go, so had to be near to the tables in case I got DQ'd, so I had to compose myself pretty quick and not let it show on my face to other competitors, so I seethed in silence and waited for my next fight.................






Fight 2 - after a short break I was back on the mats and faced Gracie Barra member Dave 'Sticky' Iverson; Dave took the fight to me by pulling guard and I tried to stand to attempt to open his guard and pass. Dave was very strong in the guard and although I opened the legs, he put up a good defence and grabbed hold of my lapel and attempted a sweep which I defended and went back into his guard.

Dave still had hold of my lapel and I opened his guard again and looked for the pass which Dave defended and I ended up in a half guard position. I attempted to duck my head under and start a guard pass, but Dave had too tight a grip on the lapel and managed to get me in a triangle position but with the legs the other way round and from then it was lights out and loss #2......

Fight 5 - my last match in the Senior Absolute was against Richard Shore (Shakus Maximus on the EFN forum) and I quickly pulled open guard and went for the sweep, which he defended so quickly shifted to a De La Riva attack and was again defended and had him in my guard.

Richard passed to half guard and got the underhooks in for the advantage and I managed to pull back an open butterfly guard. From there I opened up and attempted a scissor sweep which was easily stuffed and my guard was passed and he was in side control. Richard tried to gain the upper hand and started to look for the sub and then ended up in mount and I managed to defend the mount and put him back in open guard.

I attempted another scissor sweep, albeit a very sloppy one, which was easily countered and once again I retrieved guard, but this time my guard was passed decisively and Richard secured side control. A brief stint in north/south position followed from Richard, before ending in mount after countering my defence and then it was submission hunting once again; after another attempt at bridging Richard off me, he started to attack with an Ezekiel choke and one more defence followed, which Richard managed to ride out and then proceeded to sink in the Ezekiel good and proper and left me no option that to tap.

Five fights in one day, not bad going for us old timers; so there you go, my three times as the nail in all their glory. Read Part 2 which will follow shortly and witness the two times I was the hammer......