Big congrats to Danny Mitchell and Adam Simpson on winning brown belt and purple belt divisions respectively at Absolute Submission Championships on Sunday, Adam even claimed the fastest submission for a 37 second triangle which is awesome work.
There had been some concern that extended time limits and submission only would drag the tournament on too long but quite the opposite happened. Out of all the divisions only 1 match went to time. Compare that to how many matches went to time at Manchester Open.
Are we competing with the wrong mind set?
Are people too happy to sit on points and run the clock out for the W?
I guess this all comes down to your motivation for competing, JJ Machado always looked for the sub and at times would lose on points because of it whereas other guys will happily get an advantage and stall out a win. There is no right or wrong way to compete to win so it is all down to personal choice.
A couple of years ago an invite dropped through my letter box to compete in a submission only tournament in Derby (I competed in Derby but never got to Abu Dhabi) and as I had never done a submission only tournament before I decided to enter.
I trained my ass off just trying to submit everyone as quick as possible in training and felt pretty good. Even though to start with I was getting great positions but trying to sub someone who is purely defensive is still tough to do.
We got to the event and had the rules meeting where they decided to NOT do submission only but a regular tournament with points and advantages etc. I was pretty gutted until I realised that the change in rules would not effect me and I would just go all out to submit everyone or die trying. (Well, maybe not die but lose which is nearly as bad).
First match I was a little reluctant to charge straight in but danced around a little then got the takedown, pass and sub. Maybe this mindset would get me through after all.
Next match an even quicker sub by omaplata arm bar.
Semi final match even quicker sub by triangle to arm bar.
Final was even quicker sub by footlock in 22 seconds.
If I had not had the submission only mindset, I maybe wouldn't have had such success, I would have played more conservatively and accepted a win on points rather than pushing the action.
Ask yourself, is submission only the rules of the tournament or the mental attitude you have towards competing?
DC
1 comment:
sub only is the best. i've gotten nearly 90 mins of rolling with people i've never met at an average sub only tournament across 4 divisions. compared to the maybe 20 or 40 min's i'll get across various divisions at a regular points tournament.
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