My first match, I pulled half guard and was continually working on my half guard sweep. My opponent passed it several times, so when he was on side control, I tried recovering half guard and bull tossing my opponent to his back. I failed to toss my opponent several times. I go mounted as well and didn't do well on my reversal attempts.
Overall, I did horribly from my back. I hardly trained from my back during training due to my ribs. That definitely hurt me a lot in tournament. I relied too much on my power and experience. What hurt me most was thinking outside the box and use the butterfly hooks to combine with my half guard to sweep my opponent.
I spoke with my friend after the match. My opponent is his training partner. They studied my game and my adjustments during training. That paid off well for them.
My second opponent was a wrestler. I found out after the match through a child hood friend, so it made sense on why I couldn't take him down and he took me down well. We were in north south a lot. I couldn't recover to side control. My opponent got knee on belly several times and mount as well. I wasn't able to recover successfully from those positions. I was held down the whole time. Time ran out and that was all she wrote.
I did come out healthy after the tournament so that was a plus. I learned what I need to work on, so I'll make my adjustments starting on Monday's training. I would like to thank my instructors and training partners at Force Balance BJJ/ Paragon Burbank and at the Westside Training Center. I would like to thank my family, friends, and sponsors for all their support. I will grow from this and improve my game. It could only get better from here. Mabuhay, Namaste, Dattebayo!!!