Welcome to 2020! Our grappling team kicked off the competitive season of the New Year this weekend at Grappling Industries, held at Coburg Basketball Stadium. Grappling Industries is a great competition to be a part of, and we are proud of all of our students and staff from all three of our locations (Collingwood, St Kilda and Melbourne CBD) who competed on the day. We would like to say a huge thank you to all the friends and family who came down to support the Absolute MMA team this month, your presence is greatly appreciated by those competing. Irrespective of whether you took away a medal or not, we would like to congratulate you on furthering your grappling game in competition, and taking away an invaluable experience that will only move you forward in your martial arts journey!
While we are proud of all of our students that participated, we would like to draw attention to some standout performances. Coach and Brown Belt Oliver Smith put on on an incredible performance, first coming up against Mathew Myers (Adrenaline MMA) in round two, submitting him at the 2.48 minute mark. In his second match, Oliver competed against Imad Nasser (G-force Jiu Jitsu) in round three of the bracket, securing a points victory (0-12). Match 8, round 4 of the bracket saw Oliver throw down against Jahred Dell (Tu Kaha Auckland City) and submit him at the 3.52 minute mark. In the final match, Oliver secured gold in the under 95kg division, beating Michael Hewson (Adrenaline MMA) via submission at the 1.36 minute mark! A great run for Oliver, achieving 3 submissions and 1 points victory in total. White belt Olivia Zago had a great competition run as well, taking away a double gold in her division (gi) and in the absolute (gi) after tearing through three matches, and winning all via submission!
Running from January 16th to the 18th, the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam took place at Mubadala Arena (UAE) for 2020, and our St Kilda coaches and power black belt couple Hope Douglass and Ariel Tabak flew across the world to prove themselves on the mat. After defeating Charlotte Von Baumgarten (2nd at IBJJF Worlds in 2019), Hope went on to throw down in the final against opponent Larissa Paes. Despite losing in overtime by a sweep in the final, Hope took away a silver for her efforts, and we would like to congratulate her on all of her hard work, and reaching such an advanced level of competition! Ari Tabak took away fourth place for this tournament, and goes onto more competition at the upcoming Euros!
On the 18th of January, the 5th Edition of the AGC Invitational kicked off in Adelaide, South Australia at the Arkaba Hotel. With three of our athletes representing for Absolute MMA (Tamer Olmez, James Walters and Jeremy Skinner), it was fortunate that this event was live streamed for the first time as we were able to tune in and support the crew! Matched up against a friend in Adam Jones (brother of our very own Craig Jones), James Walters began the match with a De La Riva, trying to shoot under Adam for the sweep, Adam read this well, responding with an attempted body lock pass. Then using butterfly hooks to fend off his attempt and sweep in return, Walters attacked from the top, Adam using his own butterfly guard to defend. Adam switches to a single x, which unfortunately was not the best call, Walters passing to take the back, sinking on a body triangle. After some grip fighting, Walters sunk in a RNC to achieve the submission. A great effort from the other Jones brother, and friend of Absolute MMA, however Walters proved just too good on this occasion! Congratulations on your super fight win Walters!
In his fourth performance on AGC, Jeremy Skinner faced off against Jake O’Driscoll (Essence BJJ). The match begins with Jeremy clinching to a guard pull, attempting a guillotine and sitting into butterfly guard. Jeremy then successfully uses an arm drag to invert under using his momentum to find the saddle, before being reset to the middle of the mat by the referee. Jake defends, doing well to escape the saddle and bring the bout back to standing. With the two opponents finding the same seated position here Jeremy advances to Z guard. Making use of Z guard to sweep, Jeremy comes up on top, attempting another heel hook. Jake defends again, and the match is reset in the middle on to the feet. Both find the sitting position once more, and Jeremy pulls Jake into a triangle, persisting through a slam to close the submission. Well done Jeremy!
