Throwback Thursday - My 2nd MMA Fight

How times change.
One of the guys from my gym who fought on this card has since turned pro, now trains in Vegas with Drysdale.
Another friend of mine from this card is fighting on Bellator tomorrow night.
I'm slowly but surely getting back to 100% after knee reconstruction.

This is my 2nd fight. I start off on the right, with the black and grey shorts.
I hit a nice uchimata to reverse a single leg attempt, and also hit a good haraigoshi in the 3rd round.
At any rate, this was before I had much Jiu-Jitsu training (if any), and had never trained without a Gi/sem Kimono.

Tournament/MMA Proof Tuesday: Haraigoshi and Uchimata in MMA

This bout is from nearly 3 years ago. At that point, I had been doing Judo for roughly 4 years.

A lot of the internet will tell you they can't use Judo and get countered Judo is hard to use in MMA, that it doesn't have self-defense applications.
They'll say that the whizzer/overhook gets them taken down will get you taken down. 
That they can't do it in training only high level players and Olympic level athletes can use it.
Not true. I've never claimed to be nor would my training partners and coaches tell you I am a gifted athlete.


Highlights:
1:45 uchimata counter to a  body lock/trip attempt from my opponent

4:01 uchimata counter to single leg attempt from my opponent

6:45 haraigoshi counter to body lock by my opponent

Takeaways:
I had spent little to no time training without a Gi before this and my previous MMA fight.

The Judo throws were decisive tools for me to secure top position and win rounds in front of the judges by  not only being on top in the mat work, but some of my best punches landed from dominant positions on top, on the ground.

My opponent clearly had wrestling experience and kept after the takedown the whole fight.
My Judo helped me negate those attempts and gain top position when he closed the distance and nearly took me down.