My Toro Cup 2 Superfight: Josh Murdock & Myself

Josh, his brother CJ, and myself have all known one another from the North Carolina Jiu-Jitsu and MMA scene for a number of years now.
We've fought MMA for the same organization (World Combat Federation) and currently ref and often compete for the same organization (US Grappling).
Josh is one of the nicest guys I've met in Jiu-Jitsu (as is his brother) which is saying a lot.

At any rate, here's our superfight from the Toro Cup 2 a few months back.

My hat off to Josh who caught me forcing the stack pass.
It was scheduled for 15 min's submission only, then a 5 minutes point or submission match if necessary.
I had zero intention of going for 15-20 minutes and Josh capitalized on my impatience.
My hat off to him.
Win or learn.  

Watch it HERE: the embedding on Youtube is being difficult for unknown technical reasons.

It was a long year and a half and was nearing the point of burnout following this event without realizing it.
I trained hard, felt sharp and was excited to redeem myself after a poor showing at the first installment of the Toro Cup.

Without realizing it, I'd reached a point of diminishing returns in terms of training and grinding. I did a few more tournaments after this event but finally took about 2 months off from competing, came back, and won the adult absolute, the first purple belt division I'd won since getting my purple belt. There is a box full of 2nd and 3rd place medals at purple belt, and a memories of leaving tournaments not advancing past the first round in either weight or absolute.
It took my girlfriend talking to me on the phone one night to be point out that I needed a break.
Sometimes we're so deep in fervor and the pursuit we're blind to the evidence of our eyes and ears and that's what had happened. The only answer I would consider was "more mat time" or "more grinding" but I no longer enjoyed training or even being in the gym. That coupled with performances that didn't meet my own personal expectation were a recipe for frustration and both physical/mental burnout. 

Purple belt has forced me to completely revamp how dedicated I am to training and now as I'm 32, I've begun to accept that diet, rest, flexibility/stretching, and recovery are all every bit if not more important than hard training.
The time away and some weeks where I would not train for more than a day or two at a time helped me let go of a lot of frustration and baggage that was impacting my performance.

Weekend Recap: Fight Lab in Charlotte, UFC 186 et al

Headed out to Charlotte to do a superfight for Fight Lab. Video coming soon. The rules were 3 minute rounds with 3 judges scoring each round and a clear cut emphasis on aggressiveness. If I heard correctly, my opponent showed up weighing 168. I knew 3 minutes wasn't a lot of time to get to the mat and break down someone with about 20 lb's on me.
I lost a split decision. I honestly felt I won and feel I would have won a 7 minute match under normal rules but that wasn't what I found out we were doing the week of the match.
At any rate, I did some learning, saw my buddy I started BJJ with, and got to compete on top of the rooftop Epicenter in Charlotte.
Can't complain all around.

I headed back to town and caught the UFC on PPV due to a rare Saturday night off.
I went 4-2 with my picks on the admittedly lackluster card.
Almeida got an early stoppage of Jabouin who wasn't really out but didn't really protest the stoppage to hard either. Cote looked stronger throughout against Riggs who didn't keep the dominant positions he got by taking the back et cetera. Cote looked absolutely flat in his previous outing but didn't look so shopworn this time around. Johnson did what he did and looked impressive doing it. He got another stoppage win which is more than a some of the other champs in various divisions can say.
Even my boy Dominic Cruz (of whom I am a HUGE fan) didn't have any stoppage wins while champion in the UFC (Yes, I'm looking at you Jose Aldo). I actually left during the Rampage/Maldonado fight because 1) it was boring and 2) I had been sitting down since the prelims. I underestimated Almeida which won't happen again. He looked good, very good in fact, and I see bright things for him. I haven't seen enough of the other parts of his game to say whether or not I think he'll be champ, but he definitely has the killer instinct and edge of youth on his side.

Anyhow, I hit up open mat Sunday afternoon, worked until early this morning at my downtown job, I'm going to rest today, and start back training tomorrow after I work all night again tonight. My superfight at the 2nd installment of the Toro Cup is May 16th. It's 15 minutes submission only, then if necessary a 5 minute round that is points or submission, and if still deadlocked, we go to sudden death overtime where the first points scored win.
It's a cool format and one that produces some serious excitement. I know a ton of the guys on this 2nd card, and I'm excited about virtually all of the matches. 
My opponent, Josh Murdock is a guy for whom I have a lot of respect for him and his game. It's going to be a tough match.

I'm going to head down to Charlotte and train either this week or next to get some different looks and have some guys come after me as the visiting purple belt featherweight in the room.

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2 superfights & 2 Tournaments in the next month: US Grappling Raleigh, Fight Lab 46, Copa America, Toro Cup 2

April 18th: This weekend I'm reffing for the US Grappling organization and competing in the purple belt featherweight and purple belt absolute. It's a well-run, well-organized tournament and one of the best I've done since I began competing in Jiu-Jitsu. If you're in the area/the state, come through. I'll wake up early, referee, compete, then head to my weekend job downtown and hopefully be able to see the UFC on FOX with Machida vs Rockhold where I work. 

April 24th: Next Friday, in Charlotte I'm part of the Combat Sports Expo put on by the MMA promotion, Fight Lab. I have a superfight (still hate that term) with John Schell of Schell Shock BJJ. 

 

April 25th: The day/morning after, I'll be competing at the Copa America in in Charlotte. 

I haven't done one of their tournaments before and I'm not reffing so it'll be fun to just show up compete, have my matches, feel like a competitor and leave town. I like hitting tournaments I  haven't done in other parts of the state in the hopes of seeing some new faces in my bracket(s).

May 16th: One last big announcement, despite my poor showing at the first Toro Cup, I've been given a second chance at the Toro Cup 2 invitational grappling event. I'll be facing a guy for whom I have a lot of respect, Josh Murdock. Josh and I have trained together before and we both refereee and compete at the US Grappling Tournaments. It will be a highly entertaining match as we both like to mix it up and play a loose, active, versatile game.