It wasn't long till the fights had begun. The lighter weight categories went first, with some great performances from some very talented fighters.
Soon enough, it was time for the heavyweight category, my category. As it seems to be the way with these competitions, my name was called first to face Danny Boyd, a man with atleast 6 kilograms of weight on me, and it was mostly muscle. I could feel the adrenaline start to build. Was this going to be a repeat of the last competition at the UMAs where I was as much use as a poorly made training dummy? Or was my training going to pay off? Sitting back to back, my heart was racing, while all my technical knowledge decided to abandon me. Game plan? What game plan?
The pat on the back came and we were off, face to face with my first challenge. The rest I am afraid is pretty much a blur, apart from a few moments of disbelief that have stuck with me. Within the first 50 seconds I had managed to take his back and apply a rear naked choke. Much to my disbelief, my arm was finding its way around his neck. But this would not be my time to shine because he managed to just wedge his chin into the gap, breaking the hold. It wasn't long till I had slipped round into guard, losing me my first chance of the fight. All hope was not lost though because the next weapon in my arsenal came to mind, the body scissors. Within seconds it became clear that this man was immune to my body scissors, a weapon which I have used to great effect in my training fights. Years of thai boxing, athletics and cycling have left me stronger than the average bear, and I usually can score a pretty fast tap out when it comes to my guard. This however would not be the case with Danny. A few seconds of squeezing and I had realised the technique was useless. Time for plan B, the triangle. To my absolute amazement, I managed to get my legs around his head to score one of my favourite moves, but still he would not tap. No matter how red his face went, or how blood shot his eyes became, he fought on like a machine. It was a pretty sloppy triangle to be fair, I just could not get my legs into the right position so I just hoped for the best. After what seemed like an eternity, time was called. Was the fight going to be called? Had I done enough? He hadn't tapped, but I dominated most of the fight, so I was sure points were going to be enough.
To my amazement, extra time was called. My legs were weary, my arms exhausted, my mouth completely dry. Within seconds we had started again. I managed to over power him onto his back and take side control. My hope was that I could either snag his arm for an americana, or hope a pin would be called. After a minute, extra time was stopped and I was praying that the fight was over, and I had scored enough points to win. I had dominated the round yet again, surely this was going to be it?
OF COURSE NOT! An extra 30 seconds of extra time were needed to decide who was the winner. Trying to bring my breathing and heart rate under control, I calmed myself down as we sat back to back for the last time. I wasn't going to let this go down to the wire, I was going to hit him hard. I charged at him as fast as I could, taking his back yet again. This time my arm found its mark and secured his neck. He rolled forward, hoping to shake me from his back, but it was too late, I was already looking to secure my hooks and finish this fight. Within 9 seconds of it beginning, he was tapping and I had won my first fight.
Next... .8 Part 3 - 5 Minutes in hell
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