Actually, this post is waaay overdue - I just remembered I never got around to posting this video. It features yours truly, doing what he loves the most: Fighting for fun.

In the beginning of October last year, I competed in the grappling (wrestling) tournament Openmat IX. It was the first (and, for now, the only) time I ever competed in a tournament. I was pretty anxious and didn't know exactly what to expect, and how I would do.

So here's the video - and be sure to read on (below) for some of my thoughts on the event.

 I trained a lot up to the event, and reaally got down and dirty with my groundfighting game and trained a lot on my clinch game as well. As it turned out, I didn't get to use my ground-game at all, but the stand-up game worked out pretty well. Affe, one of my instructors and the other guy in the video, and I entered the tournament together, so we trained, sparred and talked a lot together the last few weeks up to the event..

 My friend and sparring-partner Jimmi and I worked a heck of a lot on my game, trying to find out exactly what to focus on, and what would work the best for me. Primarily, I was to go for a single leg takedown variation we discovered while training, wristlocks (going for the element of surprise) and - on the ground - my guard/triangle game.

 It went really well, and out of five matches, I won the 3. The remaining two I lost to a rear naked choke - one due to a stupid mistake, and one because the other guy was way better than me.

During the three fights I won, I successfully used the single leg takedown in two of them, the wristlocks once (won the second match by it) and my Weng Chun standup clinch in every match - winning the other two by the Weng Chun Guillotine from the standing clinch.

I was very pleased with the results, and plan on competing the next time as well.