I competed in my first amateur MMA competition last weekend, and overall really enjoyed the experience. The rules for the competition were ‘Amateur C class’ rules, so no blows to the head were allowed, and only one knee strike to the body was allowed during clinching amongst other things. Matches would be 1 round of 4 minutes each.
My first opponent was Kirk Preston. Needless to say, my stomach was in knots from excitement before the match! lol
Video match 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fykPwid99cc
My first MMA match. My opponent started aggressively with a push kick which I defended, and soon after tried a low kick which I managed to catch and proceeded to take him down. He tried to go for a kimura submission and later a guillottine choke, but he tried an illegal neck crank for which he got warned by the ref.
I maintained top position, working my ground and pound on his ribs, while waiting for the opportunity to pass his guard into side mount. Unfortunately when the chance came, we ran out of mat space, and the referee re-set us in the middle back from standing. He feinted a high kick, and then landed a solid kick to my left thigh which I failed to catch. Here I committed a mistake as I entered the clinch with my head lowered and he wrapped his arm around my neck for a standing guillottine choke.
I was defending this but not managing to get out when I tried to hit him with my knee to the liver. During the rules meeting before the tournament we were told we would be allowed a single knee strike to the body each time we were in the clinch. My opponent must have missed this as he countered with 3 knee strikes of his own. Since he had already been warned for a previous foul, the ref this time around disqualified him straight away. While I was pleased to have won, I’d have preferred to have done so via points or submission, but anyway, the important thing is that my arm was raised at the end.
I think I was ahead on points anyways as I had had top position for most of the round and had landed more strikes, apart from achieving a takedown, but obviously one can never be certain either!
Video match 2/Final: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQIhM1VEhTY
My second MMA match of the day, and the event’s final. Facing me was my team mate and regular training partner Matthew Camilleri, with whom I’ve drilled and sparred more times than I care to remember, so it was fair to say we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses inside out!
My plan was to watch out for his takedowns as that is really his strong point, and try to keep the fight standing for as long as possible. Matthew immediately went for the clinch and pushed me against the cage, from where I knew he’d try his favourite double leg takedown. I managed to push him off and we exchanged knee strikes on each other. From there I landed some punches, but then he shot in for the takedown. I managed to sprawl, but it felt as if I was being run over by a car as he just lifted me and pushed me against the cage.
I managed to avoid being slammed down, but ended up in half guard. He started landing ground and pound blows on me while I tried to cover myself, and at the same time push him off me. This went on for quite some time till the ref made us stand up again as we were in a bit of a stalemate. Matthew lost no time in taking me down again however. I knew I was behind on points at this time and with just seconds remaining, knew I had to get a submission if I was to pull off a win. I tried to go for a guillottine choke but couldn’t sink it in sufficiently. Oh well, will learn from this and come back stronger and better next time around! Well done Matthew!