Combat Base Interclub at Caged Steel, Sunday October 12thSunday 12th October saw the successful return of the Combat Base inter club but this time focusing only on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, both gi and no gi.
The Combat Base Inter Club BJJ Championships were used experimentally to see if clubs are going to support the idea of a closed gi and no gi competition, a club championships which will provide us with champions within our group plus assist in the grading process. Also promotes a little friendly rivalry within the group and will especially help beginners to try competition in a safe and friendly environment whilst still providing the adrenaline dump.
The competition itself kicked off with the lightweight white belts, Leroy Holcroft representing Combat Base Bolton against Lewis McEnaney from Combat Base North East and what a start it was. Both guys put on a great show which set the standard for the rest of the day, the first match of the day is always the toughest. Eventually Leroy got the choke and the stage was set.
The Caged Steel team were entering their first gi grappling competitive matches as a team so as Wajad Sadiq (Wax to his friends) took to the mat, all eyes were on him. Unfortunately he ran straight into Factory BJJ’s Ronan Roche on a rich vein of form who racked up a number of points to take the win but Wax did himself proud and paved the way for later.Ronan then himself lost to Combat Base North East’s David Vincent who was in fine form and then outpointed Wax by one point to take first place in the Lightweight division. David looks like he is a very good prospect, having trained only 8 months and is a credit to the CBNE team headed by brown belt coach Steve Muckle.
Combat Base Bolton competitor James Canavan got off to a winning start in the middleweight division against Combat Base’s Paul Keegans only to fall to Paul’s team mate Jason Farrar in the final following a tough match which really highlighted how frustrating the points system can be. James attacked Jase from the off, throwing up triangles and arm bars forcing Jase to defend for the majority of the match. Jase defended everything that came at him and then took his opportunity 30 seconds from the end. He escaped an arm bar attempt, passed guard and quickly took mount securing the points victory and the gold medal.
Medium heavy saw Caged Steel MMA fighter Billy Glossop make his gi debut. He said his goal was to survive for one round but did much better than he expected by outpointing tough Combat Base competitor Francois Van Staden. Billy advanced to meet Combat Base’s Mark Richards in the final where Mark won a comfortable points victory but aggravated a back injury forcing him to withdraw from the no gi division later that day.
The heavyweight division surprised a few people as the heavyweights are not usually renowned for their agility and movement but every competitor played the game as though they were much lighter. Tomasz Winconek, fighting in a weight above his natural medium heavy, got the submission win over Gareth Price. Not be outdone James Parker from Combat Base Doncaster also got a submission win over Rogan Tonks by Americana.
Rogan got some immediate redemption as he took 3rd place by kimura leaving Tom and Parker to battle out for the gold. After a tough battle which left the judges debating the match, Tom got the decision.
And so to the blue belts…..
In the super featherweight division, representing Caged Steel was 2nd dan Judo black belt Neil Gilpin against Factory BJJ coach Ian ‘Doug’ Mochen in a distinctive battle of styles, Neil having the aggressive Judo top game whilst Doug is playing the Jiu Jitsu guard game. Doug has the ability to remain extremely cool under pressure and pressure he was definitely getting from Neil whilst all the time Doug was just setting up his submission. When he was satisfied with his position he got the submission that left Neil no option but to submit.
In the featherweight division Jay Furness took the gold with submission wins over John Sherwood and Leroy Holcroft who had just got his blue belt about 10 minutes previously.
Lightweight division saw Combat Base’s Andy Krlic face off against Factory BJJ’s James Nardone. Andy seemed a little off his game which James capitalized on immediately, after that Andy was always playing catch up but James has too much experience for that and got the win. Great match.
Final gi match was a purple belt superfight between Team Fulinkazan head coach Spenna and Combat Base Doncaster head coach Danny Mitchell. Both of these guys are known primarily as MMA fighters but what most people don’t know is that they are both very proficient gi players too, as was evidenced in this match. As the match went the full distanceSpenna had just outpointed Danny for the W.
GI Results
WHITE BELTFeather (Pena) >70kg 1st Leroy Holcroft Combat Base Bolton2nd Lewis McEnaney Combat Base North East Light (Leve) >76kg 1st David Vincent Combat Base North East2nd Ronan Roche Factory BJJ3rd Wajad Sadiq Caged Steel Middle (Medio) >82kg 1st Jase Farrar Combat Base2nd James Canavan Combat Base Bolton3rd Paul Keegans Combat Base Medium Heavy (Meio Pesado) >88kg1st Mark Richards Combat Base2nd Billy Glossop Caged Steel3rd Francois Van Staden Combat Base Heavy (Pesado) >94kg 1st Tomasz Winconek Combat Base2nd James Parker Combat Base Donny AKA The Asylum3rd Rogan Tonks Combat Base
BLUE BELTSuper Feather (Pluma) >64kg1st Ian “Doug” Mochen Factory BJJ2nd Neil Gilpin Caged Steel Feather (Pena) >70kg 1st Jay Furness Caged Steel2nd John Sherwood Factory3rd Leroy Holcroft Combat Base Bolton Light (Leve) >76kg 1st James Nardone Factory BJJ2nd Andy Krlic Combat Base PURPLE BELTSuperfight 1st Spenna Fulinkazan2nd Danny Mitchell Combat Base Donny AKA The Asylum
After the medals had been presented Helen Currie took the stand to promote a few of the guys and explain what she expects from our group.
Helen explains “I have really high standards when giving promotions and I never give the benefit of the doubt, so the guys that got the promotions rest assured have deserved them, not just for their performances today but the continued performance week after week and month after month, both in the gym and in open competition. The way it should be. Me and Darren had to train our asses off to get blue belt which took a couple of years back then so if we had to do that, everyone else has to!
All the new blue belts have been training between 1½ and 2 years already and have proved themselves so I am happy to say that they are representatives of our group”
Leroy Holcroft from Combat Base Bolton promoted to blue belt.James Canavan from Combat Base Bolton promoted to blue belt.James Parker from Combat Base Doncaster promoted to blue belt.Tom Winconek from Combat Base promoted to blue belt.
Ian ‘Doug’ Mochen was promoted to purple belt.
Spenna, who has been with us since the halcyon days of Knottingley Sports Centre, was promoted to brown belt.
Quite a few others got stripes and a renewed vigour to compete next time. If the no gi is half as good as the gi section, the experiment has been a success.
And success it was, as the no gi section carried right on from where the gi section left off.
The smaller guys started the no gi section and again set the standard for the rest, Judo black belt Neil Gilpin making his no gi debut against Fu fighter David Keating also making his competitive debut. The match went back and forth with experience telling in the end and Neil getting the points win but credit to David for pushing him all the way.
The featherweight division was absolutely crazy with some real talent. Rob Lawlor and his upstoppable elbow crush, the Caged Steel guys Jay Furness, Mark Aldridge and Max Ramsden all getting submission wins before falling victim to submissions themselves, new purple belt Doug proving his ability no gi is as good as his gi winning by armbar then stepping aside. Another Factory BJJ member John Sherwood and Combat Base Doncaster’s James Martin also getting wins, Andrew Trudgil, Lewis McEnaney and Paul Allen all fought their hearts out but were overcome by experience in this stacked division. The final saw Rob Lawlor submit the powerful Max Ramsden for the gold. Max hasn’t been training that long so to make the final in his first attempt in such a strong division is awesome.
The lightweight division turned out to be just as tough, again with some very entertaining matches.
James Nardone narrowly lost to Nathan Martin from Combat Base Doncaster in a battle that was decided by 1 advantage; Andy Krlic secured an arm bar on Ronan Roche then submitted Nathan Martin advancing to the finals. Matt Barker had a victory over Paul McCabe then lost to Wax who went on to get the Achilles lock in the finals and take the gold.
The middleweight was equally as competitive as a couple of the guys have been dying to compete but as yet hadn’t had the opportunity. Making the transition from a striking only background Combat Base’s Paul Landreth-Smith tested his ground skills losing only on points to Adam Fawkes. Combat Base’s Shane Cartwright wasted no time in getting the win putting him straight into the finals following the withdrawal of his intended opponent. Lee Dennis from Combat Base Doncaster got the win over Paul Keegans and Jason Farrar to put him into the finals. Paul Keegans took 3rd place by points over Adam Fawkes.
Shane Cartwright took the gold in the final over Lee Dennis by submission, both guys performing really well in their first ever competition.
Combat Base competitor Francois Van Staden got the medium heavy division going with a points victory over Caged Steel’s Tom Keogh. Billy Glossop then defeated Mike Tolson and Francois on points only to find gi division winner Tomasz Winconek waiting for him flowing his victory over Combat Base Doncaster’s Tony Hill in the semi finals.
Desperate to add the no gi gold to his gi gold, Tom fought very well and finally secured victory by submission over a very game Billy Glossop who impressed throughout the day.
Gaz Vause got the heavyweights under way with a points decision over Caged Steel fighter Charlie Hellawell and Rogan Tonks scored a submission over Stephen Harrison.
Unfortunately Charlie Hellawell had to leave and Stephen Harrison must have thought his day was so also left leaving Rogan Tonks to take 3rd place by default as he was going to withdraw injured but, as my coach Chris Haueter says “it’s not who’s best it’s who’s left”.
James Parker met Gaz Vause in the final; the match was back and forth with some great exchanges between the big guys. Gaz was up on points and looked to be close to winning the decision in his first competition but Parker kept his composure and pulled out an omaplata. Gaz defended as long as he could be had to submit giving Parker the well deserved win.
Not wanting to be outdone, the inimitable Saif Khan fancied a break from the photographic duties he and business partner Pete McFadden were sharing on behalf of MMAPics.com and jumped in for a match.
The co-promoter of the highly successful Champions show was to face off than no other than James Parker the MMA fighter who has fought successfully on the last 2 Champions shows.
To make things interesting, someone suggested that if Parker won he would get double the purse for his next fight on The Champions 3 show scheduled for 22nd November in Bradford.
Showing the kind of form that helped him win a MMA title, none of the old magic had gone (just the lungs ;0/) as he clinched with James Parker and delivered a text book haraigoshi.
Keeping the pressure on, he only briefly stopped for a photo opportunity before hunting for the knee bar submission that would save him some money.
Great exhibition.
NO GI Results Super Feather >64kg1st Neil Gilpin Caged Steel2nd David Keating Fulinkazan
Feather >70kg 1st Rob Lawlor Combat Base2nd Max Ramsden Caged Steel3rd Jay Furness Caged Steel Light >76kg 1st Wajad Sadiq Caged Steel2nd Andy Krlic Combat Base3rd= Nathan Martin Combat Base Donny AKA The Asylum3rd= Matt Barker Combat Base Donny AKA The Asylum
Team mates don’t compete against each other so shared 3rd place. Middle >82kg1st Shane Cartwright Combat Base2nd Lee Dennis Combat Base Donny AKA The Asylum3rd Paul Keegans Combat BaseMedium Heavy >88kg1st Tomasz Winconek Combat Base2nd Billy Glossop Caged Steel3rd Francois Van Staden Combat Base Heavyweight 90kg+ 1st James Parker Combat Base Donny AKA The Asylum2nd Gaz Vause Combat Base3rd Rogan Tonks Combat Base
I am sometimes reluctant to give out a Fighter Of The Day trophy, when everyone has put their heart & soul into the preparation and the competition itself, it somehow doesn’t seem right to elevate one person over everyone else. Having said that I also believe that if someone has performed well above expectation level (especially their own), that person has shown something special that day then I like to honour that too. If it were just on performance itself then Rob Lawlor, Jay Furness, Tomasz Winconek or James Parker could have won but due to performances above and beyond in gi and no gi the Fighter Of The Day trophy , sponsored by Allsports International Limited, went to Billy Glossop of Caged Steel.
The final award (not made on the day because we ran out of time and needs some serious math) is the Team Champions.
Basically each competitor is awarded 2 points for a win and 1 point for a loss so the team points total can be worked out. Then the amount of matches each competitor had is calculated and put into a team total. The total points is then divided by the total matches to give a competitor average.
Team Champions 1st Combat Base2nd Caged Steel3rd Factory BJJ
I want to also publicly welcome Adam, Doug and the Factory guys into our group, already proving to be an asset.
To conclude, the whole day ran problem free, thanks to a huge team effort, Helen and Becks for the paperwork, Ben and Carl for the refereeing, to all the coaches for their support, to Saif and Pete for the photos, to Jamie for use of his awesome facilities and to the competitors themselves for being the ‘Man In The Arena’Special thanks to our sponsors, Allsports International Limited for their continued support in all we do.
Til the next one……………..
LinksAllsports International Ltdwww.allsports-int.co.uk
Caged Steelwww.caged-steel.com
Combat Base Bolton bloghttp://combatbasebolton.blogspotCombat Base Doncaster aka The Asylumwww.thorne-mma.coCombat Base Gymwww.combatsport.co.uk
Combat Base North Easthttp://www.combatbasene.co.uk/Factory BJJhttp://factorybjj.com/MMAPics.comwww.mmapics.com
Team Fulinkazanwww.teamfulinkazan.co.ukThe Championshttp://www.mappuk.com/Ben’s Photo Albumhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/31198217@N02/