BJJ European Championships 2009

Last weekend I was in Lisbon, Portugal for the BJJ Open European Championships 2009. I had a blast and met tons of great people. I saw tons of great fight and learned a lot from this trip.

I was fighting on friday in "meio pesado" (medium heavy, -88,3kgs) white belt - adult. I didnt know what to expect from a major tournament like this and since I've only been training for 10 months I figured I had nothing to lose. Knowing I had been training a lot in the past few months helped me to start the competition with barely any pressure. I felt good and apart from a light shoulder injury I was ready for it.

My objective was simple. Make it at least to the second round. I finally made it to the third round and lost by points against the new European champion. Too bad for the semi-finals that seemed so close but after just a few months of training I cant complain about the result. It just makes me want to train even more and harder. I came to another conclusion after the tournament: I will be fighting at the World Championships in Long Island, CA in June.

This has only be possible thanks to my trainer Thomas and of course all my team mates who keep challenging me days after days. The hours spent on the mat finally start paying off but I still have a long way to go. Next up in line will be the world championships in June. I'm currently working on my training schedule in order to be 200% ready by then.

First round vs Christopher Morgan - Clan Gracie Barra


Second round vs Raulf Hanif (?) - Gracie Barra Lagarto


Videos courtesy of my good friend Shannon from Barcelona.

Keep training hard.

Jp-