Results Amsterdam Open 2009

Niels, Robin, Gustavo and I were fighting at the Amsterdam Open on october 25th. While Niels still learns how to handle competition, he got to fight twice and increased his tournament experience. Robin and I didnt survive the first round of our respectives weight classes, both losing by points but we made it up for ourselves in the absolute with a victory on points for Robin and a victory via submission armbar for myself. The absolute was surprisingly all colored belts together and I found myself fighting a brazilian purple belt in the secound round. The fight was going well and while trying to play it open and aggressive, I unfortunately left some points to my opponent. At some point he got to mount me which I defended quickly by sweeping him and trying to open his guard. I finally found myself on my back again, working from my guard which is a place that feels like home to me. I threw on a triangle that I couldnt lock right away but that gave me the opportunity to sweep him. While mounting him I locked my triangle and rolled back thinking I was gonna be able to finish him. Unfortunately, time was over and the points lost at the beginning of the fight made the difference. Still I felt I could have got more out of this fight and it sure boosted my confidence.
Robin wasnt able to submit his second opponent either but fought very well.

The revelation of the day came from our friend Gustavo who came out strong in his weight class and outplayed his opponent with a vicious half guard that brought enough points for victory. Gustavo took silver as his first opponent never showed up. His finale was against a stronger guy who scored two points and controlled the rest of the fight. In the absolute, Gustavo did it again, holding the distance against a larger opponent and introducing him to his aggressive half guard. His second fight was against a purple belt weighing a good 30+ kilos extra dan him. He got choked halfway through the fight.

Congratulations to all of the guys for putting up nice fights and representing the academy so well.


Blue Belt Feather
1. Regie Rink - Team Agua
2. Gustavo Baliero - Sequana Academy
3. Franck Desray - Bittan Academy France
3. Younes Bahedi - Gracie JJ Cologne

Next up: the Dutch Open in Oss next weekend where we'll be for the first time ever with a larger group of people. Report next week.

Jp-