On Saturday I had my first Jiu Jitsu Gi competition in Carson and it happened to be the National Championship.  I was able to shoot some events before my first match and got some awesome images.  My buddy Mike Colon took the whole thing wining the title in his weight class as a blue belt and also wining the open class as a blue belt.  Mike is a very determined person and has been training very hard for this competition.  It was such a pleasure to see all of that hard work play off and for him to take home two Golds.  

As for my match, I lost in the last 15 seconds.  I was going according to my game plan and pretty much things were going my way.  I had brought him into my guard and when he went to break it I took his back getting four points ahead.  Being a rookie I went for a choke and left my own neck exposed and he took advantage of it and got me in a choke and I tapped with 15 seconds left.  I was so bummed and frustrated that I made such a simple and stupid mistake but I did learn a lot and was so grateful for the opportunity.  I will just have to go back and train that much harder for my next competition.  Check out the images and give Mike some love for his victory!