50/50 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Fifty/50 sent a pretty deep team to Winchester, VA for the no-time limit, submission-only edition of U.S. Grappling.  Results below:

Seph Smith looked sharper than ever in winning the 170 lb Advanced no-gi division.  He would finish his first few opponents in the Absolute class before getting caught in a slick triangle by Rob Mudrak (Balance) at the fifteen minute mark.  To that point, Seph’s passing had been unstoppable, pressuring Rob and racking up what would have been a ton of points in a normal match.  Seph ended up splitting 3rd place in the open class with Brendan Raedy.

Brendan Raedy put away 3 opponents in a row with footlocks (a kneebar and two from the 50/50) to close out half of the Advanced Absolute bracket with Ryan.  Brendan bowed out to allow Ryan to move on to the final of the absolute to face Rob Mudrak because he had already competed against Rob in the past.  Brown belt matches were pretty scarce, so nothing with the gi this time.

Tim Koren had what can only be described as a truly epic match in the Advanced Lightweight division.  After literally 3 hours, the contest against Micha Crause (Royce Gracie brown belt) was declared a draw.  In what turned into a battle of wills at about 40 minutes in, Tim controlled the pace of the match, passing his opponent’s guard at will.  Though he was unable to finish, if we had to ballpark it, the score would have been something in the neighborhood of 150-6 over the course of the 3 hours.

Ryan Hall quickly finished both of his opponents in the Advanced Lightweight division (brabo and mounted armlock), then jumped into the Advanced Absolute division to submit all of his opponents (including Dan Root of Maguilla and Rob Mudrak of Balance BJJ) there via monoplata, RNC, and then 50/50 heel hook to take the title.  With no brown belts around to fight, Ryan was forced to end his day after the no-gi.

Richard Fitzgerald made his competitive debut for Fifty/50, taking 2nd place in the advanced 149.9 lb division and picked up another silver medal in the blue belt 149.9 lb division.  He avenged his loss to the 149 lb champion in the open class, dominating positionally and finishing with a mounted armlock.

Adam Hauch took 3rd place in the Novice 149.9 lb no-gi class.

Andrew Peters took double silver medals in the Novice 180 lbs and Masters Beginner 180 lbs divisions.

Everyone looked sharp this weekend and some of the newer competitors took large steps forward that will do nothing but positively impact their future performances.  The next competition for the team will be the Copa Nova in Ashburn, VA on May 9.  Ryan and Brendan fly out to Las Vegas on the same day to fight in the Team Takedown v. Team Guard Pull challenge at Grapplers Quest West.

Tags: adam hauch, andrew peters, brendan raedy, Competition, richard fitzgerald, ryan hall, seph smith, submission, tim koren, us grappling.
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 2:03 am and is filed under Competition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.