I have witnessed the most incredible thing this past
week-end!
It was called the "Jiu-Jitsu
Iron Man". One of my brown belts named
Tren Long put on the Iron Man and invited two other people to partake as Iron
Men. The tournament is an honor to
Grandmaster Helio Gracie who fought for 3 hours and 45 minutes. It was also a fund raiser for the Kids Budo
Cup that is held here in Boise every year.
The point of the tournament is to grapple as many people as
you can and get tapped out once in each belt level before finally being tapped
out by a white belt due to exhaustion.
There were a number of people in all belt levels from different schools
who came out to compete against and for the Iron Men.
The Iron men would have to go against gi and NO-Gi competitors. It was epic!
The Iron men started with the brown belts and kept grappling
them over and over until one of them submitted the Iron Man. Then the Iron Man would have to face the group of purple belts
etc..etc… So the Iron Man had to be submitted 6 times with the last one being a white
belt. Every time an Iron man submitted
his opponent he was “awarded” a one minute rest before he went against his next
opponent.
Craig Kukuk Black Belt Jacen Flynn went just a speck under 4
Hours with Over 40 Matches to become the “Iron Man.” An amazing feat! My brown
belt Tren grappled for 3 Hours and 10 Minutes with 37 Matches and kept going
even after his body was seizing up with cramps. One that I thought was an Alien's head coming out of his right calf.
The last Iron Man, Brown Belt Scott Thometz
had to leave a couple times to throw up but like a TRUE Iron Man came back to
finish strong finalizing over 45 Matches!
The only problem was that they ran out of white belts due to
fatigue so MMA fighter, College wrestling champion and BJJ Purple Belt Jessie
Brock came in "fresh" to finish off all three with Jacen being the last. All
three of them could have continued but ran out of tap outs.
I just want to say I became a better instructor on this day
because I absolutely verified the true effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu; in
Helio Gracie’s theory of the importance of survival and how technique must be
there to continue on after strength is gone.
The Iron Men HAD to conserve energy, use
amazing technique and make sure that no submission attempt was wasted. Even if they did win there was always a new opponent!
It was also a story in courage and It was one of the coolest damn events I have been
too in Jiu-Jitsu!
Tren will be doing it again in May 2014 to raise money for
the Budo Kids Cup. If you would like to take part as an Iron Man or a participant or to donate/sponsor the Budo Kids Cup here in Boise Idaho contact Tren!
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