Editorials
For those of you who do not know Rommel
Dunbar, he has put on some of the best Brazilian Jiu
Jitsu tournaments in Southern California. So if you
haven’t competed or been to one this was the
one NOT to miss. With only two months of advertising
and pushing he still got over 600 competitors and
over 400 were kids! The kids were his main focus for
this tournament some of them even won bikes!
Now Sunday was all the adults which
I was able to make it to. The competition was great
the competitors were great and I got out before 4!
Always a good thing! Some of the noteworthy faces
that were refing and in the crowd were Fabio Santos,
Joe Moeira, Ray Diogo, Gazzy and Sean Roberts just
to name a few.
White belts Lee Sulman and Chris Harett met in the
semi finals and put on a great back and forth match.
Both guys were working for position and points through
out the match at the end of the match it was Lee that
was ahead but only by 2 advantages the final score
ended up 3 and 2 advantages to 3. (Lee did go on the
win the divison.)
Kiri Liao from Saul and Xande’s UBJJ was up
10-0 against a game Debrah Clem from Fabio Santos,
but in the end the score didn’t matter as Kiri
was able to secure a rear naked choke to win the match.
Jackson Smith is in the 166 division and on his
way to winning the division he was able to secure
an ezekel choke on Greg Dennison and then had a tough
match against a Fabio Santos student. In the beginning
it looked like Jackson was going to get submitted
or out pointed at the least but guts determination
and a lot of movement got him out of trouble and he
was able to settle in and work to get ahead on points
he won the match 6 and 2 advantages to 0. The finals
were then decided by the team as Jackson and another
of his teammates were in the finals together and the
teammate gracefully backed out to allow Jackson the
win.
Sean Roberts was not only a ref for the day but
stepped in to compete and with no one in his weight
class he had to step up in weight and go against Andre
Grinburg. This would be the first of two times these
two would meet this day and it was the fastest match
and sub of the day as they met shook hands and Sean
jumped and secured and flying triangle and put Andre
to sleep in about thirty seconds.
Brown belt Eric Gonzavel went on his first match
against the game Pedro Montalvo and Eric was able
to pass guard and work to positions to get ahead on
points. At one point he had knee on belly and Pedro
made an attempt to sweep but just could not land it
but he was able to get Eric off that postion to side
control. The end total was 9x0 in favor of Eric.
Eric met up with Edgar Gill in another battle that
went the distance and he was able to win that match
up 7x0. Eric really played a tight game and he would
not let Edgar have anyspace what so ever! Both matches
were great for Eric as he was able to show his ability
to work from position to position. Tough game at that
level!
A name from the past was at the tournament Allen
Wrench stepped on the mat a couple times this day
I was only able to catch one of his matches but the
people around kept telling the younger William (didn’t
get his last name) to stay away from the stand up
game with Allen as they obviously knew of his Judo
background. So William did just that was got Allen
to the ground and just out scored him and won the
match 10x0. It’s great to see Allen back on
the mat. Or maybe I just havent been around in a while
and he has! Either way great to see you back OTM!
Now I stuck around and watched the purple belt open
and in the first match put Ricky Lopez against Sean
Roberts and it was Sean that came out victorius with
an armbar. The second match put Andre Grinburg and
Mike Kubeska at the center of the mat after a couple
of sub attempts and a takedown Andre walked away with
the win at 2 and 2 advantages to 2. This put Andre
and Sean in the finals! This time it was a bit of
different match as immediatley Andre pulls half guard
and is able to work under him to work for a sweep.
Sean looks to pass but Andre got the sweep and the
2 points. After a bit of work Sean was able to get
his own sweep that puts the match dead even. The crowd
starts to yell and their respective competitors and
it just started to get intnese as these two worked
hard for position. Andre on the bottom looking to
sweep again and Sean trying to stay up so he doesn’t
get swept but in a struggle and a kimura attempt from
Sean Andre stood back up and pushed away but Sean
shot hard and got the double leg at litterally the
last 10 seconds and the points for the 4 and 2 advantages
to 2 win. Great match for these two guys. Great tournament
and I really hope you guys make it to the next one.
Rommel already has a place and date but I’m
not sure if I can say it here. Keep checking back
and I will post it ASAP!
The full gallery is here.
