Fight time again. This time the tournament was in Nagano. Got up at four in the morning to go with the crew from my Dojo in a chartered bus to the former Olympic city. This was big. Fights on eight mats at the same time in the Olympic arena. Mostly Zendokai clubs taking part, but also a few other full contact styles that I couldn’t determine the name of.

Japan Open 2006 Vale Tudo Acces Real Fighting Karate Tournament in Nagano

After weight check at 8.30 I found out that my fight was number 33. This meant waiting until way after lunch time. Gave me time to check out the other matches. The many different classes have all different rules. I was in the age group of 35 and over. This means the fights are two minutes instead of three for the younger fighters. The most important difference between classes is whether or not the rules allow take downs and continues on the ground. This is Daido Juku with Vale Tudo rules.

In full vale tudo rules the fight starts upright with kicks and punches, soon to continue on the ground as soon as any of the fighters manage to take the other down. Punching is still allowed on the ground. In my class take downs was allowed, but then the referee would break and the fight resume in standing position. Performing a take down would give you a point though.

This is a single elimination tournament. Loose one match and you are out. Adding the full contact element gets you very close to fight club. There was only a few clean KO:s but many fighters could barely walk off the mat after their fights. One was taken away in ambulance. Is this scary? Yes, and it puts me in a very defensive mode. When you are on the mat and the referee says “hajime!” (begin) you know someone is gonna get hurt.

This was my second time in a tournament and I am beginning to see a pattern in my style. Both times I have endured the full time of the match, (no KO), scored a few points, but in the end lost. I think it is because I get too defensive. In a real fight, and this is as close as you can get still being reasonably safe, your brain shuts down most of its functions.

Two yellow belts keeping their cool and attacking with everything they’ve got.

You can only perform what you have been conditioned to do from hours of training. You can’t think because you are under attack. You go into survival mode. To win, that reflex must be changed. Through the physical conditioning of training and the mental training of actually being in tournaments the attitude needs to be “I will beat this guy, no sweat” instead of “I hope I make it out of here alive”. Just having no fear.

By the way, the “Supersafe” headgear that we use for this isn’t really that super safe. The tall guy I was up against kicked me to the side of the neck and pushed my jaw in sideways. Got to keep my teeth. Need to get a mouth guard for next time.

Well, it’s been two weeks since this event and my neck, mouth, rib and foot are all much better. Received the papers for the next tournament at the Dojo yesterday so until next time. Mahalo.
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