U.M.A. British
Open Amateur Submission Grappling Championships
Sunday 7th October 2007
The First U.M.A.
British Open Amateur Submission Grappling Championships turned out to be
another great and successful Championship Tournament, with Clubs old and
new attending the Championships, the heat was turned up a little higher
due to the exceptional quality of the Fighters Competing for Honours on
the day.
The problem is, that there were so many good fights, it would take a
whole website to list them all, so we'll have to limit the details etc,
what with a great mix of Freestyle, Submission Grapplers,
Shooftfighters, M.M.A. Fighters, Brazilian, Gracie and Japanese JuiJitsu
and Judo Players, this was a real mixed bag of Top Quality Grapplers
doing there stuff.
However, there is a up and coming Grappler who won both his Weight
Categories he entered; U95kg and the Open Weight Category, who will get
yet another mention for such a great feat, and that is Richard Willis
from Stone's Fighting Fit Gym, its obvious being selected for the G.B.
F.I.L.A. Squad and competing in the World Championships in Turkey has
helped gain him a lot of experience, as he fought and won over all his
fights in both Categories against what must be said was excellent and
tough opposition, as explained earlier, there was not one bad
match/fight all day at the Championships from everyone who competed, the
skill levels of all the fighters was excellent, so Richard put on an
exceptional performance to say the least to win Both Categories, so well
done again.
However, we here at the U.M.A. feel that there was only one downfall
though, there wasn't enough Under 16/Junior Grapplers, and there was not
one Adult Woman Grappler who entered, this was and is a disappointing
situation, hopefully over the years with the top quality Tournaments and
Championships starting to get more and better exposure here in the UK,
we must all try and address this problem and get more Juniors and Women
involved and training in the sport, especially if we want the Submission
Grappling and Groundfighting scene to grow and succeed here in the UK,
so we here at the U.M.A. will try and do our best to help and support
this issue in anyway we can.
Again, we finished and closed the Championships a little before 4.00pm,
better than on time, yet again, so a Big Thankyou to all the
Competitors, Coach's, Spectators, Table Officials and First Aid
Officials for getting here on time, registering an weighing in on time
etc, and for they're help in making the Championships run smooth and on
time yet again.
Rather than name all the Fighters, especially as there were just under
60 Competitors in total on the day, and as there wasn't one bad or
boring match whatsoever, we feel it would be better to give all the
Clubs who attended a mention as a thankyou to them all for they're
support of the Championships, and especially to the Competitors who all
gave 110%, so here we go, a great big thankyou and well done goes to:
Team Lagarto Bolton
Fighting Fit Stone
Next Generation Liverpool
M.F.F. Fighters York
Roger Gracie Academy London
Bushido M.M.A. Nottingham
Urban Warrior M.M.A. Derby
Burton M.M.A.
Leicester Shooftfighters
Kettering Shooftfighters
Ripley Tap or Snap
Crewe Fight Club
Miyabi Ryu JuiJitsu Manchester
Bulldog Academy Oldham
Rough House Nottingham
Amateur JiuJitsu Academy Chesterfield (Officials, Time Keepers, Score
Keepers and H.S.E. First Aid Support)
Carlos Fisher Bolton (BJJ Coach, Sub Editor, Writer and Photographer
for Fighters Magazine)
Again, keep your eyes peeled on MMAUniverse.com and from Carl Fisher at
'Fighters Magazine' in the near future for all the results etc, and
there may also be a few pictures and some video clips from the
Championships (Headlined Internationally) possibly yet again
online at www.OntheMat.com from Writer, Photographer, Fighters Magazine
Sub Editor and Team Lagarto Coach Carl Fisher.
Jim McSherry Championships Coordinator
Click Here for the Results
