Sheila Bird vs. Gabrielle Garcia
In the words of her coach, Brian Bird (Harris International BJJ Black Belt):
Sheila Bird (5’ 5”, 145lb, BJJ Black Belt) vs. Gabrielle Garcia (6’ 5”, 280lb, BJJ Black Belt).
“This is Sheila’s semi final match in the Absolute Division of the 2009 No-Gi Worlds. Knowing she would be fighting this girl (and having seen her squish every girl she had fought so far), her strategy was to try and tire her out as much as she could standing (wrestling) and then when it hit the mat (with the assumption she would be on the bottom), to push with everything she could (hands, elbows, feet, knees) to make sure Gabrielle could not anchor her weight, and then try to switch to her feet and take top when she could. Sheila pulls this off once, but unfortunately Gabrielle flees the mat, and when they restart she drives back to her feet.
Sheila loses this match on points from 2 takedowns but was able to stop Gabreille from controlling her once it was on the ground. Something no other girl accomplished against her that day!”
Congratulations Sheila on receiving the silver medal in your weight division, and bronze in the absolute!
The finals of the No Gi World Championships will be replayed on Friday at NoGi.com.
Comments
The difference of weight is huge :o
Crazy.
That is a huge weight difference, but Sheila looked really good. Nice work.
She definitely eats her Weatabix!
Blimey! its like the female version of David and Goliath. Good to watch!
Wow, That really was David vs Goliath as stated above. Forgive me for saying, and I do not want to bring up the whole Judo vs Jiu jItsu thing becuase its all childish talk in my eyes, but its times like this where some extra stand up training would be effective. Weather in Judo dojos, Wrestling gyms or wherever. Hopefully the people who actually bad mouth other arts, thinking they are doing there own some justice, will soon wake up and see the benfits of learning from any style. great vid!
Mad props to Sheila. She is always game and rises to any challenge!
Wow. Mad props to Sheila - she is strong as an ox. Rolling with her is like rolling with a bear - and she works really hard. Good for her. Lord knows I wouldn’t know what to do up against a girl larger than a UFC heavyweight.
That was great. Sheila almost made weighing half as much as your opponent look like a decided advantage.