US Open 2001

US Open 2001.  Blue belt.  Middleweight division.  Thick with talent.  My first match was against a Machado student.  His double leg woke me up and I submitted him with an armlock.  The next fight was with Nick Diaz.  One of the toughest matches I have ever been in.  I lost on points, 6-2, when he took my back for 4.  But the fact that I lost this match doesn’t diminish the benefit of the experience, to me.  I won a match, I lost a match.  Two ends of the same event.  You can have a glorious loss and a disappointing win.  The label doesn’t necessarily conform to the quality of the experience. 

I gassed early in this match, the second time I was attempting to pass his guard.  The brain was sending signals but the body was in slow motion.  But I had to keep going.  I know Nick was tired too.  At one point, he said “I’m dying” while on my back.  That spurred me on, but it was too late in the match, and it was too early in the morning for either of us to be working that hard. We rapped out afterwards and I enjoyed the rest of the tournament as a spectator, hanging with my friend Thure Nilmeir, while Nick submitted everyone else to take the division. Much respect to Mr. Diaz, who is now a black belt under Cesar Gracie and mixed martial arts star, with notable wins over Takanori Gomi in Pride, and Robbie Lawler in the UFC.

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