Class 8/24/2010

I showed up very late for lunch class today and really only partook in the sparring.

First round was with Robin. Started off by pulling guard and setting up the dariush guard. Managed to set up an omoplata almost immediately. He rolled out and I went to side mount. From there I spent some time surfing and trying to move as best as possible. He reguarded me a few times, but I was able to pass without too much trouble. I find myself being super lazy when it comes to hunting for subs with Robin. Most of the time I just lay and ride his momentum where ever it takes me. I hope it's not engendering any bad habits.

Second, far more eventful roll, was with Kevin. I started pulling guard and tried to play butterfly. Eventually I knocked him onto his ass (that might have been what he wanted since he seemed to want to play guard himself) where he set up a triangle. Fortunately my insert knee instinct was on its game, so I got a knee and a hand inside. I grabbed his belt and started turning the corner to break the triangle, but he switched to an omoplata. Once again, I was prepared for it, so I started putting my knee on his belly, controlling his hip and posturing until I was able to step over completely and free my arm. Upon this, he postured and ended up in my omoplata, but he countered and was put in my guard. I went back to trying to play dariush, but he wouldn't let me stretch his arm. At one point he was passing, but I was doing a good job of stuffing his head and hipping to kill the guard pass. He congratulated me on it and said that he only passed because of pure athleticism and muscle, and that my defense was technically sound. Good to know. He did complete that pass, however, and I struggled under sidemount for a while, managing to make good space a few times before he stepped over my head and crushed my face. Literally. It wasn't a choke or a crank. It was a straight up face crush. One step on the path toward looking like Dan Henderson. I didn't see the point in fighting that, so I tapped. We started again and I played some open guard, trying to set up some de la riva action, but to no avail.

My final round was with George. I pulled closed guard and worked for a while to set up the flower sweep. I did cross the arm, but he resisted, so I went with the hook sweep instead. Swept to triple attack, took the back and started looking for the collar. A long ass time went by without anything of note happening until he started slipping his shoulders down on the side opposite my penn state. I shot for an armbar but was foiled by the punching bag we had ended up under. We reset and I swept again, this time only to lay in sidemount for a while before the time expired.