One of the first BIG grappling tournaments I ever experience was the 2004 Arnold Classic. Big by the standards then, not today’s 3000+ benchmarks. The tournament was ran poorly, I competed at one point past midnight when I was scheduled to be on the mats by 6pm. Then the next morning myself and all the grapplers arrived at the venue around 10am which was the scheduled opening time. Unfortunately, we had to wait. Around noon the guys that ran the tournament came casually walking in to open the venue. 2 hours of being in a crowded hall with stinky grapplers!

But back in the day, the Arnold Classic was the largest BJJ tournament on my side of the Mississippi and the competition was great, so you had to go compete. It was a tournament that was on the level of the Pans (relative to the times) but it was in my backyard instead of California. In addition, you got a chance to watch world level competitors. Some of the best grapplers on the planet were among the ranks of the tournament. Xande, Todd Margolis, Pe Da Pano, Jeff Monson, Edson Diniz and Marcelo Garcia among many others. This was actually one of the first years that Marcelo Garcia was becoming a household name. 2003 was Garcia’s breakout year in the ADCC where he performed amazing in matches like this one against Shaolin. That match was crazy to watch because Shaolin was an establish bad ass in grappling and Garcia was a relative unknown. Many people reading this don’t remember grappling pre-Marcelo Garcia, but that match was a shocker.  

Monson Tackles a Ref

Poor Jeff. In the video that I posted below you get to see a bad example of BJJ politics.I can’t help but watch and realize how ridiculous it was. I mean Pe Da Pano was bouncing up and down to plead his case against Jeff. Granted I don’t speak Portuguese, but I can’t help but notice that he isn’t hurt from the neck crank. Why not just grapple again? I suppose others might have varying opinions, but I was there for this match and I was there when Relson explained the rules. Jeff never went outside of the rules that were laid out to us. The video doesn’t explain the overall mood in the air either. The match before Pe Da Pano went up against Jeff, he squeaked by via a controversial decision against a guy name Wade Rome which caught a lot of boos. Then to see him win this way was just irritating and while I don’t think Jeff’s reaction was warranted I could understand his frustration.

Here’s the video. I officially feel old now.