Southend Open, Bronze

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Much happier with this bronze than my last one.

I had three fights, winning the first on points, losing the second on points, and then taking a referee’s decision (against my first opponent who’d made it through the repacharge for a rematch).

Five competitions in I have a better sense of what my game is. I pull guard early and look for a sweep. On top I’m looking to get to mount and finish from there. In my first match this went, broadly, according to plan — although he was tough to sweep and I managed it late in the match. Still, that was enough to win on points. In my second, I couldn’t sweep him and he passed me — hence going down on points. In the third he was too fast for me on the guard pull and turned it into a takedown. I again struggled to sweep. But right at the end I did to equalise the score and was then lucky on the ref’s decision, which really could have gone either way.

What I’m happy with: I’m getting more composed and my cardio is better. Also, my guard retention seems to be holding up in competition. I was only passed once, towards the end of my second match. And there I think my main problem was that I wasn’t able to put him under enough pressure in my guard, which meant he had too much time to work.

What I’ll be working on: I’m too one dimensional from guard, particularly considering how big a part of my game that is. I feel I have a wider game in the gym, but I need to get be able to apply it in competition. Also, I need to learn to tie my belt properly for podium pictures.