On Saturday August 21st Team Thirdlaw went to Daytona To represent Team Lloyd Irvin and Third Law BJJ if Naples, FL at the the Daytona BJJ open. The team not only represented by had some amazing results. In total we took home 8 golds, 6 silver, and 2 Bronze. Taking home the white and Blue Belt absolute prizes as well.

First off we had Eric Morales in the Gi where he won two matches for gold in the GI. 1st match won by a triangle real quick, 2nd match won with a nice armbar from the triangle to win his gi division.

Eric Morales 1st Place GI

Then it was Orlando’s turn to tear it up in the gi where he won all four matches by his infamous closed guard arm-bar had a total of four matches.

Orlando 1st Place GI

Then we had Zach Straub who was making his first tournament appearance he fought hard in the GI had a total of two matches where in the first match he was able to take his opponents back from closed guard. In his second match he pulled guard went for a triangle guy passes and ended up getting submitted by an arm triangle but still an awesome first performance from Zach.

Zach Straub 2nd Place GI

Carty was the next first timer competing and he had some great results as well. Carty won 2 matches in the gi had the same results in his first two matches by getting to mount and finishing his opponents with the ezekial choke. 3rd match he had a tough match ended up in an arm triangle and finishing in 2nd place.

Carty 2nd GI

Katy was up next and eager to compete for the first time she went up against a blue belt her first match. The first match she pulled guard, went for bump sweep, swept her to mount and then won by points. Her second match she pulled guard, went for a triangle, and then the girl shook off the triangle ad kept her in flattened out half guard the rest of the match loosing by one advantage.

Katy 2nd Place GI

Then it was time for Chris Ocampo and Joey Ruggiero to win their blue belt divisions. They came to fight and both walked home with gold medals in the GI. Chris had one fight in the GI, where he won by a nice bow and arrow choke from the back.

Chris Ocampo 1st GI

Joey Ruggiero had 2 matches in the GI, 1st match he won real quick with a triangle,2nd match he was able to beat a tough opponent by points after taking his opponents back, and then finishing the match in north south.

Joey Ruggiero 1st Place GI

After the GI Eric Morales, Orlando Castillo, Joey Ruggiero were ready to do the absolute. Eric was up 1st and he won his first match by points, and then his second match he faces off against a much larger opponent and got caught in a kimura. So Orlando redeemed his teammate by winning both his matches 1st march by two points and an advantage and then his second match he won by one point to a very tough opponent who was a wrestler from Ohio state. Allowing Orlando and Eric to close out the division.

Orlando and Eric Close Out Absolute

Next up for absolute were Joey and Chris. Chris had the first match and it started off by him getting taken down unexpectedly which would later be the only points scored throughout the entire match although Chris had a battle fighting for a sweep with the ommoplata to get on top. Then it was Joey’s turn to test himself in the absolute where he fought the same opponent his teammate Chris lost to and dismantled him by triangling him within a minute of the match. Then went on to fight in the finals against a much larger opponent where Joey was able to pull guard, sweep, pass the guard and mount to finish the match on top by points.

Joey Ruggiero 1st Place Absolute

Nogi was up next and it was time to tear that up too. Eric Morales being in the lightest weight class was up first match was another victory by an arm-bar from closed guard, then winning his second match by default when the guy went for an ankle-lock and got disqualified giving Eric the gold medal.

Eric Morales 1st Place NoGI

Orlando was up next in the no-gi where he won his first match by an arm bar, and then second match but a 0-0 referee’s decision. Then the third match was sealed by yet again another arm-bar, ending the day for Orlando with 3 gold medals.

Orlando Castillo 1st Place NoGI

Katy, Zach, & Carty, all had mostly the same results in the NoGi, where Katy went in like a soilder, and ended up losing by points in a tough match against the girl she lost to in the finals of the GI. Zach, fought hard in his first match but ended up getting submitted to a much larger opponent, to take silver in the No-GI. Carty had the best results in the NoGi by fighting 2 matches, first match got the take down ended up in top of half guard, escaped to the full mount and then won by points from the mount. His second match was a battle where for four and a half minutes he was going for the take down and didn’t know he was up an advantage when he went for a guillotine and got taken down, carty scrambled for the back but time ran out.

Carty 2nd NoGI

Then for the blue belts in Nogi, Chris fought hard in his first match from half guard, where he ended up getting a triangle to ommoplata. Then ended up at the end of the match in the crucifix position where Chris put him in an arm-lock that made his opponent shout in pain but not tap was called and his opponent won. Then for Joey in the NoGi, his first match he pulled guard, then opponent forced him into 50/50 where his opponent was attempting a heel hook until the referee, said no twisting, only straight, kept fighting from that position then when Joey’s opponent went for a Toe hold thinking that his opponent would get the DQ and an easy win tapped and then referee decided that he meant only heel hooks applied to twisting submissions. Nonetheless Joey learned a valuable lesson to never ever leave it to the referees to make decisions.

The day went awesome and as a team we had 23 wins and only 10 losses with 3 brand new competitors. More tournaments to come and excited to see more and more people joining the competition team to start taking their steps to becoming the best they possibly can a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.