Team Lloyd Irvin Blue Belts closed out the Male and Female absolute divisions in Irvine California. Friday was a long day for all of the Team Lloyd Irvin members. ON Saturday, we had BJJ brown belts Nyjah Easton and Jim Harbison competing. The Black Belts went on Sunday. Team Lloyd Irvin Kids also competed last weekend up in New Jersey, bring home several gold medals, they made everyone proud! Phil Davis fought in UFC 112 and did a fantastic job ending his fight in a submission.
Lloyd Irvin blue belts DJ Jackson and Willie Leonard met in the final round of the absolute, which is nothing new. Willie, ultraheavy weight applied full pressure and was beating DJ by a whopping 26-0!!!! Dj ended up tapping to what he said was a neck crank. Willie Leonard, getting DQ’d was not happy, but in the end, the 2 teammates made up and Willie got the gold. DJ Jackson got silver in absolute and bronze in his division. Sijara Eubanks had a tough day as well, she won her first 2 matches. In her third match, she lost by points, that would have been her medal round. This weekend Willie Leonard is out in Abu Dhabi competing in the Jiu-Jitsu World Cup. He won his first 2 matches today, all by submission. On Saturday Willie will fight in the finals against a blue belt from Japan, Hideki Sekine, who placed 3rd in the World Cup Last year.
For the women’s blue belt absolute, Sijara was on page 4, and I was on page 1. I was confident that we would meet in the finals and close out the division. My first match was against Mackenzie Dern, I won by armlock submission from the triangle. Moving on to my 2nd match, I won on points moving into the finals.
Sijara made it to the semi’s and fought a girl from ATT, and got caught in a clock choke. I was set to fight that girl next…for the finals, what seemed like one of the longest matches ever, I submitted my opponent with about 30 secs. left. I had her mounted with a triangle and got the armlock!! Overwhelmed with joy, I ran to my teammates who had been very supported all day long. Double Gold in the 2010 Pan American Championships. This was my first Pan Am(gi) competition that I had competed in, and I was more than pleased. Team Lloyd Irvin trained hard, and I wouldn’t have got on that 1st place stand without all of my training partners. Thanks to everyone who made this possible….
Jim Harbison took 3rd overall in his weight division. Mike Fowler and JT Torres both competed on Sunday. JT lost to Lepri and Mike lost first round. With all of the training, they felt good, but it’s back to the gym time to work out the kinks before NY Open. Shortly after we have Brazilian Nationals!
