The team, which consisted of Martial Paradise’s very own Mahmoud Jabr, Carlson Gracie black belt Alex Seaver, and myself, took on 6 other local Milwaukee teams in a dual meet style team event. Each team competed in 3 minute sub-only matches with each member of the team, and the sub-only ruleset led to some very exciting matches - especially for our guys, all 3 of whom were hunting for submissions in each and every match.

In the “pool play”, Mach and I were able to pull out 6 submissions each in our 6 matches. Alex also managed to add 2 submissions for us in pool play, despite the fact that he was experiencing flu-like symptoms and was barely able to see straight.

The atmosphere at this event was incredibly unique - I’ve always felt that events that take place inside of academies have a unique, intimate intensity about them, and the team element only added to this.

After each submission, it became common practice for the members of each team to cheer on their teammates while waiting for the 3-minute clock to tick down.

After cruising through the pool play stage, Team Martial Paradise was able to pull out the victory in the finals against a very game team from Crossover BJJ academy, led by experienced black belt competitor Ryan Courtney, to secure the $1000 team prize.

In the end, Mach and I finished the weekend each with 8 submissions in our 9 matches, and Alex was finished with 2 for himself

For the stats people out there, we had 18 submissions in 27 matches as a team, meaning we had a 66% submission rate as a team.

This is an impressive number on its own, but when you add in the fact that every single one of our team members was battling their own injuries, and the fact that the matches in this event were just 3 minutes long, the results are even more impressive!

So… what’s next for the Martial Paradise ‘Ronin’?

For Mahmoud, this no-gi tournament was a brief change of pace for him, as he’s primarily focused on competing in major gi events around the world over the next couple of months.

Just days after competing in Milwaukee at Primal, Mach flew off to Bahrain to compete in the Asian Championships. This will be his first time representing the country of Jordan on the international level.

After the Asian Championships, Mach will be home for just a week before flying down to Orlando, Florida to compete in the IBJJF Pan Championships - the first major IBJJF event of the year. One distant challenge for Mach is the Asia Games, which will take place this fall in Beijing.

To stay up to date on everything Mahmoud is up to, you can follow him on Instagram here.

As for me, the next tournament on the horizon is the ADCC Trials in Las Vegas, NV, this weekend. I’ll be heading out this weekend to Vegas, where I’ll be competing in a stacked division with more the 250 competitors, many of whom are regarded as the best no-gi grapplers in the world.

I’m also signed up to compete the following weekend at the Pans in Orlando as well. After that, I have a few other competitions on the horizon for the rest of the first half of the year, but I’ll talk more about those as they get closer.

Until then, little is going to change over the next few weeks. Just more training, more dieting, and trying to dial in my mind so I can get ready to do my thing on some of the biggest stages that the sport has to offer.

The third and final Ronin on the Martial Paradise roster, Sebastian Serpa, is also getting ready for some major career milestones as well.

Sebastian won the IBJJF Pans and Worlds last year in the light-featherweight division, and he’s planning to spend the early parts of this year breaking in his black belt. He recently claimed a gold medal at the American BJJ Championship tournament in Florida.

To stay updated on Mahmoud, Sebastian, and myself, make sure to follow Martial Paradise on Instagram. @mahmoudjabr33 @sebastianserpajj @chrismwojcik