Bullet 6-0 The Amazing Spider-Mouth (July 2015)
I arrived a little early at the Vauxhall venue today and saw Cam’s car outside so guessed Cam was inside doing some admin work. I knocked on the slight open door, Cam called out “Come in”, we greeted each other with a hug and caught up on the latest MWM news and there is plenty of news coming thick and fast at the minute. Cam’s phone rang after 15 mins and I took the opportunity to grab a pre match shower while Cam took the call. I popped out of the shower changed and ready for action to see that Bullet had arrived and was chatting to Cam, we greeted each other and Bullet asked how I was and I replied “Good, well certainly better than I’m going to feel after the session!” Bullet laughed and told me I was right about that before she popped into the changing room.
It was a warm day and so we did not need to warm up as much as usual. We both wore all black, with Bullets sports top having white heart shapes on it. Her blond hair was not tied back for this match but allowed to hang down free. A quick pre match posing photo and then it was onto our knees for the first round. I was absolutely delighted with my defensive performance in the first round and managed to hold out for 17 minutes before Bullet took her first point. I managed to get my half guard into play on several occasions during the first round. There was one occasion where Bullet’s knee was forward up almost to my arm pit as she was on top of me but despite the poor leverage I had, I was still able to push it down with my right arm, in between my legs. Really happy I had the strength to do this. On another occasion, I could only capture an ankle and a foot in my half guard, but this still pushed the match clock on and bought me time to think of ways to get Bullet off me. Her hands were often planted to prevent me rolling her but an early burst of energy and I had her rolled onto her back. Bullet used her strong legs to push my hips and upper legs up in the air, un balancing me so she could topple me off her. She had me trapped on my back as she lay side on my chest with her arms around my neck and shoulders. I kept calm and worked the problem, searching for a way out and wriggling and shuffling this way and that to get my legs back into play and capture one of her legs to prize myself clear. One of the crazy things about this fight was that in each round we were having a very civilised conversation while physically battling very competitively. It was like we had an unspoken understanding that the chit chat was not going to put either of us off the task in hand. In the first round the topic of conversation was preparing for a big competition, whether it was a martial arts fight or running a marathon. It was fascinating to hear how Bullet trains and manages her life and how the preparation is a way of life. I understand this from my own time in sport as a younger athlete many years ago. This was our fifth match and the contrasts between this match and the previous match and our first match were quite striking. In our first match, we both sweated profusely during the in-close intense grappling struggle. Today we were in close but it was much more controlled and technical. I also think we are both much fitter than last summer and hence we did not sweat so much during today’s action despite the competitiveness of the bout. The big difference between today and our previous match (in the Vauxhall decathlon) was that we were both fit, fresh and close to 100% for today’s match. During the decathlon match, I had done 4 other matches before taking Bullet on and Bullet was recovering from a shoulder injury. Bullet had an opportunity for an Americana, but I managed to reach around her neck with my free arm and connect my hands preventing her from bending the Americana to the point of submission. As Bullet continued to dominate from the top, I tried to bridge out from under her without succeeding but Bullet did comment on my fitness which was very gratifying. When the point came, it was a kimoura as Bullet trapped my head and I was face down on the mats and she pulled my arm behind my back. I verbally submitted. 1-0 to Bullet. I joked to Bullet after the first round that I was going to write in the match report that I lasted 25 mins, but having reflected on this on the train home, I really should not claim achievements I have not properly earned – it was 17 mins. Honesty is the best policy.
We drove into each other at the start of round 2, both looking for under-hooks, then Bullet tried to start a Thai grip with one hand but I ducked my head out from under and pulled back, re-engaging as we started to test each others’ strength as we looked for the take down to the mats. Once we were down, the conversation between us started up again, in this round the topic was the syntax of martial arts and how different situations are associated with known choices with differing levels of risk and opportunity. This developed into a more in-depth discussion about what options and when to play safe and when to take risks in different score-lines depending on how long is left. Cam was looking quite bemused at the site of Bullet and I fiercely battling in a physical contest for control while having quite a scientific conversation about behavioural processes in martial arts competition. Bullet got on top and had the full mount position, I joked it was lucky this was not an MMA bout otherwise I’d be on the receiving end of a ground and pounding at that point. Bullet pushed the side of my head flat onto the mats and then positioned her legs about my head and shoulders ready to roll into a pre-submission position. She pretty much told me what she had in mind “OK which do you want? A rear naked choke or an arm bar?” I made no answer as I frantically looked for ways to prevent both moves. I actually could not work out how Bullet was going to get into an arm bar from this position. However, this was the hold she chose, rolling backwards, pulling my left arm between her knees and positioning her right shin in the V of my shoulder and neck to stop me rolling towards the arm bar to relieve the pressure. She pulled it home and I verbally submitted. 2-0 to Bullet.
In the third round, it was apparent that Bullet was finding ways to beat my defence and each round seemed to be getting successively shorter as I was unable to prevent submissions the way I was at the beginning of the fight. One thing that was still working well for me was my half guard Spider defence. In our previous fight, Bullet was able to simply place her free foot in between my legs and just sweep one of my legs away from the other. She was trying this today and I could feel her free foot probing to get in between my legs but she was not able to get the purchase on either leg to pull them apart. The topic of conversation during this third round was the occasional marks I picked up during matches and how I had to conceal these during work the week after. Some funny stories like the time I had a black eye and nobody actually asked how it happened they just gave me ‘street cred’ because they thought I’d been in a brawl at the football. Then there was the time I had to wear a polo neck jumper for a few days to hide a mark on my neck that obviously came from a female’s finger nails! I enjoyed a very brief spell on top during the third round before Bullet, being a bundle of energy, propelled me off her and came after me looking for my legs. I managed to avoid ankle / leg locks even starting and elected to grapple her face to face. I almost got a body scissors on her as she came side on into me with the side of her pelvis bone getting me right in the groin. She turned round to face me and placed her elbow on the mats inside my thigh. A lot of girls stick the elbow into the thigh to get out of scissors, but Bullet’s way was more effective while also being less painful for myself. She simply kept the elbow planted to keep my right leg in position while shifting her entire lower body to push my other leg in the other direction. There was no chance of me connecting the ankles for a scissors. Once again, Bullet got my left arm in an arm bar but this time neither of her legs was across my chest. She managed to get my elbow on the outside of her pelvis and then used both her arms to twist my left arm further into the arm bar hold until I tapped. 3-0 to Bullet.
The battle raged on in round 4 but we were still holding a lively conversation, this time talking about her coaching. She used her head as a third limb to press my chest down looking for an opening for an Americana. As she did so she told me how she coached her protégées to “use your heads”. It was quite amusing that they often thought she meant to be more tactical and think about the decisions they were making during sparring. In fact bullet actually meant to use their heads physically to help maintain control over the sparring partner. I joked about using one’s head as in a “Glasgow kiss” (Bullet was well aware that this was a term for a head butt). I was trying to get up off my back by planting a hand on the mats and pushing up against Bullet’s body, but she was too strong and knew how to stifle my efforts and the press me down hard against the mats again. During a period of intense tussling I managed to get Bullet’s back and gleefully went into motor-mouth mode commenting that I could go for a rear naked choke or a half nelson. Bullet was quick to deny me these opportunities and was soon turned round and facing me again as we jockeyed for position ending up close to the cage wall. I joked that it suited me to have Bullet trapped against the wall. Bullet laughed because it was so obvious that I did not engineer the situation that had her up against the cage wall, it just happened as we rolled across the mats. Bullet manages to rotate us 180 degrees to as she could force the fight back into the centre of the mats. She then got across my body and managed to push my left arm to the ground, behind my back, into the kimoura and I tapped. 4-0 to Bullet.
We took some water and before round 5 started Bullet showed me some of her take downs from standing. She has a very good hip throw and another where she throws me over her shoulder so that I end up on my back on the mats. We locked up for round 5 and quite quickly I found myself in trouble as my head was pressed side on to the mats with Bullets foot appearing in front of my eyes, planted on the mats. Her rear was pressing down on my shoulder and she could get a reverse head scissors or a reverse triangle from here. I manages to push against her quadriceps and pull my head clear from between her legs. Once we were in a stalemate situation, the conversation started up again as Bullet was looking to work her way into the next hold and I was on the defensive. This time we were talking about some research I was doing and how I process large volumes of data and what I do with it to answer research questions. She eventually got my on my back lying diagonally across my chest, with her chest pressing down hard against my chest. I could not make the quarter turn to reach round her back with my right arm to connect with the left and Bullet isolated the left and put on the Americana. I tapped. 5-0 to Bullet.
There was time for one final round and this round was the quickest of the match, less than 3 minutes. We had the briefest of conversations about the relative merits of cardio training, fat burning sessions and more intense sessions before Bullet put me into the reverse triangle that she did not quite get in the previous round. I could feel the legs squeezing the triangle home. I concentrated on the pin until I absolutely knew I had to tap out. The final score was 6-0 to Bullet.
After the match, we posed in all of the holds that bullet used to score her points today while Cam photographed these. Bullet and I said our good byes to Cam and set off for the tube station chatting all the way, and continuing talking about our different holiday plans while on the Victoria line up to Oxford Circus before we hugged and went our separate ways. We’ll be doing battle again. I was pleased with my effort and defence today and am confident of the first win of 2015 coming soon as I get ready for my next challengers. Thanks to Bullet for a great match, a very enjoyable work out and thanks to Cam as usual for making all of the arrangements xx
