2006 Arnold/Gracie Classic

Scott Sjoquist

My wife and I left Ireland on Friday afternoon but with the 6 hour time difference we arrived in Columbus Ohio with plenty of time to get weighed in.  I had heard horror stories about lines at the weigh-ins but we found no lines at sign up or weighing in. I signed up for gi and no gi. We bumped into Bill Krieg and his team from Fox Valley Wisconsin on our way out.  Since my wife Melissa and I were staying with them it was perfect timing.

This is a huge event taking up the Convention Center and the Nation Wide Arena.  They have a huge expo all weekend and events of all types, body building, wrestling, gymnastics, BJJ, Judo, MMA, Tae Kwon Do, breaking competitions, stick fighting.  From the stands at the new Nation Wide Arena looking down it was sort of surreal.  6 BJJ mats on the right, 6 miscellaneous mats in the center, an MMA ring and a brick breaking area side by side, on the far left 6 rings for Judo.  And other than the BJJ mats the rings were going non stop all day.   Friday night Relson Gracie put on an MMA event Gracie’s vs. Team Hammerhouse. 

Saturday we woke up and had a huge breakfast the purple and brown belts were supposed to start at 8:00 am but a phone call told us that it was starting late.  The purple and browns didn’t start until 1:00 pm; it was going to be a long day.  The rules’ meeting was pointless because the acoustics were so bad you couldn’t hear them more than 5-10 feet away.  I had preread the rules so I went to my seat to chill out.

Brazilian Mike was up first and beat Red. Then in his next match was injured his shoulder and couldn’t continue.  Bill did very well winning gold in his weight class and open division. He dominated every opponent.   Looks like a purple belt for him.  Several other Team Vaghi guys competed doing well and some winning medals.

The “Govenator” Arnold showed up and watched a demonstration and gave a short speech. 

Our room mate Troy was the last division up and he was the second to last match of the day around 1:00 am.  Troy took gold in his weight division. 

Even though my divisions were before Troy’s they were still late in the evening.  With the time difference it was about 5 am Irish time.  Two competitors in my weight division dropped out.  That only left only one other competitor.  I grabbed his collar and sleeve in judo hold put my foot on his hip and dropped back attempting an arm bar.  I kept pressure on the arm and he put his weight down stacking me.  I drove my hips up as hard as I could sweeping him over.  He attempted to escape by swinging his leg over my head.  But I kept the pressure on and put every thing into it. Match over in less than 20 seconds. 

After flying in from Ireland and waiting all day I was disappointed to only have one match.  A couple of Vaghi’s guys asked me if I had signed up for the Open Division, I said no I didn’t know it was an option.  Open division is all weight classes at the same belt level.   They told me Vaghi’s likes to see his guys in the open division.  I asked Vaghi if he could get me into the Open division.  He signed me up.  He thought my name was Troy, I wrote in my own last name later.  So for all my matches he was yelling “Troy”.  It seemed most of Team Vaghi were watching my matches in the open division since everyone but Troy was finished competing.   But since we were all staying together they knew my name was Scott.  It sort of became a joke and everyone was yelling “Troy, Troy” Even during my matches I had to smile and laugh it was so funny. It was 15 guys in my division so I was given a bi in the first round.   My first match was against a guy that looked about Josh’s height but a bit heavier.  I totally underestimated his strength and he put me in a triangle straight away, and we rolled to our stomachs.  I could still breathe and then put all my weight on his back.  I think he was burnt out from attempting the triangle in combination of the pressure on his back he started to move to his side.  I stood up picking him up in triangle and put my knee on his tail bone opening the guard.  Then back to standing.  He ended up sweeping me but I moved to his side. We ended up with me in sit to side trapping his bottom arm.  I used my free arm to put his gi collar out.  Then switched arms on the collar.  I think I pulled a bit too hard backward he came up and we rolled over.  I stayed on him tight and pushed the back of his head into the choke he tapped. 

The second match was against a good sized guy probably 215 maybe 5’11.  He didn’t look that fit or strong but again I was wrong he was very strong.  It was back and forth him getting points for sweeps and me getting points for guard pass and mount.  Then I ended up on my back and kicked my leg over his head rolling to my stomach for an arm bar.   The referee said to Vaghi in a Brazilian accent “blue belt, blue belt, give him his blue belt.”  I was whipped,  that match took a lot out of me.  I knew I would have difficulties recovering.  I told the referee I wanted some time to recover so he started the next division.

Finally my heart rate came down.  The last guy was big at least compared to me.    He was around 235-250 pounds just under 6 feet.  I grabbed him in judo hold but he just pulled me around in a circle.   I was sliding on the bottoms of my feet.  He was trying to pass my open guard but I ended up standing and pushed him to his butt.  He was holding my gi and I couldn’t move at all.  He ended up sweeping me and in my guard.  I tried to attack his arm from the bottom in everyway I could think of but my technique couldn’t overcome his strength.  We ended up in the next ring so the referee restarted us.  After we restarted he ended up on my back but couldn’t finish me.  I finally got my back flat on the mat and started to escape.  He started to come up on top but I swept him.  I was now on top in a sort of loose north south position.  But he swept me and I tried to attack his arm from the bottom until the end of the match.  He won on points.  Even though I took second I was more proud of my silver than the gold. 

Sunday morning we went to the no gi competition.  The no gi wasn’t very big compared to Saturdays gi competition.  It was the complete opposite of NAGA tournaments in the Midwest. 

Now go train at the Cove, why, because you can.