Eustace takes gold at UK and Ireland championships

AFTER winning his way through to the finals of the purple belt 76kg-100kg bracket at the UK and Ireland Premier Brazilian Jiujitsu Championships, Fightsports Clare’s John Eustace faced what must surely rank as one of his biggest ever challenges in a competition – Brazilian Danilo Henrique Alves, a bear of a man who easily outweighed the Ennis man by nearly 22kg.

In the end, it was Eustace’s superior conditioning – he teaches kettlebells as well as BJJ at his gym in Ennis – that proved decisive in the match as he took the full seven minutes to subdue his beast of an opponent to secure gold in the Neptune Stadium, Cork last weekend.
Never one to embellish a story, Eustace was matter-of-fact about the win.
“It was back and forth initially and I was winning on points but then he got tired and with five seconds to go at the end, he lay down and gave up.”
Despite going out with a whimper rather than a roar, Alves was clearly a fighter to watch, having impressed in his earlier bouts that day.
“In his fights before the final he had beaten the first guy in 10 seconds with an arm bar and beaten the second guy, flipped him up over on top of his head and then arm-barred him too, so I was kind of worried before I got him,” Eustace explained.
As well as securing glory for himself, several of his students from the Fightsports Clare team were amongst the medallists at the tournament, as well with the team, which picked up a gold, silver and a bronze at various weights.
In the white belt U-94kg competition, Craig Ryan from Ennis was in dominating form as he displayed both a knack for finishing his opponents as well as good tactical sense.
After winning his first two matches by submission – a head and arm choke in the first on and a lightning fast omaplata (shoulder lock) in the second – he took the gold with a points win after a good display of technical control and positional dominance.
Fighting in the medium (U-76kg) competition, Tommy King was unlucky to only finish with a bronze medal. Having gone 16-0 ahead in his first match, before his opponent was disqualified for reaping the knee, King looked to be in dangerous form. In his next fight, however, he lost out to a reverse triangle that seemed to surprise his opponent as much as the Fightsports fighter.
Also picking up medals were Trina Campbell and Sara Cory, who were the only women entered in the competition. The two experienced white belts fought for first and second place, with Campbell submitting Cory with an americana.
It’s not uncommon for there to be such a small field in competitions at adult level said Eustace. However, it’s surprising, given the art is based around allowing smaller fighters use leverage and technique to beat bigger, stronger opponents, that more women don’t gravitate toward the art if not for sport purposes than for self defence.
Overall, however, the Fightsports Clare trainer was pleased with his 10-strong team’s performance, some of whom were making their first appearance in competition.
Tournaments are an important aspect of Brazilian jiujitsu culture and training, explained Eustace. “It’s the closest thing you can get to actually testing what you have in a real fight. You’ve the pressure of a real fight; you’ve the nervous energy that you don’t have from training in the gym. It’s also the fact that you’ve a goal set for yourself that focuses the mind,” he said.
“It’s not essential to the art but most guys who compete will improve faster than those that don’t because if you have to fight in front of a crowd of people you’re going to push yourself that bit more in training and focus on fixing your mistakes so that you don’t make them in front of a load of people,” Eustace concluded.