I must say, the atmosphere at the tournament was electric; it was small and intimate despite have six mats on the go. 

I got warmed up and stretched, ready to go. 

- when I say ready, I mean 'as prepared as I could possibly be at that time'.

I walked over to the bullpen, and as I get there my coach says "George, it's going to be intense. When he goes hard, you go hard too."

'All good', I thought.

We were marshalled from the bullpen, weighed in, checked, and sent to the mat. I met my opponent - with a good 6 kilograms and 10 centimetres on me, he was practically a behemoth. We met, shook hands, chatted (really nice guy), and were called up for the fight.

We tap hands, then clinch.

Holy fuck, from the word go the intensity was beyond what I expected. I feel as if I may have been too relaxed, too accepting of defeat when I saw the four stripes wound ominously around his belt.

I avoided his throws, went for a two-leg take-down, and then felt my ass flip and slam to the mat. I tried to flail around and achieve a lame half guard, but to no avail.

He was just too good for my noobishness.

He got the mount, held it with fantastic pressure, then finished it with a forearm choke. All up, this took about a minute.

We finished, went through the formalities, then walked off. The best bit about this was his attitude to it all - he wasn't overjoyed in victory or an ungracious winner in the slightest. He asked me how long I'd been training, told me a little of his history (two years BJJ, three years judo), and thanked me for the match.

If there is one thing that continually stuns me about the people in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (in most cases), it is the respect they have for someone who gives the gentle art a go. In such an adversarial form of competition, it is an absolute wonder that people can be so relaxed and friendly towards each other. It's truly a special thing we have going, and something that makes BJJ so unique.

Overall, I learnt a few things:

- I have no standing game,

- I need to work on escaping mount, and;

- I need to hold my chin in more.

Apart from that, I just need time. Time to train more, and time to have more learning experiences like this.

Overall, a great experience.

Am I going back ASAP? You bet your ass.

Leap in, limp out - you learn every time you do.

- George