Amanda
Leve is 15-years-old, and has been training in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) for
four years. She often has to compete in boys divisions, because there aren’t
that many girls, or women to compete with. Amanda enjoys battling either, but
she says, “Personally, I like fighting the boys
because a ton of more people watches it and I get noticed.”
That’s the other big difference
between the sports, when a boy faces a girl. In wrestling, the results are
typically confined to whoever was at the match, and word of mouth. But when the
genders clash in grappling, there often is a video and said video gets
thousands of views. And both competitors would rather thousands of people see
their hands raised, then their opponents. The video of this match can be seen
here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBL7YUTRlpk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBL7YUTRlpk
Amanda traveled a long way to fight.
She’s from Philadelphia, and has traveled all over the east coast, but this
tournament was in Vegas. It was the UFC
Fan Exop, and Grappler’s Quest. She was
both excited and nervous.
And she had reason to be. Her name was
called and she saw her opponent. She was not facing a scrawny boy, but a young
man. His name was Wyatt, and he was two years older, bigger, and didn’t have an
ounce of fat on him. Amanda noticed, “The boy I was going to grapple in my
opinion was huge and muscular. I thought, ‘Oh great, this might not end
well.’”
Wyatt did not lack for confidence.
Amanda says, “He had an arrogant smile on his face. It wasn’t the first time I
have seen a smile like that. They (boys) usually all have that smile.”
Amanda says Wyatt’s cockiness did not
end there. “We shook hands and he came at me rather aggressively. I was pretty
mad how fast and aggressive he was.” Amanda did not travel all this way to get
run over. “He didn’t come at me aggressively with technique, he came at me
wildly, and I strongly dislike that when it comes to a sport where using
technique is key.”
If it was just inexperience, Amanda
wouldn’t be upset, but she thought it was something else. “I think he did that
because he was going against a girl, and his friends were there.”
For wrestling fans, it would appear
Wyatt was dominating. He got Amanda down to the ground in only 5 seconds. But
Amanda was “pulling guard.” For those that don’t know what pulling guard means,
Wyatt was on top but Amanda had her legs crossed, around his midsection. So though Wyatt was on top, he wasn’t in
control. However Amanda was still nervous. “I’d be lying if I said
I wasn’t, but that’s because I’m always nervous. I felt his strength, and I did
get a little nervous, but I reassured myself that I have gone against stronger
guys where I train everyday.”
After around 20 seconds in that
position, the ref called time and moved the grapplers back to the middle of the
mat. They both re-started from the position they were in.
Wyatt was no longer the aggressor, as
he tried to get Amanda off of him. Amanda was in very good position now. She
had him on his side, squeezing his neck. But she knew she couldn’t make him tap
from this position. “When I had him on his side with the arm triangle I knew that
I wouldn’t finish it from there.” She also was not overconfident. “I did not
think the match was mine because I never like to assume things especially in
jiu jitsu. People can escape things as fast as you put them in it.”
So Amanda decided she wanted to be
more in control, and gave up the neck, and scooted behind him to get on his
back. “The back take is my best position in jiu jitsu. Many people have trouble
escaping my back control.”
Wyatt would prove to be no different.
And though he must have been happy to be able to breathe, it didn’t last long.
“Once I got his back, I snuck in the rear naked choke which cuts off the blood
going to his head. I started squeezing as hard as I could.”
At the 1:09 mark of the video, Amanda
had the RNC locked in. Wyatt didn’t give up, and began to try to twist Amanda’s
foot. Amanda capitalized on his mistake. “I thought his defense
was ok until I got onto his back. His back defense was extremely bad. When you
are getting choked the first thing you want to do is protect your neck. He was
gabbing at my feet while I was choking him. That is the last thing you want to
do when somebody has a choke on.”
Though Amanda doesn’t like to assume
victory, she knew what everyone else knew, the end was imminent. “Yes at that
point I knew it was over and that I just had to stay strong with the choke. The
choke was in so tight because he was not defending right and the back position
is second nature to me from drilling it so many times. I was just thinking
squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.”
At the 1:16 mark, you can see Amanda
gritting her teeth and digging in the choke. Wyatt stayed tough for 10 more
seconds, but eventually tapped Amanda’s arm 7-8 times to signify his
submission.
It was an amazing moment for Amanda.
“I was feeling excited and happy. I was thinking, "HA! YES! Did this just
happen?! Wow, there are so many people watching!"
The two went to the middle of the ring
for Amanda to get her hand raised. She couldn’t help but show off. “Hahaha I
love being in front of the camera. I always put the thumbs up and make a weird
smile. It is just me.”
Amanda was ecstatic with the
result. “I couldn't believe how fast I
beat him. I didn't expect to beat him so quickly because of how he was built. I
was super proud that I beat him so quickly. No disrespect to him, his
instructor or school, but I feel as if he was easier than most.”
After the ref put up Amanda’s hand,
they competitors shook hands and Wyatt said, “You are stronger than I thought.”
Amanda laughed and said, “Good match.”
Amanda still smiles when thinking of
the match. “Looking back it feels awesome that I can prove my strength to a
boy. I know he was stronger than me so I realized I had to use my strength and
speed.”
But she’s not the only one who has
“looked back” on that match. To date, it has 46,322 views. When I started
writing this story, it had 45,940. So in a couple hours it still has gained
almost 400 new views. Amanda loves it. “It is extremely cool to see all the
views. It is way more than I could have even imagined and I am still shocked.”
Amanda hopes to be a role model for
young girls. “I want little girls to want to start jiu jitsu too! I want
everybody to respect girls in jiu jitsu.”
And she has a message to anyone that
may go against her in the future; bring your best, because she will. “I will
NEVER back down from anybody no matter how big, strong or scary.”
As Wyatt learned the hard way, Amanda “has
your back.”
