Tap Today, Train Tomorrow

On Saturday, we heard an arm snap around the world. At the ADCC North America west coast trials, in his second match of the day, Ethan Crelinsten had his opponent Dimitri Salem trapped in a Kimura armlock. Salem refused to tap and Crelinsten eventually broke his arm. Crelinsten went on to fight again and secured his spot at the world championship in Finland. 

Regardless of whether this was the finals match or a live sparring situation in class, the refusal to submit to a brutal arm lock will now cost Salem an indefinite time off the mats. You have to ask yourself, "is it worth it to not tap?" Most people will say no, it's not worth it, yet their egos will say otherwise when they are put it in similar situation.

Getting humbled on the mat is completely necessary and a natural part of our progression in BJJ. It is impossible to NOT tap... ever. So despite the ADCC trials being one of the more prestigious competitions, why would anyone risk injury by refusing to submit? 

Here's what some notable black belts had to say:

"The truth can be hard to swallow when you're choking on your pride."

"I think it's horrible that Dimitri refused to humble himself and accept the defeat. And I feel bad for Crelinsten because he had to be caught up in the incident. I honestly understand it's the ADCC trials but I mean come on, that injury could set him back or maybe even ruin his career. I mean even though I would want to win everything, I rather live to fight another day instead of ruining a chance to never compete again."

"I have been there... my foot popping like crazy from a straight ankle lock in Chicago. I kept a straight face but inside was dying... I won the match then the absolute, but at what cost? To this day, my foot is not the same. I double golded but my foot felt like shit for a loooong time. It still bothers me on occasion but I learned something about myself that day -- that perspective is a clarity not found in diamonds and worth more than gold."

We all have our own physical and mental limitations. It is apparent that our willingness to tap in training is greater than in competition when all eyes are on you. However, at the end of the day we all have to ask ourselves if we'd rather tap today and train tomorrow or not tap today and see what happens. Or maybe we'll get lucky and we'll get out of it or they'll let go... yeah, right.