Open dislocation.

I am laying here with my left leg up and nine stitches in my big toe. After years away from the mat, the old man decided to set back in. I was nervous as hell and was going to back out to attend me humble little booth at this grappling event. My coach came to me and gave me some wise words of encouragement. I knew my opponent. A 20 year old 6'5 240 young man who all he does is workout. I measured my opponent and looked for weaknesses. I noticed a strong upper body but very narrow legs. My center of gravity was my strength. At 6'2 275 it's hard to take me down unless you are skillful. I shook hands with my adversary and the match was on. The young man was relaxed to the point of over confidence, I knew my aggression would give me the upper hand so I decided to play the bully.

I reached into his center mass and he miscalculated my strength. The surprised look on his face at the old man's speed and strength gave me a shot of adrenaline that caused me to pick him up straight into the air. I was surprised at the ease of taking this model athlete down. There I was I had scored first, he was down holding me for dear life. A quick attempt by him at a choke submission was easily defended. An arm submission brushed off. I placed my hand on his throat and I began to see fear and panic in his eyes. Imagine you have this scenario in your head that you played when you looked over at your match. You judged the book by it's cover. You saw a fat, old, gray haired man with a little limp. The sly grin on face his face before the match gave him away. Underestimating your enemy certainly always leads to defeat.

More points accumulated for me, more advantages as I grabbed his ankle nearly breaking it by lifting his entire body in the air by it. I thought I saw him tap me. The ref missed it, he struggled, he's out of my dangerous grip. Again he is back in my grasp, I know this will be easy again. I grab his legs and up he goes. I turn slightly to my right as he panics and prepares to hit the ground. As I plant to press forward I feel a pop in my foot. I continue my takedown, more points added. I hold him down and stare at my left foot. The toe is pointing in an unnatural direction. I have to keep going, I have to win. It pops back in but I see the blood now and feel the pain.

I tried to push back as he was resisting my attack. Had I had that left foot to plant it would have been over. The pain and the blood sent me into a bit of shock. I noticed my nemesis taking my back. I felt in no danger. I knew he just scored. I have to continue, the pain is unbearable the toe is cut in half. The young tries to strangle me with the little strength he had left. I shrugged it off and calmly whispered to him that my foot was broken. I felt a little tug around my neck but I was now seeing more blood. Out of concern for my health and my opponent get blood on him I gently patted the mat. The referee came down as my opponent clung harmlessly on my back. I told him I was tapping and that my foot was broken.

Dejected I walked over and sat at let the medic dress my wound. I picked up my stuff in defeat and headed to the hospital  where I received nine stitches from and open dislocation. I tried my best, I won I felt in a sense, it wasn't me that quit as much as my body failed. Since I am not a professional I had to preserve myself so that I could go home and take care of children and the sometimes mundane roll of a parent. For a spilt second though I wanted to throw caution  into the wind and see how far I could go. I console myself today by the cheers I received from the older men who had been watching the match. I was stopped by a very prominent martial arts label's owner who congratulated me for showing the young one up. A lesson I guess I hope we both learn. Youth underestimates age by forgetting age has already learned the lesson to win. Age forgets it has the scars to prove it's learned its lessons and should retire to teach the young.