A quick big-up to our sponsored athlete Alaina Hardie.

For those who don’t know, Alaina has fast-tracked her jiu jitsu to the extent that she has, in under two years, now competed at a qualifying event for the top submission grappling tournament in the world, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC).

I wish I had a fairy tale story for you, but Alaina lost in her first round. What you need to know is that she took on a decorated champion, Katie Weilbacher, with way more experience and a much higher ranking. More importantly, she performed very well.

“Katie outweighed me by 25 pounds and has been training three times as long as I have, and there was NO point at which I was at a strength or conditioning disadvantage . . . I could have easily gone a whole twenty minutes at that intensity.”

In case you’re wondering about Alaina’s weight, as referenced in an earlier post, she did not have to worry about making 132 lbs. for the weigh-in, as some monkeying with weight classes on the part of the organizers ensured that she’d be in a heavier weight category regardless. This was a bit of a setback so late in the game, as we could have focused more on attributes and less on weight loss, but she still hit the mats at under 150 with a visibly different body composition than she had just a few months ago. She looked (and performed) amazing(ly) is what I’m trying to tell you.

We look forward to working more with Alaina and seeing her continue to push the limits of both her own abilities and those of others. Next stop: Grappler’s Quest.