Caglan Bagci

55 years old,

Started at age 37.

First got interested watching Jeremy Horn fight Babalu in a cage. I didn't understand ground fighting. Although I had trained in martial arts since I was 9 years old I knew little of grappling and ground fighting.

Geoff Grant was recommended to me from a mutual friend. Everyone beat me on my first night rolling. Even a 60kg 17 year old.

All of my expertise in other martial arts counted for nothing when grappling on the ground. I was instantly hooked and haven't looked back.

So many memorable experiences. I learned sleeve choke early and had success with it. Gained enormous satisfaction from winning with it.

The advice I would give is to tap early and often. tapping keeps you safe. Always lessons in tapping. Why did you have to tap? What mistakes did you make to end up in that position?

Same advice to someone wanting to improve. If you are not tapping you are probably not trying new moves.

Balancing training and life is tricky. Lots of class times should allow you to get to some of the classes in a week. I made the best progress when I went to at least four classes a week. However one class a week is better than none.