Athlete to Watch: Fred Lamarca outlasts Curatolo in BJJ debut

Congrats to Fred Lamarca on a great performance in his first BJJ match on Friday, March 25. Here is a recap of the fight:

“Curatolo stuffs an early takedown attempt, snatches Lamarca’s leg, kicks it out, and lands in Lamarca’s guard. The crowd is fired up from Campbell-Kotarski and loving this fast early action. Lamarca (red shorts) is back up. Curatola tries for a standing arm-in guillotine. Lamarca gets the takedown passes to Curatola’s left side, and mounts. Curatola is breathing harder, and works for the armbar. Both men are back on their feet, Curatola slams Lamarca and ends up in top position after a fast scramble. Curatols and Lamarca work for legs and ankles, and try to kick one another off. Both men’s lower bodies come free, and Lamarca pulls guard. He brings up his left shin to what looks like the Lochness Monster of submission grappling: the gogplata. The lower shin is beneath Curatolo’s chin, but Curatola wisely keeps his back and chin up so that Lamarca cannot pull down and force the tap. The red-faced Curatola shakes his way out of Lamarca’s guard. This is sick. Lamarca takes Curatolo’s back and sinks in the rear naked choke, but not deep or fast enough to beat the closing bell. Curatolo controlled early; Lamarca finished stonger. Awesome match.”

Fred has made tremendous progress here at AFTLI, and we know the best is yet to come from him! Nice work Fred!