MILDURA Martial Arts’ Augustas McCallum has won his eighth state title, defeating his opponent 25-0.
A highly credentialed grappler, McCallum had previously won the Gi world championship at age 15.
McCallum said he faced challenges leading up to the competition, battling illness and having limited training, but said he was inspired to get the win for his mum on Mother’s Day.
“I had a pretty tough start to the weekend, it was a two day competition and (when) I was leaving to go … I was pretty sick, then the next day I got even worse,” he said.
“That day wasn’t my best day but I got bronze in the Gi.
“On the second day I was ready to go and managed to get the win without having a single point scored against me.
“It was Mother’s Day and my mum was there like you need to do this and I thought ‘Mum’s said so, I have to do it now’.”
McCallum said he felt “on the ball” in his finals match after a tough start to the weekend.
“I got a couple of takedowns and moved around on top, getting into some high point-scoring positions and he wasn’t able to capitalise on anything,” he said.
“I’m pretty old school. I like to get the takedown get on top, stay on top and maintain the pressure for the whole match, but I wouldn’t say I have a particular game anymore, I like to be good in all areas.
“I’m in the brown belt division so I’m versing guys who are taking it pretty seriously so there is never an easy fight anymore, every fight is pretty hard.”
McCallum is now preparing for an upcoming No-Gi super fight on June 18 at the M16 invitational, one of the highest-level grappling events in Australia.
“You have to be invited in and you are under the ADCC rule set, there’s not many rules – you can slam your opponent, you can go for any submission you can think of, and I’ll be against a black belt from Perth, so that should be a good one.”
