Travis Tooke Wins NAGA Vegas Absolute

When I was vacationing in Mazatlan with my family over the Christmas holidays, a young guy spotted my Mamazinho Gracie Barra Seattle t-shirt and told me he trained with Travis Tooke in Houston, Texas. I hadn't seen much of Tooke, but I'd heard good things and knew that there was a lot of very good jiu jitsu in Texas (home also of Travis Lutter).

I also didn't know that Tooke was a Gracie Barra black belt, which makes it all the more fun to congratulate him for winning the Absolute division at NAGA Vegas. Here's a link to On the Mat's coverage of the event.

NAGA Vegas Report

Here's the excerpt describing Tooke's Absolute division win ...

Match Notes: Travis Tooke is a Gracie Barra black belt hailing from his Definitive Martial Arts academy in Houston, Texas. He was one of the smallest competitors in this no-gi absolute tournament, as he weighed in at 169 pounds. He faced off against a fellow jiu-jitsu black belt in Rodrigo Uzeda who teaches his Uzeda BJJ Team in the Copacabana area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As mentioned before, Uzeda weighed in at 199 pounds. The match started out as a seesaw battle, which saw Tooke mostly working to pass. Tooke used his speed to counter Uzeda's strength and then strategically took advantage of the NAGA rule, which awards 1 point for a significant submission attempt. Tooke locked on a straight ankle lock, which Uzeda was able to defend. Tooke used nice fluid transitions to stay out of danger and eventually made his way to Uzeda's back with one hook in as time expired. The win earned Tooke the OTM No-Gi Absolute Championship Belt!

And here's a link to Tooke's championship match:

Travis Tooke over Rodrigo Uzeda via points