With the conclusion of the 2024 IBJJF European Championships, Trey and I left Paris for Ireland, destined for East Coast Jiu-Jitsu Academy — ECJJA — in Dublin.

Get caught up: EuroTrip Pt.1: A table-side theft, handcuffs & lemon pie with Reda Mebtouche

The academy, founded and lead by Darragh O'Connail, is likely the best known destination in Ireland for pure jiu-jitsu. It's produced champion talents such as Ffion Davies, Sam McNally, Marcus Phelan and Richy Buckovcsan. The later two are amid their preparations for the 2024 ADCC European Trials, the last chance for them to qualify for the 2024 ADCC World Championships coming to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in August. The trials, taking place in Croatia on Feb. 19, will attract most of the top grapplers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, all trying to guarantee their spots at what is expected to be the most electric grappling event of all time.

Leaving Paris for Dublin, my gear bag got ransacked by airport security. The contents: one laptop, one iPad, two Sony cameras, an external camera monitor, ten (dead) camera batteries, a camera microphone and mount, three battery chargers, two decks of playing cards, a roll of orange duct tape, more than a dozen wires and adapters, a bag of alan keys and screw drivers, a book, a Nintendo Switch, a power strip.

It's 50-lbs of equipment meticulously packed so that it all — barely — fits. They unpacked every single item from the bag.

That notwithstanding, an uneventful journey to Ireland, where we caught a cab to the Croke Park Hotel, across the street from the famous Croke Park stadium. From there, we walked to see the sights and find our way into the center of the city. Before we could get to the center of the city, it began to rain, so we popped into the nearest pub for a burger and our first (but far from our last) pint of Guinness on the trip.

When the rain cleared, we continued walking into town, but by then it was getting dark. Our opportunity to see the sights was over. 

After ten days on my feet at Euros, they were aching from my worn out shoes. So we stopped at a local shop for some new kicks and headed back to the hotel, grabbed another pint, and packed it in for our morning with the boys at ECJJA.

It was a grey and rainy day in Dublin as we rolled up to ECJJA for the morning session, run by Marcus Phelan. The mats were ice cold and rock hard. Space heaters worked to pump heat down from the ceiling, as the lads in the room wore socks and sweatshirts through the warmup.

A bit of guard retention against outside passing to warmup, then some technique and specific rounds from the dogfight position before the real work began: six-minute ADCC rounds — three minutes no points then three minutes with points counted.

Marcus is a menace in the room. He's got solid wrestling and a great leglock game, but his real strength is his rapid passing, which he utilizes to get to the rear mount triangle with ease. When I finally ditched the camera and switched into training gear, I learned this first hand. I had trained with Marcus once before, when he visited Austin, Texas. But I had since forgotten just how smooth his passing is, and how quickly he can accelerate through the guard into a finishing position.

After my round with Marcus, I caught a round with Richy B. Richy and I are a similar size. He let me work a bit, and while I found myself always a step or two behind, it was exhilarating to open up my game on the feet and the floor. He hit me with a sneaky Tarikoplata, then broke it down for us (Richy credits Andris Brunovskis for this tricky Tarikoplata setup that makes stepping over the wrist a bit easier).

In a later sequence, Richy hit me with a triangle from the back. I had forgotten to pack my mouthguard in my camera bag when getting ready in the morning, and when caught in the triangle, I learned a hard lesson. My teeth clashed together, and one of them chipped. A proper souvenir.

After training, Marcus, Richy and his girlfriend Gabriela took us to a local sandwich spot, where they warned us against ordering the hot sauce. Naturally, I ordered the hot sauce.

Sorry fellas, it was mild at best. The Irish aren't exactly known for their spice tolerance;  and I suppose that three years of living in Texas has elevated mine.

Next up, we walked to Marcus' apartment for a few rounds of ping pong.

With the cameras rolling, Richy was on fire, taking it to Marcus and winning the first match. Cameras off, it was Marcus' time to shine. I played one round with FloGrappling vlogmaster Trey Robinson, and it did not go my way. At least it was over quickly...

Ping pong is not the sport for me, but pints? Count me in.

We wrapped up at a pub, where the guys introduced us to real Guinness. They say it tastes different in Ireland — something about how it's shipped or how the pipes are cleaned or how it's stored. Whatever the case, it does taste smoother, crisper, somehow fresher in Ireland. 

Marcus had a class to teach, so we parted ways, and we went back to our hotel.

Marcus, Richy, and seemingly everyone else in Dublin recommended that we check out Temple Bar, if only for one drink. So after dinner we dropped in, and it lived up to the hype.

The two-man live band was playing contemporary indie folk covers — including the fiddle and kick drum — mixed in with classic Irish folk music. Both of my mother's parents were born in Ireland, and as a kid I spent a lot of time with them. In their house, they were always listening to, dancing to, singing along to Irish folk music. And the wave of nostalgia that washed over me at Temple Bar was like nothing I had ever felt before. I hadn't heard many of those songs in a decade, and I had forgotten all about them until I heard them. That hour of live music in the center of Dublin, concluding our short time there, is something that will stick with me for a long time.

We had to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Berlin, meaning a 3:30 a.m. (rather, half-three) cab to the airport. So we stayed out for a few drinks, then back to the hotel to work until the taxi arrived.

Next up, we fly to Berlin to catch a train to Koszalin, Poland, where the crew up there — Santeri Lilius, Mateusz Szeczinski and others — are preparing their squad for ADCC Trials. Stay tuned for that leg of the FloGrappling Euro Trip, coming soon.