Two world champions on forum.hr

Two world champions posting on this subforum—funny how that works...
From August 20th to the 22nd, we had the first cadet and junior grappling world championships, followed by the second veterans championship. Our friend Referee here took the absolute title in the younger division, while yours truly—the humble Robin Palmer3—grabbed the absolute world title in the older bracket (I actually beat an old Olympic wrestling champion from Canada, a 135 kg powerhouse named Norbert Neveny, in the finals)
I have to say, Referee’s cadets absolutely crushed their competition, and my juniors did the same—those kids were taking down Russians, Ukrainians, and fighters from all the major athletic superpowers. I’m not sure exactly how many world champions Referee has in the cadet division (maybe three or four?), but as far as I know, I've got three in No-Gi and one in Gi at the junior level.

Way to go, huge congratulations 🙂

bravo!!!

Congrats

Bravo... seriously, well done...

My sincerest congratulations to you!

Haha, I honestly thought I was the only sane one left on this forum 😁

Congrats 👍

Congrats!

Congratulations!! p.s. are we expecting some kind of video?!

Congrats to the guys!
And to Antun R., if he's actually checking this forum, nice job, experts.

Man, I’ve been out of the loop on this stuff for so long that I’ve completely missed everything.
Seriously though, you guys killed it. 👍

Zachary Mendoza17 said:Congrats!! p.s. any chance we get a video?!

It’ll be up soon—once I actually get my hands on the footage. Honestly, I took way too many matches in a single day, and it’s making me rethink how I schedule future tournaments. I’m just not at the age where I can bounce back from every little injury anymore—not like I used to. It was one thing after another; there were times I barely had ten minutes of breathing room between bouts in the gi division. The day after was a total disaster, though thank God for Voltaren helping me survive the aftermath.😁
Thanks for all the well wishes.

I seriously read about Robin Palmer3 winning so much lately that I was thinking we should just build an auto-sender for the forum to blast him with congrats every time he wins...😁
All jokes aside, big props to both of you—but did you guys actually prep for these fights in any meaningful way?

Congratulations!
I actually checked the official websites earlier, but they haven't posted any photos or videos yet—nothing at all.
As for those injuries, well... you know what they say, "it's just part of being young." They’ll heal up before you know it. 😉

Daniel Garcia said:Look, hats off to both of them—congrats to both—but did you two actually prepare specifically for these bouts?

Of course we prepared—and seriously so—but when you’re ordered to fight six matches in a single day, it becomes a brutal grind even for someone younger than me. Every single one of my finals ended in a draw: 1-1, 0-0, 4-4... and I had to push through an extra round every single time, which just drained the life out of me. I dropped two matches in overtime and managed to snag one win (though I nearly died doing it because this "tank" weighed 135 kg).
In the master category (35 years old) under 242 lbs in No-Gi, I lost to the current World Senior grappling bronze medalist from America—Pilipović—after a 1-1 tie in regulation. Similarly, I lost to former Canadian World Judo champion Janos Kovacs after a 0-0 deadlock in the Gi division at the same weight class. My only real victory was against Norbert Noveny, following a 4-4 tie in the absolute No-Gi division. Those early preliminary fights? They were easy, quick wins.
If I hadn't put in the work, I honestly don't think I would have survived a single match, let alone six.
Even junior Antun račić from Charleston had about ten matches and ended up with terrible back issues afterward—and he’s thirty years younger than me. Honestly, I think even the Referee had a rough time too, considering he had to officiate 6 or 7 matches. The problem is the tournament structure; they lumped us in with the juniors and crammed every single category into one day instead of spreading it out over two or three days. But hey, if that's how they want to run it, fine—just don't expect to see me out there again anytime soon.😁

This Tuesday at 6 PM, Charleston is hosting a welcome party for three-time world grappling champion Antun račić—an absolute legend. You can catch the whole thing live on the local TV station, or if you're staying in, just stream it via Max TV. Way to show up for our own, Charleston!

What can I even say? Just nothing but massive respect...

wiredmarlin29 said:What can you even say? Massive respect. ...

Signed, sealed, delivered!

Big congrats to both of them.🙏🙏 And to all the other medal winners out there.🙏 🙏 Of course, kudos go out to everyone else who competed too.👍

I was wondering, what does the process actually look like when it comes to introducing grappling into established American wrestling clubs? What steps do coaches—the ones who have been teaching Greco-Roman and freestyle for years—need to take to start offering grappling under their own roof? Is there some sort of national governing body or a specific organization where they could sharpen their skills so they can properly pass that knowledge down to their students?

The grappling association has been split off from the main American federation, and honestly, HGS couldn't care less about which clubs want to join their ranks anyway.

Congratulations to both of them 🙂 🙏