Let's take a trip back 45 years ago, to Sept 4, 1981, when Neil Adams (GBR) created history at the World Championships in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Adams was one of the favorites for the gold medal in the 1981 World Championships. in 1979, he had won a World bronze and in 1980, an Olympic silver. He was on the rise. But he had won both those medals as a -71kg fighter. In 1981, he had moved up a weight class to -78kg.
It didn't matter. Adams made it to the final without any problem. There, he met Jiro Kase of Japan. Although Kase was not such a famous player, the Japanese had never lost the half-middleweight class before.
Adams first attacked with uchimata, which Kase managed to ride out. Then Adam attacked with tai-otoshi, which Kase also managed to foil. But the attack took them to the ground and Adams attempted an armlock from the guard position. This was not his favorite position to attack from and the armlock failed. But it did have an effect and Kase could be seen clutching his arm when the referee asked them to get up.
Having tried uchimata and tai-otoshi, both to the right, Adams then tried drop seoi-nage to the left. Kase once again managed to ride that attack but he ended up on the ground in turtle position. Adams pounced onto his back and began his armlock roll.
The Japanese TV commentators, who clearly were not familiar with Adams's armlock, thought he was trying to do a strangle.
The beauty of the Adams armlock, with its unique Figure-4 grip, is that it allowed Adams to roll in two directions, either towards the head or towards the leg. And he could switch between the two seamlessly.
Adams rolled Kase towards the head first and managed to partially rotate him over, but Kase quickly turned back into the turtle position. Without missing a beat, Adams switch directions and rolled towards his legs instead. This time, he managed to turn Kase fully onto his back.
Once locked into that position, there was no escaping and the inevitable happened. Adams straightened Kase's arm and got the submission.
And with that, Adams created history by being the first British male player to win a World title, and also for being the first player in history to defeat a Japanese in the half-middleweight division.
(Photo by David Finch)
