Song grapples way to silver, bronze in Grapplers Quest Guam

Martial artist Ballen Song grappled his way to silver in the men’s gi/white/featherweight division and bronze in the No-Gi Absolute open weight division of the Grapplers Quest Guam last Jan. 27-28 at the University of Guam Fieldhouse.

In the men’s gi/white/featherweight division, Song defeated Beato Manglona, then Sebastian Riley to advance to the gold medal matchup. Song then lost via submission against Guam’s Landon Taitingfong and settled for silver.

In the open weight division, Song grabbed the bronze after he lost to Taitingfong via a 3-0 scoring. First place went to Jackson Sullivan, while Taitingfong claimed silver.

Of Korean descent and raised on Saipan since he was 10 years old, Song was the only CNMI athlete in the competition out of about 300 registered athletes, and with that, he said it was a lot of pressure.

On why he competed, Song said he was excited to sign up and test his skills he’s been honing. He had already trained for six months, then picked up the intensity of training in the next four months before the competition. “I’d recommend others to train more than a year before competing, because I rushed in not knowing how deep the water was,” he said.

“Shout out to One Championship fighter/champion Brandon Vera and his wife for making the event available for athletes to compete,” said song.

The 28-year-old said that the competition level in Guam was “extremely high” and that once he walked in the stadium, his “palms were sweating, knees weak, and arms felt heavy, but on the surface, I looked calm and ready standing next to my opponent,” said Song.

He didn’t want to fly back home empty-handed and said the skills he learned in TrenchTech Gym under Justis “Cuki” Alvarez helped him submit his opponents in 30 seconds twice in different divisions.

Song started jiu jitsu because he realized “it’s a great way to keep your body in shape but also learn how to defend yourself when situations call for it.” He then said he wouldn’t compete in open weight divisions in the near future because he’s a much lighter guy. “It was extremely taxing on my body against opponents 50-70 lbs heavier than me,” he said.

Song is now preparing to compete in the 2024 Marianas Pro Korea Gi/No-Gi Tournament in South Korea on June 16.

“My achievement goes out to my professor Cuki Alvarez, the man who keeps the martial arts alive in the Marianas. Thank you to my coaches Rey Kim and Ken Tanzawa. It was such an honor to be trained by the best of the best; and professor Anthony Torres and professor Oliver Cruz of Purebred Guam. And of course, my jiu jitsu family who shows up every day helping me train. Y’all are the real champs and this win goes to all of us,” said Song.