Silver for Song in Marianas Open

The lone wolf of Trench Tech Purebred Saipan during the 2024 Marianas Open International Championship Jiu-Jitsu Tournament (gi only) was Ballen Song and he settled for a silver medal last Saturday in the male white adult lightweight division at the University of Guam Calvo Field House.

The 29-year-old faced Guam’s Landon Taitingfong in the finals, settling for silver by points as Taitingfong had the advantage with better wrestling takedowns. In the semifinals against Guam’s Brent San Nicolas, Song secured a 16-second submission via ankle lock to punch his ticket to the finals. Prior to that, he won over George Pangelinan Jr.

Song, who is of Korean descent and raised on Saipan since he was 10 years old, said walking into the competition, he was nervous carrying Trench Tech alone that day.

“I didn’t want my lack of skills to reflect on the gym’s reputation negatively, however thanks to all the training under professor [Justis] “Cuki” Alvarez we secured a silver medal for Saipan. Highlight of my competition was getting a submission at 16 seconds and [being] acknowledged by the world champion Felipe Andrew and Leticia Cardozo who were spectating from the sideline.”

Another highlight, he said, was when “professor Cuki and his wife Mari, who received the Pioneer Award for keeping the martial arts alive not just on Saipan but also on our neighboring islands.”

He then gave a shout out to all his coaches and teammates in Trench Tech, “especially Rey Kim who invests a lot of his personal time on the class curriculum for the students. Shout out to Kika of Purebred Guam for winning $5,000 for [the] brown belt division. All her hard work paid off. Shout out to [the] Saipan Submissions [Academy] for representing the island together out there.”

Alvarez, owner and professor at Trench Tech, said of Song’s performance, “Overall, he did well. He won his [first] and [second] matches and transferred to the gold medal final match. But in receiving the silver medal, although we got second place and made it to the podium, we actually lost the gold medal. So, we ended the tournament with a loss.”

With that, he said, “We have a lot to work on and need to be more proficient in finishing the later rounds strong. The later rounds are the important rounds. All in all, it was a good showing and from this loss, we got better because we know where we need to get better at.”

The Marianas Open was the grand finale in the 2024 Marianas Pro Series. It began with the Copa De Marianas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gi/No-Gi Tournament last February; then the Marianas Pro Japan last March; the Marianas Pro Philippines last April; and the Marianas Pro Korea last June.

This last tournament in Guam featured over 750 martial artists from around the world and had the largest turnout in history.