Brazilian jiu jitsu is one of the most popular martial arts these days, particularly among people who train mixed martial arts. I'm not bragging when I say I'm pretty good at it. I've got a second degree on my black belt and have been training jiu jitsu for about twenty years, plus I was a high school and college wrestler before that. So, I've spent a lot of time on the mat. But I'd never had an experience on, or off, the mat like I did with Stasia. In a funny way, it only happened thanks to the COVID pandemic, so I'm actually sort of grateful for the lockdown, though most of it sucked.
During the pandemic, all the jiu jitsu gyms shut down to prevent spread of the infection. Some schools tried to do online classes, teaching technique to people over Zoom, but that was so intensely boring most of us bailed out on that. Instead, lots of us started training underground, in people's garages and basements. That's actually how Brazilian jiu jitsu started in the United States, with folks working out on mats in garages, until the sport got big enough to fill up dojos. Now, it was a return to our roots, but we had to keep these training sessions mostly secret, to avoid people getting in trouble for not complying with masking and social isolation rules.
Stasia is a blonde, blue-eyed woman in her mid-twenties, with the body of an Olympic gymnast. I actually think she was a gymnast, before she started fighting. I usually see her working out, and she keeps her long blonde hair in a tight braid down her back. She's been fighting in MMA for a few years, and has an impressive record of wins, though she hadn't broken into the big leagues when we had our encounter on the mats. A few years later, some other female fighters had Onlyfans sites, and were posting porn and erotic pictures. Stasia never did, though she definitely could have, she was hot and sexy enough.
Anastasia fought under the nickname "The Duchess," apparently a joke about Anastasia Romanov, the Russian daughter of Czar Nicholas. I had to have that explained to me. I laughed when I heard it though, because it showed how Stasia could laugh at herself, and she wasn't all stuck on herself. Honestly, it was her humbleness that really made her an attractive person. When you had her attention, you had all of it. Those piercing blue eyes would focus on you, never wavering and you knew you had her full attention. It was really kind of intimidating, her focus, and commitment, without being arrogant or anything.
At the time of this story, she'd been training BJJ for a couple years, and I think she had just recently gotten her blue belt. She'd been kickboxing for a lot longer, and so her fighting had been mostly focused on that, but her coaches got her to start training jiu jitsu to improve her grappling. Stasia is a dedicated athlete, and she put everything she had into her training. Before the pandemic, she was coming to every class she could, and doing private sessions with instructors. It was paying off - her technique was improving quickly, and she was becoming much more comfortable on the ground, with her legs spread and someone on top of her. I had no idea how comfortable she was like that.
Look, in jiu jitsu, you have to get really comfortable with close contact. With another guy, you're sweating all over each other, you're grabbing their body and they're grabbing yours. When a guy rolls with a female, generally, the guy tries to be respectful, make it a safe and comfortable encounter for her. Yeah, you're up close and personal, and you might end up touching her breasts or with her head in your crotch, but if you make it a sexual thing, she has every right to complain, and I've seen people get kicked out of schools for being inappropriate. Our school even prohibits instructors from dating any students, because it can create lots of drama. So, even if the woman is smoking hot, like Stasia, you really learn to turn off sexual thoughts during the match. Especially because if she's a fighter as good as Stasia is, if you get distracted by seeing the outline of her nipples through her rash guard, you can get your ass kicked and end up getting choked out when she takes advantage of your wandering attention.
Honestly, I'd been confused by my feelings towards Stasia. She's not really my type. I've always dated more curvy brunettes, who are more girly-girls. No judgment otherwise, it's just always been who I gravitated towards, in attraction. Stasia, and most of the other women I train with, I genuinely regard as more like sister warriors, than sexual interests. Maybe that sounds weird, but I just tend to view them more on their skills and intensity grappling, and compartmentalize any sexual interest, But I'd find myself checking out Stasia on, and off the mat. She posts some real thirst-trap pictures on social media, and I'd check them out. Not stalking or anything, but I definitely found her attractive, but out of my league.
Since the pandemic started though, I really hadn't seen her much, in our underground training sessions. I'd heard she was still training though, and from the pics she posted, she was definitely still in shape.
Out of the blue, Stasia texted and asked me to come train at her house, in her garage, on a Wednesday night. I hadn't been able to train that week, so was happy to get some mat time. She mentioned she'd asked a couple other guys to come, but only one beside me was going to make it. Jason is another black belt, but also an instructor in our school. Jason is good, and he and I have had some epic battles on the mat.
Stasia's garage was just a one-car garage, and the mats she had spread out were really just big enough for one match at a time. This was August, so it was still pretty warm at night, but we closed the garage door part of the way, for privacy because Stasia said her neighbors were nosy, leaving about a foot open, to let fresh air in. Since it was her house, I had a first match with her, just a warm-up roll, with lots of movement, and no submissions. We started in gi, both wearing kimonos, and just got comfortable moving and flowing. Jason sat on the side stretching. After the timer on Stasia's phone went off at five minutes, Jason stepped on the mat and he and I had a first match while Stasia watched. She turned on music, a rock soundtrack, for us to listen to while Jason and I trained.
It went that way for a bit, back and forth round-robin matches. When Jason and I were rolling with Stasia, we would both insert coaching and some instruction to her, teaching her moves and pointing out attacks she could use. The one of us sitting out would coach her as well. Stasia has always been hungry for learning jiu jitsu, so she was really focused and enjoying herself.
After about thirty or forty minutes, each of us having had about three or four matches, we took a break and stripped off our gis, down to shorts and rash guards, to train nogi. Our school is pretty formal, and requires people to train in gi and learn it, though many schools just focus on no-gi training. As an MMA fighter, Stasia usually trains no-gi. When she took off her kimono, I realized she wasn't wearing a bra under the silky spandex of her rash guard shirt. It was a light blue, and I could see not only the outline of her hard nipples through the fabric, but realized the shirt was even slightly see through so I could see some of the color of her dark nipples.
I caught myself looking, and glanced up to see Stasia watching me. I smiled apologetically, and she just lifted her eyebrows, and shook her head while smiling. I could almost read her mind, hearing her say "Boys!" in her head.
We all drank some ice water that she brought out in a pitcher from her kitchen, and talked for a second. "This is really great," Stasia said, "It's like a two-on-one private black belt instruction session! Thanks you two."
"I'm just happy to get to train. Since the pandemic, I'm only getting in one training session a week, if that," Jason replied, and I agreed.
