What a trip to the US for Yavuz Ögüt! Even severe jaw pain couldn’t slow down a martial artist from VFL Wolfsburg. In the end, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsuka celebrated his first victory in the tournament as a black belt – winning a total of two champion belts, one gold and one silver in his run.

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“I have already done many tournaments and trips. But what happened this time was a heavy burden for me,” says Ogut, who regularly ends up on the podium in competitions all over the world. A few hours before he left for Los Angeles, he felt “a throbbing in my lower jaw.” We immediately went to the dentist. Diagnosis: root canal infection. “The pain was almost unbearable. The dentist couldn’t do much because of a severe infection. That’s why I got antibiotics and painkillers for the first time.”

But Ogut got on the plane anyway. The pain didn’t say, “I’ve never had to take so much painkiller in my life,” said the martial artist, who arrived in Los Angeles with a swollen cheek. On site we went to the doctor again, and the antibiotics again. Out of competition in San Diego.

In Las Vegas a week later, the cheek looked better again, and the pain has subsided but can still be felt, says Ogot. Against local champion Tyler Bailey, Ogot without a kimono took the second belt on his trip to the United States. With a kimono, he had to admit defeat to an opponent from the US state of Nevada – Silver.