February 7, 2023,
How long has it been since you thought about the country Bulgaria?
If it has been a long time, given the chaotic state of world affairs, that might be a good thing.
As the expression goes, no news is good news.
We are about to review a match between Bulgaria’s Iza vs Galya. It is a special treat since we don’t often have matches in a foreign country, in this case England, where two Bulgarian girls compete.
It is now time to briefly visit and think about Bulgaria.
Bulgaria is a country in Southeast Europe.
It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east.
Surrounding them, are countries that are often in the news.
Bulgaria is the sixteenth-largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city.
Bulgaria is a developing country, with an upper-middle-income economy, ranking 68th in the Human Development Index.
They have wonderful beaches.
The world travelers at Lonely Planet summarize, “Long, sandy beaches and fine weather reel holidaymakers into Bulgaria’s Black Sea resorts each summer. Bulgarian inlanders are helplessly drawn to the freshening sea breeze and miles of turquoise water. Foreign visitors, too, are wise to Bulgaria’s coast, thanks to gorgeous seaside resorts such as Primorsko.
There are still plenty of undiscovered coves north and south of the major hubs.”
Sounds like a nice place to get away. We all need that sometimes.
Thus, we are happy that two beautiful Bulgarian female wrestlers made a decision to electronically travel to England and compete.
GALYA VS IZA
The two women are introduced.
Though not as famous on the fully competitive female submission wrestling scene, they are not new to wrestling.
As we researched their matches, they have faced one another before and Galya appears to have more matches. Her experiences lies in judo and sambo.
Iza, by contrast, is a Judo Champion and is trained in MMA.
Based upon that, we are going to give the nod to Iza.
The bell sounds.
As they engage, they begin standing and do not start out with a lot of hand fighting.
Galya takes an unusual approach and takes the slightly heavier Iza down with a leg trip.
Haven’t seen that one for a while. Being the larger girl, Iza easily breaks the hold and lifts Galya backwards and tries to mount her. (2:00)
This is a slow motion fluid match where even when one wrestler appears to have the advantage, it is temporary.
Galya, the slightly more experienced smaller girl slides Iza into a side body scissors, and once again, just as fluidly, Iza breaks the hold.
Iza now rolls Galya into a folding pin and Galya responds by grasping Iza’s foot and goes for a toe hold joint lock. The girls are tightly joined like a pretzel. Still, Iza has a semi-top position and is trying to decide what to do with it.
Galya breaks the hold and now rolls Iza into a side body scissors coupled with an arm bar. Early in this match, if there was ever a chance for a submission, this is it.
Galya has the experience but her leg strength just isn’t strong enough thus Iza kicks around and struggles but is yet to tap out. She breaks the hold and rolls on top of Galya who is now flat on her stomach.
What will Iza do with this advantage? (4:00).
Given her larger size, the idea would be to use her body weight to her advantage to place her in position of a smother or pin.
Iza instead grasps both of Galya’s ankles in a puzzling move. Not sure what the thought process is but Galya breaks the hold.
Interestingly, Galya does flatten her body out on top of Iza, in the opposite direction, near her ankles and tries a head scissor with Iza’s left arm and head trapped inside.
During the time that we’ve had to review this match, we also studied one of Galya’s matches for another website and one thing that became apparent was that she needs more time in the gym to strengthen her legs as those types of holds are easily broken.
Iza does that here but Galya, head near Iza’s feet, remains on top. (5:00).
Galya now does something that we rarely see and that is to perform a reverse body scissor, while on top, with her head at Iza’s feet and she squeezes hard. She has slightly muscular legs but as the pattern goes, they just aren’t strong enough to force a larger Fem Competitor into a submission.
Iza breaks the hold.
They struggle around and Iza tries to pry Galya’s ankles and legs apart.
For a second Iza is in the top position but due to her lack of experience Galya pushes her backwards and rolls back on top of her, having Iza struggling in pretzel form with her left leg trapped in a lock.
Iza breaks the hold and rolls back on top of Galya. The audience applauds.
From the bottom, Galya encases her in a body scissors.
The larger girl breaks the hold.
As they struggle around, Galya tries another head scissors but Iza easily thwarts that. To come to the point, in watching Galya’s other videos, since she is clearly the front runner here, arm bars and headlocks with her body on top of her opponent works best for her.
Curiously she is not doing that here with a lesser experienced girl.
They struggle more and separate (7:22).
Iza’s newness becomes apparent as she begins the next round grabbing at Galya’s wrists on all fours. She then crawls right into a Guillotine choke. Fortunately for her the bell sounds.
As they engage again, the two spend a lot of time grappling around the ring and clasping one another in holds that are easily broken until Galya traps Iza in a foot ankle lock. Very painful and Iza taps out.
Finally, 1-0 for Galya (9:23).
Galya continues to fight from the bottom position as the girls legs are intertwined like a pretzel. She tries for a foot and ankle lock. Good idea, she’s just not strong enough to execute it.
Though not as experienced, Iza’s larger size is proving to be a factor as she easily wards off Galya’s attacks. If Iza was more experienced and knew the MMA submissions well, this match would not be close.
She lifts Galya up off the ground but does not slam her.
From the bottom position, as Iza leans forward, Galya attaches a reverse arm choke.
Will this turn into a submission?
Not so sure.
For company, she scissors Iza’s right leg as she tightens the choke.
The larger athlete breaks the leg hold and within seconds the one armed choke and is now fully on top of Galya.
Could a submission be coming? This is perfect for a smother.
Iza tries for a reverse one arm choke of her own. She should have just used her larger body for a full on smother.
That ship has sailed.
As Galya breaks the hold, Iza surprises her by bringing her legs up and trapping Galya in a head scissor and adds an arm lock and twist for good measure. She turns it into a triangle choke but just doesn’t have the skills to close what should have been a sure submission.
Galya breaks the hold and begins to roll Iza backwards into a folding pin but she is just not strong enough to hold it.
At this point, some analysis is in store.
Since Galya is smaller, she should concentrate on a rear naked choke or arm bar.
Since Iza is larger and not greatly MMA skilled, she should try for the smother.
Galya rolls on top of Iza for a cross body pin. Too small. We know that is not going to work. Galya then transfers it into a full body smother position. This might work.
Tighten and squeeze.
Not strong enough.
Iza rolls her off.
They struggle around and Galya tries for an upper shoulder headlock and floor to sitting body scissors. Good move but doesn’t look like a clincher either.
The bell rings. End of the round (13:50).
In the next few minutes, the two combatants engage in extensive ground struggle with mostly Iza on top but no submissions close to being had.
Finally Galya gains the top position.
She can’t do much with it and more ankle grabbing and wrestling struggle continues (19:00).
They continue fighting from the mat floor which does place Galya in a position of weakness and as she moves her head forward, she gets trapped in a Guillotine Choke. From her knee Iza tightens the squeeze and tightens it more.
Galya taps out. Surprise, surprise. An equalizing submission. If this ends in a tie, this will be an upset victory for Iza.
1-1 (19:30).
Fighting from their knees, in the last minute Galya tries to climb over Iza’s back and perform a takedown head scissor, which looks effective but she simply runs out of time.
The match is over.
We are a little surprised that either girl did not play more to their strengths but all said and done, Iza is all smiles.
As the underdog, she should be.
Afterwards the girls engage in arm wrestling and split that competition as well, 1-1.
A wonderful way to spend a day in London, wouldn’t you agree?
We appreciate this gift from Bulgaria.
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OPENING PHOTO Duren-Williams-photo-pexels.com fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/bulgaria
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
