Today marked the start of the black belt male divisions at the IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. Early morning saw the preliminaries of the black belt adult male and female absolute divisions and was never lacking in action.
In the quarterfinals of the male open class, Rodolfo Vieira (GF Team) and Marcus Almeida "Buchecha" (Checkmat) faced off in a heart racing battle that had the audience on their feet!
The fight began with Buchecha earning 2 from a sweep, Rodolfo then returned with an omaplata sweep, advancing with a pass to side control and almost capturing the mount. Buchecha came back with a sweep himself and the fight stood at 4-5, giving Rodolfo the lead. Buchecha was able to edge Rodolfo with a sweep, Rodolfo returned a sweep, but Buchecha hustled for the takedown in the final minute to earn the win 8-7. Watch their epic match here!
In the semi-finals Buchecha faced Bernardo Faria in one step closer to the coveted absolute black belt World Champion title. Buchecha earned 3 early on for the pass, Faria came to the feet and attempted to take Buchecha’s back, but he shook him off and ran around Faria looking to pass. Faria came to his knees and Buchecha, quickly cut through, took Faria’s back and finished with a collar choke with 7-0 in points on the board.
On the other side of the bracket, the quarterfinals saw Xande Ribeiro against Leo Nogueira. Nogeira defeated Xande with a takedown to win 2-0 on points. Nogueira went on to defeat Antonio Carlos Jr. and will face Buchecha in the black belt open finals. (If Antonio Carlos Jr. would have taken the win, two Checkmat teammates would have been in the final and we would likely have not had a fight for gold).
In the female open division, Brazilian black belt lightweight Luiza Monteiro defeated top competitors Luanna Alzuguir and Michelle Nicolini via referee decision. She will face Alliance Heavy weight Gabi Garcia tomorrow afternoon in the finals.
The black belt divisions by weight, which began early afternoon, will carry on through the evening. OTM Sponsored fighter Justin Rader defeated his first opponent via takedown, but lost in the second round. His instructor, Lucky Gi sponsored fighter, Rafael Lovato Jr. will fight later this afternoon.
Each of today’s black belt divisions will to the quarterfinals. We will bring you the results from today, as well as play-by-plays of tomorrow.
Sunday is the final day of the event and will go as follows:
Sunday – 3 Jun
10:00 AM Black Belt Male – Adult – Rooster and Light Feather – Quarter Finals
10:40 AM Black Belt Male – Adult – Feather and Light – Quarter Finals
11:30 AM Black Belt Male – Adult – Rooster and Light Feather – Semi Finals
Black Belt Male – Adult – Feather and Light – Semi Finals
12:20 PM Black Belt Male – Adult – Middle and Medium Heavy – Quarter Finals
1:00 PM Black Belt Male – Adult – Heavy, Super Heavy and Ultra Heavy – Quarter Finals
2:10 PM Black Belt Male – Adult – Middle, Medium Heavy, Heavy, Super Heavy and Ultra Heavy – Semi Finals
3:00 PM Black Belt Female – All weight divisions – Finals
4:40 PM Black Belt Male Finals – All weight divisions and open class
Black Belt Female – Open class final
Link to partial results of the 2012 IBJJF World Championships by category:
http://www.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/PublicResults?CampeonatoId=114&CultureInfo=en-US
Photos from Day 3 – June 2, 2012
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.477758605572810.131730.192240324124641&type=1