Bochecha e attacks Roger Gracie’s arm at Metamoris Pro. Photo by John Lamonica/GRACIEMAG.
GRACIEMAG: Metamoris Pro and your fight to a draw with Roger Gracie took place on the 14th of last month, but there are still fans and readers talking about it on our Facebook page. What did you learn from the battle?
MARCUS BOCHECHA: I feel that despite being a draw, I had a great match, managed to impose my pace and attack a lot. I think that, if it had been under normal rules, I’d have had an advantage; but that wasn’t the idea behind the match. So the fact that I’d been better than Roger by the end of the match wasn’t any great credit to me. The main thing was that I fought the way I always do—on the attack.
Did you derive any lessons while training for the fight? Did you train differently for Roger?
No, I trained the way I always do with the black belts at CheckMat California, who were pretty much the same ones I train with year round. I only changed one thing: as the match time was 20 minutes, I did 40-minute-long rolls to train for it. I knew it would be hard to tap Roger out; that’s why I was prepared to go hard the whole time.
What about the Metamoris Pro rules? Did you like them, or do you have some change you’d like to suggest?
I really liked the idea and the event rules. This format of letting the fighter take a lot of risks without having to worry about points or looking at the scoreboard—that’s the idea behind Jiu-Jitsu: to think only about getting your opponent to give up; or in other words, to tap him out. I hate fighting those athletes who go in there to win on advantages or hang on to a position just to sweep at the end. It makes Jiu-Jitsu ugly, and isn’t good for the sport… That’s why I fought at Metamoris and agreed with the rules, which is exactly my objective during a match: the finish.
You’ve taken part in MMA training with Vitor Belfort and Gilbert Durinho, and they had good things to say about you. Has any MMA promotion approached you about a fight?
I’ve been participating in and helping out with MMA training ever since I moved to the USA, since in Florida I helped my teammates every day. I also took part in Vitor Belfort’s training camp [for his fight with Anthony Johnson]. I learned a lot there and started becoming interested in the style. I’ve been training a lot of wrestling for a while and have been learning boxing, since I intend to migrate to MMA in the future. But I’m in no rush. I haven’t been given any offers yet.
Why didn’t you go to Long Beach to defend your No-Gi Worlds title?
I’m in Europe teaching seminars, so unfortunately I had to follow the No-Gi Worlds over the internet. I really wanted to compete and defend my title, but unfortunately I couldn’t. I’d already passed up on a lot of seminars because of competitions, and now I’m really dedicated to teaching and holding seminars around the world. I was anxious to see my teammates and anxious to see Leandro Lo and Xande Ribeiro in the final of the absolute. I find these clashes of stars from different generations really interesting. Lo is young and has been doing awesome in his division and the absolutes, showing he has an incomparable gas tank. Xande is a legend of the sport and continues to show beautiful, attacking Jiu-Jitsu. It really was an awesome fight.
What’s your routine like in Huntington Beach, where you now live?
My routine is great, since I live right next to where I train and work, at Ace Jiu-Jitsu and UTC Jiu-Jitsu. So I don’t waste any time driving and I have the whole day to train with my friends, do physical conditioning, hit the beach and take advantage of all California has to offer.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
To teach a lot of seminars, like I said. I’ve already got some scheduled for November in the USA and December in Brazil. I’m scheduling a tour for next year. To contact me, my email is buchechabjj@hotmail.com, and you can visit my Facebook fanpage. I’m also going to take some rest, since this year has been really great: lots of competitions, lots of victories—that’s why I deserve a vacation (laughs).
