Marcus Bochecha vs Roger Gracie at Metamoris Pro
Metamoris Pro’s premise was that if you eliminate points from a Jiu-Jitsu match, you force the fighters to go for the submission.
In a certain way, that was what happened in the six fights on the card for the first installment of the event, held this Sunday in the Viejas Arena, in San Diego, California.
Caio Terra defeated Jeff Glover with an armbar.
It was a fight that at moments resembled a friendly roll in the academy, with both fighters playing and making jokes.
But when things got serious, Caio Terra targetted Glover’s arm and went for it.
For minutes, Terra set and adjusted the armbar until he finally broke Jeff’s defense and got the tap.
Caio Terra vs. Jeff Glover at Metamoris Pro
Rafael Lovato Jr, who tapped out Kayron Gracie with a Kimura, was intense before, during and after the match.
Although Kayron had some great moments in the early stages of the fight, his gas ran out too quickly.
From the sixth minute on, Lovato steamrolled his adversary, attacked the back and the legs until getting a match-deciding Kimura.
“I knew how dangerous he was, but I was very well prepared for him,” said Lovato afterwards.
Kron Gracie was intense in the press conference, one day earlier, and was even more intense during the fight.
His fight against Otavio Sousa lasted 17 minutes, and Kron only managed the guard pass that led to the armbar within the 16th minute.
“He is too strong, so when I saw the first opportunity to get the tap out, I took it,” stated Kron Gracie.
Xande Ribeiro vs Dean Lister at Metamoris Pro
The other three fights went the distance, however, and ended in draws.
Although the three last fights of the day had the same final result, they were very different draws.
If points had counted, Xande Ribeiro would certainly be the winner against Dean Lister in the only No-Gi match of the Metamoris card.
The Brazilian passed guard, had three good opportunities to finish the fight out of three attacks on Lister’s arm, but could not get the tap.
Then, Andre Galvão and Ryron Gracie had a much more even match.
Galvão controled the first half, passed guard, tried to take Ryron’s back but in the end was unable to get the submission he wanted.
Ryron Gracie played according to his views on Jiu-Jitsu and defended against a heavier and stronger Galvão perfectly during almost the entire match.
When Galvão showed that he was running out of gas, Ryron tried to win the fight with attacks to Andre’s foot.
The most controversial moment of the evening was Galvão’s post fight interview, while still on the mat.
Annoyed by Ryron’s supporters, who booed him, Andre issued a challenge: “I want to fight Ryron again, but under my rules, with points. I fought to win; he fought to draw,” said Galvão, to more boos.
Ryron responded by saying that if points had counted in the match, he would have played differently, taking more risks to attack.
Kron Gracie vs. Otavio Sousa at Metamoris Pro
The main event of the evening can fairly be called a clash of generations.
Roger Gracie is 31, and Marcus Bochecha is 22.
Roger had been away from competition Jiu-Jitsu since 2010, and Bochecha is the current absolute black belt world champion.
Even so, Bochecha knew who he was about to face: “He is the best of all times”, he stated a day earlier at the press conference.
Roger also knew that it was not going to be an easy fight, and it really wasn’t.
Bochecha exploded in the beginning, tried to get Roger’s back.
The Gracie had his best moment after the initial drive by Bochecha, who even tried for an ankle lock.
At one point, Roger finally ended up in Bochecha’s guard and managed to pass.
When in side-control he got a taste of his opponent’s power: “When Bochecha was able to get out of my side-control and stand up, I knew it was going to be a very hard fight,” said Roger.
Rafael Lovato Jr. vs. Kayron Gracie at Metamoris Pro
And it was!
Bochecha attacked Roger’s back, tried to pass guard, and with litle over a minute left, went for the armbar.
The crowd stood up ready to watch Roger tap out for the first time since anyone could remember, but he didn’t.
Roger played by the book and with all the right moves escaped the tight armbar.
“I gave no space to him, but he escaped anyway,” said Bochecha.
“I made a decision not to tap there,” revealed Roger.
The night ended with the feeling that what really matters when you want to see some really exiting Jiu-Jitsu matches is not so much the rules, but the athletes you pick, and Metamoris had all the right picks.
When you choose the right athletes, you get great matches.
At the end, Metamoris owner Robert Zeps announced that the event will probably become biannual and that the idea of holding installments in Brazil and Japan is already creeping into the producers’ minds.
He also announced that Caio Terra, Kron and Lovato were awarded an extra $5,000 apiece for their submissions.
This article features some of the great pictures GRACIEMAG took during Metamoris. Like our FACEBOOK PAGE and see the complete photo gallery of the event.
