Marcus Vinicius Bochecha in absolute at last Pan / Photo by John Lamonica/GRACIEMAG
It wasn’t the the first great match of the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, where even the purple belts demonstrated the high technical level the sport is currently at. But Rodolfo Vieira and Marcus Bochecha did put on the first great classic of the black belt division, in their quarterfinals encounter n the absolute division.
Bochecha took the lead early with a sweep, but Rodolfo recovered, passed guard and notched a seemingly comfortable 7-4 score. Then Bochecha struck back: first he swept, after which a well-timed double-leg takedown earned him an 8-7 come-from-behind win.
Then the biggest moment of the Worlds thus far happened: with but seconds left on the clock, Rodolfo pulled guard, nearly swept, and launched an armbar attack that the CheckMat ace did well in defending. Regulation time ended, and Bochecha beat his chest in jubilation.
The CheckMat rep is thus still in the competition, as are beasts like Xande, Bernardo Faria and Antônio Carlos Cara de Sapato.
Check out the real-time coverage of the 2012 Worlds on the GRACIEMAG Facebook and Twitter pages. There’s still plenty of adrenaline to come.
