Bochecha and Cyborg on podium in Miami. Photos: personal archive.
Ever since moving to the U.S., Marcus “Bochecha” Almeida has been running roughshod through the competitions he enters. The last one was the Miami Open, where the black belt weight group and shared top honors with friend and training partner Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. Now his sights are set on the No-Gi Worlds, to go down November 7 in California.
“I’m going full steam in training for weight and absolute at the Worlds. Everyone is training hard. We put together a camp here in Jupiter, Florida, where Cavaca is heading our training. There are a number of top athletes with us, like Thiago Baiano, Gabriel Rollo, Roger Clavijo, Raphael Chaves (Cabeçudinho), as well as Pablo Popovitch and Cyborg’s guys, like Vagner Rocha, João and Fred Moncaico, Jimie Brasco… Those are just a few of the names of the guys training with us. We’re all going for the title, and everyone will surely get it.
Bochecha, besides closing out the absolute with Cyborg at the Miami Open, recently closed out the No-Gi Pan with Pablo Popovitch. The fighter explains the partnership:
“I’m from CheckMat/Armory, but we’re always training with Pablo and Cyborg her in Florida, everyone helping each other, and it would be awful if we were to face each other. These days, we’re all training partners, but in competition each represents his respective team,” he state.
Absolute podium in Miami.
Bochecha comments on the last event, the Miami Open:
“There were no matches for me in the superheavyweight division. In the absolute, I did my first match against a featherweight and finished from back mount. The second match was against Rafael Formiga. I was losing 2 to 0 (sweep) when I managed to sink a kneebar from half-guard and ended up getting the sub. In the final, Cyborg and I opted not to fight because of what I just explained,” he says in closing.
Do as Bochecha and so many other mat wizards do and guarantee your spot at the No-Gi Worlds. Sign-ups end this Saturday, so register here.