Photos: Personal archives
After taking first at the Brazilian Nationals, CheckMat’s sights are set on the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship to kick off this coming June 3. As previously reported by GRACIEMAG.com, the team is preparing in California.
“We arrived here a week ago for the IBJJF World Championship and are training a lot with really impressive athletes. I’m not going to say we’re going to win the whole thing, but I guarantee we’re going to put on a great performance at the championship,” says professor Chico Mendes.
Among the competitors going through final preparations are a number with a shot at the title and who made it onto the winners’ stand in 2009. Lucas Leite (bronze), Alan “Finfou” Nascimento (bronze), Rodrigo Cavaca (silver), Carlos “Esquisito” Vieira (silver) and Michelle Nicolini (silver) have all had solid careers as black belts. Now Marcus “Bochecha”, who won his weight group and closed out the absolute division at purple belt, comes in as a brown belt in high regard. The team also has hopes riding on Marcelo “Lapela” Mafra, João Assis, Sebastian Lalli, Nivaldo de Oliveira, Rodrigo Ranieli and Ricardo Pantcho, among others.
A test for the team prior to the Worlds will be the Grapplers Quest tourney at the UFC Expo in Las Vegas, where Lapela and Joaõ Assis will compete.
Check out some of the images from team training below:
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