It’s Saturday, a nice day to sit back, relax and watch some classic matches that the World championship offered us in the past 20 years.
We selected three matches that represent the passing of time at the most important event in the gentle art’s calendar.
First, in 1998, José Mario Sperry met Roberto Roleta in the open class final. Two of the most successful athletes of their time, they fought twice that year. Roleta beat Sperry in the first round of the super-heavy, putting an end to Sperry’s undefeated streak.
Then, Sperry got his revenge in the absolute final. Click play to see how it went.
Six years later, we make our second stop at the 2004 Worlds, for the fight that is probably the most famous Jiu-Jitsu match of all times.
Roger Gracie and Ronaldo Jacaré had the crowd standing for the whole duration of the match. The ending alone is worth of the best movie scripts ever put out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYUeIBubHDM
Nine years later, in 2013, another big rivalry was rocking the Jiu-Jitsu community.
Marcus Buchecha and Rodolfo Vieira are the standouts of their generation and the 2013 black belt open class final was the occasion to untie the 1-1 score at the Worlds. Prior to the 2013 final, Rodolfo had won by submission in 2011 and Buchecha tied the score at the 2012 absolute final.
Click play to watch how things went.
Don’t forget to register for the 2016 World Jiu-Jitsu championship.
The final deadline is May 24.
Click here to sign up now.
The post Countdown to the 2016 Worlds: travel from 1998 to 2013 in three historic black belt open class finals first appeared on Graciemag.