Quick Words From:
Roger Gracie: "It is great to have the Worlds in America, it is much better for everyone as the Europeans can come here with confidence . . . This is my year, I plan to win the weight and the Absolute this year . . . I have great memories of this building (winning the ADCC weight and Absolute in ’05), I want to make new great memories . . ."
Marcelo Garcia: "It is weird to be here without competing but I am in a different phase of my career . . . At this point I want to make sure I am ready to fight NHB at a high level . . . I want to fight NHB as I fight submission, with a great fast pace and I know in order to do that I need to be in great physicla condition . . . I still plan to fight ADCC again but that is 2 years away, but ADCC is what gave me the international recognition . . . I have very good memories of this building . . . I want to come back later in my career and fight the Worlds again"
Worlds Friday the Brown Belt absolute was a battle . . . 16 brackets, so many fights to get to the final. On one side of the bracket Bill Cooper was on a mission demolishing his opponents while on the other side Otavio Souza was submitting everyone he faced. The two met in the final, after a fast paced start both fighters had simultaneous "omoplata’s" on each other, as Otavio pulled on Bill pants to apply torque Bill’s pants went down and he was DQ’d for not wearing underwear and having his butt exposed. Head referee Alvaro Mansur stated: "It is a rule, and it is enforced. The rule is there for a reason, imagine if we are being nationally televised (as they do in Brazil) and that happens". I bet Bill will never forget that again! Bummer but props to both fighters and the winner.
One notable absence in the Brown Absolute was Kron Gracie, who perhaps decided to concentrate on the weight division title tomorrow. Absolute winner Otavio is on Kron’s weight division!
Now go train Jiu-Jitsu,
Kid Peligro
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