Last weekend, Checkmat’s Gabriel Lucas won the Ultra Heavy black belt world title. In his first ever Worlds as a black belt, Gabriel had high hopes, but knew it would be difficult. Among the 13 registered fighters in his weight class, figured his team mate Marcus Buchecha, and also the finalist of the absolute Alexander Trans, Leonardo Nogueira, Rodrigo Cavaca, Ricardo Evangelista, Abraham Marte, Gustavo Elias …
Gabriel Lucas came a long way from the overweight 140kg blue belt who decided when he reached purple belt, to lose 35 kilos.
Gabriel has a great nickname: Gabriel ‘Fedor’ named after the famous Russian MMA champion.
His campaign started when he submitted Leo D’Ávila (Atos). Leonardo Nogueira was injured in the absolute, when he was submitted by Abraham Marte and the rookie advanced to the semifinals without a fight.
In his victory against Cavaca, Alex Trans felt a pop in the knee and could not even walk. This meant that Gabriel went straight to the final and would face Ricardo Evangelista who had just defeated the favorite Marcus Buchecha!
In a tough match, Gabriel won 3-2 in advantages.
Photo: Kinya Hashimoto
The crowd of Checkmat raved when Gabriel ran into the stands where Buchecha was with a knee brace.
The goal now for Gabriel is to lower his weight to super heavyweight, leaving Buchecha free to recover the crown of ultra heavyweight.
In social networks, Buchecha posted a picture with teammate Gabriel Fedor:
“With Champion of Ultra heavy black belt 2015. Congratulations, Gabriel Fedor, you deserve it chubby bastard, monster. Many thanks to all the positive messages and good vibe I received today. For the rest, I’ll be back with more desire than ever.”
