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Rodolfo Vieira Contesting Result Of WPJJC Final: ‘Buchecha Did Not Stabilize For 3 Secs. It Should Have Just Been An Advantage’

Rodolfo Vieira Contesting Result Of WPJJC Final: ‘Buchecha Did Not Stabilize For 3 Secs. It Should Have Just Been An Advantage’

 

 

Last Saturday 19th of April, Rodolfo Vieira and Marcus Buchecha Almeida met in the  open weight black belt final at World Pro, held in Abu Dhabi.

In the final seconds, the Checkmat athlete pulled of a last second sweep on Rodolfo and won by 2-0, winning the championship and 30,000 US dollars.

Rodolfo shared in an interview with Tatame (in Portuguese) his disappointment of letting the victory slip when the timer was close to zero.

“It was a tough fight like hell. That was the most disputed of our recent fights, since in the last one, he beat me with a good margin of points. I controlled the fight from the very beginning, but at the end was swept and the referee gave the points. I often say to the young fighters of the academy that at black belt, youcan’t ake any mistakes. I know what went wrong there. I was very sad and cried a lot. It is very sad, we train like hell, and so to lose in the end is tough. I’ll keep training to see if I can win the Worlds. Going forward, “Rodolfo said.

 

Rodolfo also said he did not agree with the judges’ decision. According to the athlete, Buchecha did not stabilize the position for three seconds, which would invalidate the points earned by sweeping.

 

“I think that he did not have time to stabilize. When time ran out, the judge gave the points. It does not exist. He should have gotten an advantage. I hesitated, I accepted the position when I was swept. I accepted because I thought: ‘Oh, the judge will not give the points, he did not stabilize’. If I knew it would be such a mistake, that the judge was going to give the points, I would jump up and try to turn to all fours. So he would grab me and as time would run out he would not put the hooks, he would gain an advantage. Unfortunately, the judge gave the two points and finished 2-0 for him. ”

 

Buchecha's last second sweep

Buchecha’s last second sweep

Rodolfo, who did not want the outcome of the fight changing his friendship with Buchecha, also said:

“He’s a pretty good kid. He’s my friend. Even my team mates were teasing me, asking if I had turned to Checkmat. But Buchecha is a guy who I like to stay close to. He has a very good energy. Both he, and his teacher, Cavaca. We talked several times and our relationship will never change because of the result of a match “

 

Watch the fight for yourself: