Last weekend, Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles lived up to the expectations which surrounded him to take home gold at the 2015 ADCC championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Cobrinha, the defending champion, was in a bracket that was rammed with some of the best names in grappling but, the Brazilian managed to persevere and once again come out on top.
With both Cobrinha and Bruno Frazatto looking sharp, the -66KG division was amongst the most interesting of the weekend.
ADCC -66kg
Official results:
1st place: Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles
2nd place: Bruno Frazatto
3rd place: Augusto Mendes
What was the high point of the tournament?
This division is historically the most technical division of all. With names like Augusto Mendes, Gianni Grippo, and Eddie Cummings competing, it takes a special athlete to come out on top. Cobrinha may well be the best pound-for-pound grappler on the planet. Throughout the weekend, Cobrinha looked confident and assured and made easy work of the opening round before using his veteran savvy to persevere thorugh some difficult moments to make his way to the gold. The high point of this division was Cobrinha’s tactical supremacy, even when faced with gifted adversaries.
Where do the finalists go from here?
At 36 years old, Rubens Charles still shows no signs of slowing down. Cobrinha, the consistently strong competitor, will likely continue to participate in tournaments for the foreseeable future. It is safe to assume that Cobrinha will be striving to compete at ADCC 2017, at the age of 38, in pursuit of a 3rd straight championship title.
I feel for Bruno Frazatto, I really do. Historically, Cobrinha has been the man to beat Frazatto when it matter most. In 2008 and 2009, Cobrinha defeated Frazatto in the finals of the world championships and this year he bested him in the ADCC finals. Frazatto is a game competitor and will bounce back. Frazatto has also been toying with an MMA career, recently fighting with RFA but I would be surprised if he didn’t continue to compete in grappling tournaments.
Watch now, later, or never?
Watch now, this was a fun division.
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