The 2008 worlds was probably one of the more memorable BJJ events I've had the privilege of not only shooting but it was also the first year we made a DVD for this historic event.
If you recall, this was the year that Andre Galvao showed the world that he was just as good a break dancer as he was a BJJ player. Roger Gracie was submitting everyone with cross chokes and we were able to see the black belt debut of two amazing individuals in BJJ; Kron Gracie and now UFC and MMA veteran, Sergio Moraes.
Leading up to the worlds, Kron had dismantled literally everyone he faced at brown belt. I don't know the statistics but I head a rumor that he went 40-0 with all the fights ending in submission at brown belt. Kron had received his black belt from his father, Rickson Gracie not long before the worlds so the crowd was anxiously waiting to see how he'd do up against more experienced, black belt competitors.
I remember the energy in the Long Beach pyramid as the both men entered the mats. It was eerily quiet in the arena and literally everyone's attention was focused on Mat 7. Sergio Moraes, a black belt from Alliance was virtually unknown at the time but he certainly made his presence known after his first match. Sergio went on to win the worlds by defeating Paragon black belt, Bill Cooper.
Here are a few photos that I took from the fight. As far as I know, I've never published them.
Before we get to the video, here's a brief interview we did with Sergio following his performance at the worlds that gives a little bit of background on Sergio.
We also made this brief highlight of Sergio's performance to promote the DVD:
And the complete video for this week's edition of Time Travel Tuesday:
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