Meyram Downs Nagai, Jamil & Hokage At CHAANCE For $10k and Murasaki earns CHAANCE 75kg title.
Meyram Maquine Alves may have had the most challenging road to $10k of any athlete competing on Sunday morning’s CHAANCE: Spyder Road To Black tournament in South Korea.
The light featherweight IBJJF world champion drew Samuel Nagai in the first round, and would have to face back to back featherweight world champions in the semifinal and final.
But Alves appeared strong as ever in his $10,000 campaign in the 65kg bracket, tactically outscoring Nagai in the division opener, then taking Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor’s back and leaning on a go-ahead takedown over Fabricio Andrey to earn his title as the division champion.
Perhaps the most impressive element of Alves’ CHAANCE campaign was his dominance in takedown exchanges. The Dream Art representative used a high amplitude single leg to score his first points on Nagai, and relied on his takedown defense to stave off Nagai’s final barrage.
In the final, Alves used a well timed trip attempt against Andrey to set up a knee pick, with which he ran Andrey down to score the only points of the match.
Those familiar with Alves will know that among athletes in the lightest weight categories, the light featherweight world champ has one of the most reputable takedown games. He leaned on it late last year at the BJJ Stars Lightweight GP, standing toe to toe with much heavier opponents, and consistently off-balancing and threatening them with heavy kuzushi and leg attacks.
Alves’ only match which was not decided via takedown was decided, instead, by back control. In the semifinal, Alves utilized a slick pass to get behind Hill-Taylor, then patiently ran out the clock, threatening submission against his former teammate.
The CHAANCE 65kg champion is now $10,000 richer, and has proven himself at the top of his weight category — and among the top pound for pound — to start 2023.
Murasaki looking unstoppable to begin 2023, wins CHAANCE 75kg title
In the 75kg division, Andy Murasaki outscored two dangerous opponents and submitted one in his run to $10,000 at CHAANCE.
The recently crowned IBJJF European champion was called out early in the division by the division’s second-place qualifier, Seungmoon Baek. Murasaki scored an early six points — pulling guard then sweeping directly to mount — before returning to a neutral position, establishing back control and setting in a choke.
In the semis, Murasaki leaned on his wrestle-up game to score two decisive points on Marcio Andre; and in the final, Murasaki ran up the score on Natan Cheung, tallying 19 points in the final two minutes. Once again, Murasaki set up the scoring flurry with a wrestle-up single from his guard, one of his best weapons throughout his career.
The final was a dramatic change from a match two weeks prior, where in the lightweight final of Euros, Mursaki defeated Chung by a single advantage in a 0-0 match.