Remember Clark’s Pan-Am comeback? Register for the 2014 Pan & make your own mark

Clark Gracie celebrates his Pan American Championship title after comeback final with Marcelo Mafra of Checkmat. Photo: Ivan Trindade

In the black belt adult middleweight final match at the 2013 Pan American Championship, Clark Gracie and Marcelo Mafra had beat out huge names to narrow down the bracket to two. Leandro Lo, Vitor Oliveira, DJ Jackson, Otavio Sousa, Kayron Gracie were all in line as well to be the Pan American champion but the Gracie and the CheckMat team underdog successfully pushed their way through.

During the ten-minute match, Mafra had earned a sweep against Clark and maintained his base on top. As the time winded down, Clark knew he had to move so with his signature omoplata, he locked Mafra down. But he was still down by points. He grabbed the lapel of Mafra and secured a choke from the back while still in the omoplata position. Mafra tried to hold on but eventually went to sleep and with 26 seconds left in the match, Clark won with a comeback making it one of the most exciting matches of the whole 2013 event.

And for you: Registration is open for the 2014 Pan American Championship in Irvine, CA so you too can make your mark on the competition mats. Use this match as motivation and proof that a match is never completely lost until a hand is raised. There is always a way to come back and turn the victory around.

Register now for the Pan American Championship on March 12-16 at the University of California, Irvine Brenn Event Center.

Go to www.ibjjf.org to start the process for becoming a Pan-Am champ.

And watch the match between Clark Gracie and Marcelo Mafra below: