Antonio "Cara de Sapato" (in white) in action in Jiu-Jitsu / Photo: Luca Atalla/GRACIEMAG

The 2012 Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championship will get underway this Thursday in Irvine, California, and the number of Gi Jiu-Jitsu stars tipped to compete is mind-boggling. And two of the resounding names in the mix are CheckMat representatives Marcus Vinicius “Bochecha” and Antonio Carlos “Cara de Sapato,” two solid candidates for medals.

A native of the city of Santos, Marcus Bochecha will be sticking his neck out in the ultra heavyweight division, while son of Paraiba State Cara de Sapato will go it at super heavyweight, but the two could be on a collision course in the open weight division. As keen GRACIEMAG.com readers may have noted, the two have faced off before, when still blue belts, back in 2008.

You know how the two made it to black belt? They never gave up.

Revisit the encounter between the two, in the following video. And to check out the Pan 2012 timetable, click here.