Magid Hage standing in front of Clark Gracie at San Diego, California WPJJC Trials (photo by Erin Herle/GRACIEMAG)
With each qualifying event for the Abu Dhabi WPJJC, a new rookie emerges to make life rough on a black-belt favorite.
Last weekend, the dark horse to gallop onto the mats in San Diego was Gracie Barra ace Magid Hage, who on his debut as a black belt eliminated two sterling opponents: Clark Gracie and Zak Maxwell (Gracie Humaitá).
Hage used the same weapon in both encounters: the strangulation technique known as the “baseball-bat choke”. The rookie’s good fortune didn’t carry through to the gold medal, however: he lost the under-83 kg final to Marcel Gonçalves.
Check out how he caught Clark and Zak:
