8th Arizona Open: Leandro Lo came, won and paid for dinner

Leandro Lo was unbeatable at the 8th Arizona Open

Leandro Lo arrived in Phoenix, Arizona after 9 p.m. on Saturday night.

He came from San Jose, where he will train with Caio Terra and his team until the 2013 Pan, which takes place in a week and a half.

Before going to bed, he ate a frozen pizza and a coke.

Lo’s breakfast on Sunday Morning was not a light one.

The black belt filled his plate with scrambled eggs, bacon and diced roasted potatos.

Less than a hour later, he was choking John Carlquist in the first fight of the middleweight division.

After that, he faced Lucas Rocha in the final of the division and got another choke.

Winning the weight division was fine, but Lo travelled to Arizona with a clear objective: to win the absolute and pocket the $2,500 prize.

And that he did in two matches.

First a reencounter with Lucas Rocha and another win, this time outscoring the opponent 14-0.

In the final, the adversary would be Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes, on his fifth face off in recent years.

“The score is 2-2,” said Tanquinho.

The match was at full speed, with Tanquinho attempting a early takedown.

To prevent any susprises, Lo pulled guard and worked the sweep, his speciality.

Tanquinho defended the first two attempts, but could do nothing on the third one.

The score went 4-0 with another sweep and Lo managed to defend the lead until the end.

Then, the two friends analysed the duel.

“I thought it was all about the details,” said Lo. “All I think of is that this guy is amazing and for me it was not about the details at all, but about his persistance to get the sweeps even after I defended it a couple of times,” replied Tanquinho. “On a second thought, I agree with him, my persistance helped me to get the points.”

Lo’s day was still not complete.

It was time to go to a Brazilian steakhouse with his friends, and so he did.

After a great meal, Lo reached for his pocket and toped the bill.

One more UFC Champion wearing a gi

Other than Lo’s run for the gold, the Arizona Open featured UFC Lightweight champion Ben Henderson, a Jiu-Jitsu brown belt who stepped away from the MMA spotlights to win the middleweight and the absolute.

“It’s great to test myself here, where there isn’t a million of people watching. It helps me to keep my drive and my competitive spirit going.” Bendo told GracieMag.com after the double gold won against young talent Christian Broadnax in two matches.

Here is an exclusive photo galery of the Sunday at the 8th Arizona Open Jiu-Jitsu International.

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