Tigre victorious at Deep, in photo by Susumu Nagao. In the elections, unlike MMA, the black belt wasn't so lucky.
General elections in Brazil weren’t kind to athletes, practitioners and former professional from combat sports.
From boxing, former world champion Acelino Popó tried for a senate seat in the state of Bahia, but lost despite his 60,216 votes. Now Adilso Maguila tried for the same position in São Paulo, but the former pugilist, has even faced George Foreman and fought for the title belt against Evander Holyfield in 1989, only managed 2,951 votes. (See Maguila in action below).
Among the Jiu-Jitsu black belts, Marcelo Tigre brought in 1,688 votes and was not elected as a district deputy in Brasilia, the nation’s capital. Now Marcelo Itagiba, former secretary of security in Rio de Janeiro, received 61,000 votes for state senator, but he didn’t make it either. Rio de Janeiro’s Rommel Cardozo tried for a spot on the state chamber, but won’t happen this time. Now senator Arthur Virgílio didn’t campaign for another term in Amazonas state.
Amazona’s state Jiu-Jitsu, however, came out victorious, with the election of Marco Antônio “Chico Preto”, a black belt and friend of WEC champion José Aldo.
The congressman guaranteed he will help promote two large-scale gentle art championships per year, with the help of funds from the Amazonas state government. “Jiu-Jitsu will now have a voice in the house of congress,” declared Chico Preto, of the PP party.