Giva Santana and Laércio. Photo: personal archive
Third-place winner at the 2010 World Championship Laércio Fernandes has finally finished his studies and will be able to dedicate himself fulltime to what he likes most: Jiu-Jitsu. And he’ll have a good opportunity to reach his goals in Hawaii, more specifically at the Henry J. Kaiser High School gymnasium, at the September 4 Honolulu International Open.
“Now it’s confirmed, I’ll compete in Hawaii. I feel it’s an interesting title to win. The IBJJF championships are the most important ones and this one’s no different. Last year I finished my post-graduate studies at University of São Paulo and now I want to carve out a place for myself as one of the big names in the light featherweight division,” the black belt revealed.
“After the Worlds, I stuck around the United States for nearly two months with Giva and helped train Shane del Rosario, an MMA fighter who recently one and is one of the big names at Strikeforce. The time I spent in the USA served to help the MMA folds on Team Oyama and take the chance to polish up my Jiu-Jitsu with Giva. I’ve been with them for 15 years now,” he recounts.
“Giva is recovering from an injury and could possibly fight in October. Although he’s training a lot of standup, he never puts off training in the gi, since we represent Jiu-Jitsu,” he says in finishing.
To find out more about the Honolulu Open and upcoming IBJJF competitions, click here.