Leandro Lo agaist Ricardo Bastos at Copa Podio. Photo by Gustavo Aragão/GRACIEMAG
Leandro Lo is tired of is tired of taking the tougher road in Jiu-Jitsu championships, but Copa Podio, which was held past Saturday at Clube Hebraica, in Rio, was a chapter apart in the saga of the lightweight world champion.
The athlete revealed by a social project led by Cicero Costha accepted to measure his game in a middleweight GP, he was part of a group with two other world champions (Otavio Sousa and the brown belt Felipe Pena) and was one of the lightest competitors.
Also, the fights lasted six minutes instead of the usual ten, which made things even harder to him: “In a six-minute fight you can’t make mistakes. It is harder to recover from it. My trick was to use a very fast pace since the beginning”, says happily the champ.
The black belt from São Paulo, who had already won the Lightweight GP, in December 2011, recalled his trajectory in Middleweight GP:
“In the first phase, in groups, I defeated Dimitrius Souza and Formiga, and tied with Felipe Preguiça and Otavio Sousa. In the semifinals, I defeated Ricardo Bastos and Dimitrius Souza in the finals (with a guard pass and a mount). I wasn’t able to apply any submission, the guys of this weight are too strong”, says Lo.
“I have enjoyed fighting in the middleweight in such a hard championship like Copa Podio, it was a great test”, says the GP champ, remembering the most dramatic moment of the conquest. “My worst moment was on the fight against Ricardo Bastos. I was taken down when the points were already counting (after first half of the fight), and he is very strong on the top. Honestly I thought I’d lose, but thank God I recovered from it”.
“Now I will train Jiu-Jitsu no-gi to fight in the Brazilian and World No-Gi Championship,” he concluded.
Check out the official Copa Podio results:
OPENING SUPER FIGHT
Claudio Caloquinha 4 x 4 Michael Langhi (4 x 0 to Michael Langhi in the sudden death round)
GP 1st ROUND
Green Group: Pedro Mello 0 x 8 (1v) Davi Ramos
Green Group: Thiago Barata 0 x 11 (2adv) Ricardo Bastos
Yellow Group: Felipe Preguiça 4 (1adv) x 4 Otavio Sousa
Yellow Group: Leandro Lo 2 x 0 Dimitrius Souza
GP 2nd ROUND
Green Group: Pedro Mello 0 x 2 Thiago Barata
Green Group: Davi Ramos x Diogo Almeida (Diogo subbed)
Yellow Group: Felipe Preguiça 2 (1adv) x 2 (1adv) Leandro Lo
Yellow Group: Otavio Sousa 0 x 2 Rafael Formiga
GP 3rd ROUND
Green Group: Pedro Mello 2 (1adv) x 0 (2adv) Diogo Almeida
Green Group: Davi Ramos 2 x 2 Ricardo Bastos
Yellow Group: Felipe Preguiça 7 (1adv) x 2(1adv) Rafael Formiga
Yellow Group: Otavio Sousa 0 x 2 Dimitrius Souza
GP 4th ROUND
Green Group: Pedro Mello 0 (1adv) x 2 Ricardo Bastos
Green Group: Thiago Barata 0 x 0 Diogo Almeida
Yellow Group: Felipe Preguiça 4 x 4 (1adv) Dimitrius Souza
Yellow Group: Leandro Lo 3 x 0 Rafael Formiga
GP 5th ROUND
Green Group: Davi Ramos x Thiago Barata (Davi subbed)
Green Group: Ricardo Bastos 4 (2adv) x 0 (1adv)Diogo Almeida
Yellow Group: Otavio Sousa 2 x 2 Leandro Lo
Yellow Group: Dimitrius Souza 4 (2adv) x 4 Rafael Formiga
SEMIFINALS
Ricardo Bastos 2 x 8 (5adv) Leandro Lo
Dimitrius Souza 6 (6adv) x 4 (2adv) Davi Ramos
COPA PODIO SUPER CHALLENGE:
Guto Campos 2 (1adv) x 0 (2adv) Raphael Abi-Rihan
Third Place Dispute
Davi Ramos 2 x 0 (1adv) Ricardo Bastos
Final
Leandro Lo 7 (3 adv) x 0 Dimitrius Souza