Leandro Lo lost to Buchecha by one negative point. Beatriz Lina/ Graciemag
Recently Graciemag.com posed this question about the 2017 BJJ World Championship: Was this Leandro Lo’s best Worlds or his worst? The question made sense because these two things are true of his campaign this year: He made it to the absolute final, but he also walked out with no gold medal, which is a rare sight indeed.
Lo himself thought the lack of a title made his performance less than stellar, but of course the entire season leading up to it did happen, and he did finish that season as the No. 1 male in the IBJJF rankings — which was only the case because he made it to finals at the Euros, Pan, Brazilian Nationals and Worlds, not to mention the opens.
All that success led five-time absolute world champion Marcus Buchecha to call him the world’s best fighter in activity, as you may have read on this website. But Lo disagrees. After reading Buchecha’s interview, he had to sound off.
“I read Buchecha’s compliments, but I don’t agree with him,” Lo told us. “It is in fact him who is the best in the world. With this latest victory, he is now a five-time absolute world champion, with another five titles in his weight class. He is the best in history.”
About his own unsatisfactory campaign, Lo added: “It’s hard to focus on two things. The guys are in top shape; everybody is doing very well. I tried to focus on two things — the top spot in the rankings and the absolute at the Worlds. Turned out I didn’t arrive at the Worlds quite as I should. I fought two championships in the month of the Worlds, something I had not done in four years. I felt the tiredness take over a bit; I feel like I didn’t arrive in ideal shape, but I don’t want people to see this as an excuse. Next year I’ll change my plans and focus 100% on my Worlds campaign.”
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