At his gym in Lutz, near Tampa, Florida, Marcio ” Pé de Pano” Cruz trains hard for his first title defense at the upcoming Art of Fighting 7 event.
Pé seems to be boosting his work rate in his career, now with four consecutive wins in MMA. His only two losses came in the UFC, to Andrei Arlovski and Jeff Monson, in the heavyweight division.
Pé de Pano strikes with Mir in 2006. Photo: Josh Hedges.
In his last fight, the absolute world champion of Jiu-Jitsu (2002/03) dispatched Tom Sauer with strikes on the ground in the second round, a specialty he demonstrated in his win over Frank Mir at UFC 57 in 2006.
Pé recently won the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2009, the only title he was missing, but lost at the ADCC Barcelona last year.
Check out the promotional video for the battle between Pé and Dave “Pay Me” Yost, scheduled for next April 3, not long before the Rio de Janeiro native black belt’s 32nd birthday.
For further information on the star, go to www.marciocruzbjj.com.