Beição with South American and World Shooto belts. Photo: Rogério Gomes
Four fighters will step up for the WOCS 11 welterweight Grand Prix this Friday in Campo Grande, Brazil. Facing off in the cage are beasts like Luis Beição, André Chatuba, Mauro Xuxa and Tico Pedroso. The GP format is a show all its own.
“I’ve been in two GPs in my career. You have to be physically prepared for it, and you have to be more strategic in your fights. It’s important to always try and get the submission or knockout as quickly as possible in the first fight so you’ll have an advantage in the second. It’s a different and exciting system of fighting,” remarks Beição, the Shooto world and South American champion.
The Nova União rep is keen to his opponents.
“I feel the GP is at a high level, with top fighters from around Brazil. Tico entered last – he’s an excellent striker from a traditional muay thai school. I think Xuxa and I made our MMA debuts at practically the same time; he comes from a Chinese boxing background but trains Jiu-Jitsu with the guys at CheckMat. Chatuba is a finisher, has good takedowns and has a really potent weapon in his arm-triangle. We don’t know who we’ll be facing, so I’m training a bit of everything for the event,” he advises.
And WOCS forges ahead in its marathon of events with two more GPs. On May 7 the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, will host the under-66-kg (featherweight) GP, and on the 13th Brasília will host the under-83-kg (middleweight) GP.
Check out the card for Friday’s event:
WOCS 11 – Campo Grande MS – 29 de abril
Under-77 Kg (welterweight) GP
André Chatuba (Relma / Minotauro)
Luiz Beição (Nova União)
Mauro Xuxa (CheckMat)
Tico Pedroso (World Strong)
Superfights
William Viana (TFT) vs. Luizinho da Silva (Gracie BarraMS)
77 kilos
Ivan freitas (TFT) vs. Gilmar Sanches (GB MS)
62 kilos
Fábio Larvinha (TFT) vs. José Elias (GB MS)
77 kilos
Nilson Pulgatti (TFT) vs. Davi Sutil (Freestyle) 84 kilos
Wande Lopes (TFT) vs. Cleiton Alves (Dojô Fight CG)
Over 93 kilos
Bruno Swarts (TFT) vs. Sergio Freitas ( Dojô Fight CG)