Through to Abu Dhabi, Luiza Monteiro learning from boyfriend Lo

Luiza in final with Mazelli / Photo: Carlos Ozório

Luiza Monteiro has been carving out a place for herself among the big names of female Jiu-Jitsu. This year the CheckMat black belt took second at the Worlds and gold at the Brazilian Nationals. Last Sunday she secured a spot at the 2012 World Pro, winning the Natal, Brazil, tryouts for the event after beating Fernando Mazelli. In training to keep up such stellar results she gets some help from her boyfriend, none other the lightweight sensation of the moment Leandro Lo.

Following her triumph Luiza had a chat with GRACIEMAG.com, and here’s what she had to say:

You’ve been cementing your place at the top of the current competition Jiu-Jitsu scene. What is it that’s making the difference?

The further I make it the more I want to keep up with the other girls. I’m not at the level of a Luanna Alzuguir or Bia Mesquita yet but I’m motivated to train more and more because I want to be as good or better than them. What I want most is to be world champion. All I think about is getting better.

How did you go about preparing for this event?

For the last two months, despite being from CheckMat, I’ve also been training at Cícero Costha’s academy with some guys who’ve helped me out a lot. However, I didn’t do any physical conditioning work or dieting like I did before, and that set me back a bit. I felt fatigued. For the World Pro I want to do some solid conditioning work and eat right. I have to do everything just right. I trained a lot with Leandro Lo, my boyfriend, and he’s been a great help to me.

What’s this relationship between two competitors like? Is it a good thing?

He’s helped me out a lot and believes in me. I believe a lot in him, too. He’s really good but thinks he isn’t! We encourage each other and he teaches me a lot of things. I’ve even tweaked some aspects of my game to be more like what he does. We travel together and all we talk about is Jiu-Jitsu. That’s helped a lot.