Alliance’s Bernardo faria was the standout at the 2015 Pan with two gold medals (superheavy and open class) conquered with outstanding performances against very tough opponents like Leandro Lo, Luiz Panza, AJ Agazarm, Eduardo Telles, Alex Trans and others. In this interview to GRACIEMAG’s Vitor Freitas, he explains why he was so sharp in Irvine.
“I’ve been training hard since 2001, when I was only 14. I have built a very strong base since then with my Professors Ricardo Marques, Fabio Gurgel and now Marcelo Garcia, in NYC. I have a very balanced and healthy life and results are showing again. In this Pan, I was able to close out the superheavy division with my friend Leo Nogueira, who moved from Florida to Atlanta to train under Romero Jacaré. It’s an honor to reach finals alongside Leo,” said Bernardo about his performance.
The high point of Bernardo’s campaign in Irvine was the open class final against Leandro Lo, one of the toughest guards in Jiu-Jitsu today. Faria tells us how he managed the pass and then sink the choke to win: “Lo is a phenomenon, one of the best athletes out there. I was behind on the scoreboard after he swept me so I decided to went for it with everything I got. I’m a huge fan of Lo’s and I still haven’t realized that I was able to pass and choke him.”
But how did Bernardo passed a guard that almost no other fighter is able to pass?
“I used a guard pass called “over-under”, which I use since I was a yellow belt in 2002. As with everything in my life, I persisted and kept training it since the day I first learned that pass. After I reached his side, I kept calm. I looked for the lapel and wrapped around his neck for the choke. In Brazil, people call that choke, the “scarf choke”. I use it a lot because even when it doesn’t work, you still keep the side control.”
Watch Bernardo Faria explaining the “over-under” pass.
