Gilbert Burns against Michael Langhi at Jiu-Jitsu World Championship. The 2011 world champ had a front row seat in sizing up the style of the current champ, Leandro Lo. Photo by Ray Santana/GRACIEMAG.
There at the Tijuca Tennis Clube last weekend to watch his brother Herbert Burns compete at the 2012 Brazilian No-Gi Nationals, world champion-turned-coach Gilbert Durinho stuck around even after his sibling’s triumph in the featherweight division.
(Watch Herbert Burns vs. Richard Flood on the GRACIEMAG Portuguese-language Facebook page.)
Watching from the stands, he scrutinized a string of Jiu-Jitsu talent, and one old acquaintance in particular: the winner of the absolute division.
“Leandro Lo is the man to beat these days. He really is tough. He’s got his merits, especially his free-flowing Jiu-Jitsu. But he’s not unbeatable. There are a lot of good guys in that division who can surprise him, like Augusto Tanquinho, [Roberto] Satoshi or even me, for example,” said Gilbert.
But what would be the right game plan for taking the Cicero Costha black belt out of his element nowadays, though?
“The same route as always: pressure, lots of pressure. You have to put him on defense the whole time. It doesn’t matter if he’s on top or on bottom, you just can’t stop even to blink, because that’s when he’s dangerous. If you stop to think against Lo, you’re done. He really is the best lightweight right now, so anyone who wants to beat him has to be really well trained and spend the whole time on the attack,” Durinho added.
What do you say, who can stop Leandro Lo?
