Leandro Lo celebrates his win. Photo: Erin Herle
Copa Pódio took place on the night of Saturday the 22nd at Sírio Club in Sao Paulo, and crowned Leandro Lo the big victor of season 4 as he won the Heavyweight GP. The Brotherhood fighter had also won the lightweight and middleweight GPs, giving him the triple crown.
The main attraction of the night, the Heavyweight GP featured two groups of five athletes. The green group had Nelton Pontes (GB), Gabriel Fedor (Checkmat) Diego Borges (Zenith), Rodrigo Cavaca (Zenith) and Alexander Trans (GFTeam) duking it out for points to reach the semifinals against the best two from the yellow group, made up of Leandro Lo (Brotherhood), Erberth Santos (Almeida JJ), Isaque Bahiense (Alliance), Cássio Francis (GB) and Felipe Trovo (Ushirobira JJ).
Leandro Lo, Alexander Trans, Felipe Trovo and Nelton Pontes made it to the semis. Erberth Santos had had to leave the tourney following a win vs. Isaque Bahiense due to a knee injury.
In a semifinal, Lo beat Pontes on advantages. In the other semi, Trans swept Trovo toward the end to win on points.
The final saw Lo start by pulling, to then sweep and secure two points. On the bottom, Trans unsuccessfully tried to attack the foot. Lo invested on passing, but the Nowwegian escaped and attempted a single-leg takedown, averted by Lo. At the end, Trans pulled and tried to sweep, but time was up, and Leandro was ahead. Pontes beat Trovo on points in the bronze decider.
In the no-gi heavyweight duel, Argentina’s Max Montanha beat Joaquim Mamute of Gracie Barra after attempting a takedown with some five seconds to go, securing the bare minimum edge for a win.
In another duel, the Vikings faced the Kangurus. Espen Mathiesen beat Ben Hodgkinson by one sweep to put the Vikings in the lead. Then Tommy Langaker subbed Vicente Cavalcanti to expand the lead. Livia Gluchowska made the score 2-1 as she beat Emilia Tuukkanen on points, but it was already too late, and the Vikings prevailed.
