Lightweight competitor Leandro Lo, one of the biggest revelations this season, is still plowing full steam through the competition. Lo featured in the October issue of GRACIEMAG teaching in Training Program, and he lived up up to his billing by winning another major tournament, the third No-Gi Brazilian Nationals, last weekend in Niterói.
“I felt I did well, was pleased with the result. Truth is, I wanted to do the absolute too, but I competed one day earlier in Brasilia and was really worn out. There, I had nine matches, four in my division and five in the absolute. I won my division but ended up losing the absolute semifinal to Bochecha. It was really high level, a war. There were awesome guys there, like Bochecha, Claudio Calasans, Ricardo Evangelista, Alexandro Ceconi, Alexandre de Souza, Igor Silva, José Carlos and a number of others,” he recounted, referring to the Pan-American championship help in Brazil’s capital, where the absolute winner, Marcus Vinícius “Bochecha” took home a car as his reward.
Leandro in final with Theodoro Canal (GFTeam) / Photo: Gustavo Aragão
“But even though I didn’t do the absolute, I’m really happy to have won the Brazilian national lightweight title. The final was against Theodoro Canal, a really tough and experienced fighter. My game relies a lot on gi grips, so I felt there was a difference, but thank God everything worked out and I won. Murilo Santana helped me a lot in training. He’s really great at both Gi and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu,” said the Cicero Costha student, who sees the No-Gi game as a complement to his Jiu-Jitsu.
“I feel one complements the other. The no-gi game lets you flow more, while the gi game makes you tighter,” he says.
Now Lo is preparing for the December Copa Pódio in Porto Alegre, where he’ll take part in the lightweight GP. “I’ll be at Copa Pódio for sure, but I’ll be at any good championships that come up in the meantime,” he said cheerfully.
Check out the complete results from the Brazilian No-Gi Nationals by clicking here.
