Last Sunday evening, April 21, the Copa Podio organization met at the restaurant of Botanical Garden in Rio, with guests and media to draw for the Lightweight GP to be held at Club Hebraica in Rio on May 5.
The draw split the ten athletes into two groups, green and yellow. On one side, in the yellow group, is the defending champion (GP and World IBJJF) Leandro Lo, with Clark Gracie, Diego Borges, Brandon Magana and Juan Kamezawa, the Alliance promise, a newcomer brown belt.
In the green group are the American DJ Jackson, Victor Estima, Augusto “Tio Chico” Vieira, Vinicius Marinho and the English Oliver Geddes.
Something interesting about this group is that Victor Estima, Gracie Barra professor living in England, has nowhere to run. He will need to face the teammate Tio Chico and also his old acquaintance Oliver Geddes, Roger Gracie student in London.
Do you agree that the groups were balanced or is there a stronger one? Do you already have a guess on who will be the final four?