Training carries on strong and full in San Diego. Under the leadership of six-time champion Saulo Ribeiro, Team Gracie Humaita is getting ready for the 2008 Worlds. Unshy of being happy, Saulo sends a message to his rivals: "This year we will be going for the title. We have our house in order and everyone with be fighting under the GH flag." So, a select group of tough guys has gotten together in California, as Saulo recounts: "Xande, Lovato, Regis Lebre, Megaton, Paulo Guillobel, brown belt Leo Santos, the entire women's team, among them Leticia Ribeiro and Luka Dias."
The brilliant performance from last year - when they captured silver at medium heavyweight - did not seduce Saulo into putting on the gi this year. The justification is the news "I'm dedicating myself completely to MMA, helping Xande and Lovato. At the end of the year, I should fight and we'll also have Xande and Lovato debuting. Nothing has been defined yet, but this is what is likely to happen," he reveals.
If the six-time champion doesn't enter, his brother will go for it. Xande Ribeiro goes into the Worlds to maintain his dominance in the heavyweight category and to recover from the surprise of being eliminated by Romulo Barral in the semifinals of the 2007 absolute: "We'll be taking no prisoners," jokes Saulo, with his brother by his side, to then return to seriousness: "I believe a lot in Lovato this year too. He is going in as favorite in his weight group after having won last year's title. LEt's see how Roger comes in after his MMA fight. Let's see whether he has a drop in performance or not. We want this title. It's the absolute that defines which school is best and for the moment that title is with Gracie Barra."
Between training sessions, Saulo also had time to speak about the big news of the 2008 Worlds: "Kron has been preparing for this [fighting at black belt] for a long time. He's in a good weight category. I've been looking around and saw the guys who could give him problems all went to medium heavyweight.
