Athos’ Mendes brothers have already landed in California. The Ramon Lemos pupils were put up at Andre Galvao’s house and are already itching to compete at the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, which begins today with the white and blue belts taking to the mat and ends Sunday, with the black belt show.
And speaking of black belts, this will be the first Worlds the brothers Mendes compete at at the highest ranking of gi competition. For Guilherme Mendes, his debut at a world championship with his new belt also serves as his debut as a light featherweight, as he announced to GRACIEMAG.com last week.
World featherweight champion in 2008 at brown belt, at black Guilherme Mendes won a ticket to the Middle East at the South American Abu Dhabi trials. There, however, he ended up submitting to Rubens Charles “Cobrinha”.
For this Worlds, the fighter remains vibrant. “I expect the best, I’m well trained and my head’s in the right place. I’ve won the Worlds at the other belts, I just need black, and I’m here for that, which God willing will be the first of many.”
At light featherweight, Guilherme Mendes may come up against such athletes as current champion of Brazil Pablo Santos (Gracie Barra), Igor Santos (GFTeam) and, should he make it ahead, current category champion Samuel Braga (Gracie Barra). The Atos JJ competitor believes the move proposed by Ramon Lemos and Andre Galvao will benefit him.
“Truth is, the decision was not mine, Ramon and Andre had been talking to me about dropping weight for some time at least for this year so the team could fit athletes into more categories and I took to their idea, I think this move could be very good for me and the team,” remarked the athlete from Sao Paulo
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At the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials Mendes closes out with Frazatto and celebrates victory / Photo Gustavo Aragão
“I think the most important thing is to stay focused and humble, there are great athletes who make it to desirable places and feel invincible and it’s not like that, at some point everyone loses, it’s normal, nobody’s a super hero, but you need to stay humble and recognize that the other guy was superior, instead of denigrating the image of your opponent,” said Guilherme Mendes in finishing.
