Otavio Sousa and Leandro Lo battle inch by inch in last July’s Copa Pódio Middleweight GP. Publicity photo.
The 2012 Copa Pódio season will wrap up with the heavily anticipated Heavyweight GP, a contest between ten athletes weighing under 98 kg set for December 15 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, but there’s already news about it coming through the wires.
Besides the battle for the title of big GP champion, there are three supermatches lined up to capture Jiu-Jitsu fans’ attention. The first is the already-announced showdown between Leandro Lo and Felipe Preguiça, a rematch of their controversial encounter at the Middleweight GP. The second is a trophy defense by Guto Campos, the winner of the Copa Pódio Super Desafio (Super Challenge). And the third is the all-new inter-city challenge, as announced by the promoters.
“What we’re proposing with the Desafio das Cidades [Cities Challenge] is simple. Two athletes from a weight class that isn’t the one in the GP will fight to defend their place of origin. The winner will assure their city a berth in the Copa Pódio circuit; that is, the winning city will remain in the mix and get to challenge another city for the next event,” explained Jéferson Maycá, the promoter of the event.
For this first match-up, the city getting challenged is Manaus, and the challenger is the current middleweight champion of the world, Otávio Sousa, who represents Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. “Manaus is a place where Jiu-Jitsu has been on the up and up, and ever since the last event, I’ve been wanting to get an athlete from there in,” remarked Maycá.
The big news is that if you’re from the capital of Amazonas State you could get a chance to lock horns with Otávio—thought about that yet? To get in on the selection process for the supermatch, athletes have to be either born in Manaus or be able to prove they have lived in the city for at least two years. The match with Otávio is set at 80 kg.
Black belts from Manaus who’d like to send in their CVs can do so by e-mailing podio@podio.esp.br with “Desafio das Cidades” in the subject line. The organizers will be taking CVs until August 31.
Refresh your memory of the showdown between Otávio Sousa and Leandro Lo, and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com to take part in this gentle-art fest.
