Photo: Ivan Trindade
In 2010, Gilbert Durinho was the standout in the World Pro under-74kg division. Now coming from taking third place at the 2011 Pan as a middleweight, the Atos ace has good reason to again believe he’ll take top post in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m confident and I trained a lot. Here in Rio with Davi Ramos, I kept up the pace from the training camp in San Diego,” he remarks.
“The competition combines well with my game. It’s a shorter match duration, so it will be more explosive, and the fact that the weigh-ins will be earlier helps me a lot too. I’m really excited and I expect to win again,” he adds.
Durinho comments on his participation at the Pan and believes the future truly does have a move up in weight in store for him.
“The truth is that I’m already a middleweight, but it’s something I don’t want to fess up to yet. Last year I won the No-Gi Worlds at this weight and it was cool to have competed at middleweight at the Pan. I felt a bit of difference in weight, I was slower and wore out a bit. I lost to Lucas Leite in the semifinal, having beaten him three weeks earlier, when I fought at lightweight. However, it’s just a question of adapting. I should move up to middleweight once and for all, but up until the IBJJF Worlds I’ll stay at lightweight,” he says.
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