Caio Terra contra Bruno Malfacine no Pan 2013. Foto: Ivan Trindade/GracieMag.com

Encerrado no domingo, o Pan 2013 da IBJJF teve emoção de sobra também entre os magrinhos.

No peso-galo, em final estudada e decidida nos detalhes, o exímio guardeiro Caio Terra surpreendeu o pentacampeão mundial Bruno Malfacine por 2 a 0, com uma raspagem.

Caio comentou como seu jogo de pernas atrapalhou Bruno, em papo com GracieMag.

“Se ele se confundiu na minha guarda eu fico surpreso. Na verdade acho que apenas não deixei ele me travar muito, o que facilitou para eu conseguir chegar em posições boas, todas as horas”, disse Caio.

“O mais importante para a vitória foi o treinamento. Minha campanha e o meu resultado foram só uma prova de que o treinamento foi feito de forma correta. Tive um excelente camp por dez dias na minha academia em San Jose, na Califa, com a ajuda de vários campeões, como Leandro Lo, Rafael Formiga, Marcus Antelante, Ben Baxter, Luiza Monteiro, e outros. Seguimos uma planilha de treinamentos feita pelo Itallo Villardo, que é o melhor preparador fisico pra artes marciais na minha opinião”, exaltou.

Caio destacou ainda a dura semifinal, contra Fabbio Passos. “Nossa semifinal foi um dos momentos mais complicados no Pan. Foi uma luta muito dura e ele me surpreendeu. Mas no fim a luta parelha só me deu forças para ir ainda mais focado para vencer a final”, concluiu.

Para conferir os resultados finais do Pan 2013, clique aqui.

Caio Terra troca pegadas com Laércio Fernandes, na final até 64kg da IBJJ Pro League. Foto: Erin Herle/GracieMag.com

A um dia do início do Pan, o atual campeão dos galos Caio Terra não quer saber de reduzir o ritmo de treinos.

O faixa-preta está treinando forte em sua academia em San Jose, próximo do ginásio em Irvine, e conta com uma tropa de elite nos dojôs.

“A preparação está perfeita, nós já tínhamos mais de dez faixas-pretas treinando direto (o Samir, Queixinho, Carlos Melo, Flavio Meier, Leopoldo Serão, Tyson Camp, Nathan Mendelsohn, Jeff, Lana Stefanac, Alexis Davis etc). Na reta final, ainda chegaram Leandro Lo, Rafael Formiga, Marcus Antelante, Ben Baxter, Luiza Monteiro e vários outros”, contou Caio ao GracieMag.com.

“Nossos treinos estão intensos, manhã, tarde e noite. Mais de cem pessoas vieram para o nosso camp, sendo 25 faixas-pretas. Isso mostra como o Jiu-Jitsu é um esporte especial, mais de cem pessoas de diferentes filiações, todas treinando fortes juntas, e de forma cautelosa para não machucar o parceiro. Isso comprova o quanto a comunidade do Jiu-Jitsu está unida”, completou Caio, que está confiante na sua preparação.

“Não vi ainda a checagem e as chaves, mas não acredito que nenhuma categoria esteja fácil. O que sei é que o treino aqui está bem mais puxado do que será o campeonato (risos)”.

Caio não tem o menor receio de divulgar sua estratégia para manter o título do Pan 2013.

“Minha grande qualidade talvez seja tentar sempre consertar meus erros. Tento errar o máximo no treino para errar o mínimo no futuro. E na hora da luta tento repetir o que fiz no treino, o que por vezes pode me custar a vitória. Talvez isso seja um defeito. Mas o que vale sempre é meu último desempenho, e ainda terei muitos outros campeonatos”, conclui a fera.

Para ver as chaves do Pan 2013, clique aqui.

Panôramica do ginásio do Pan em Irvine. Foto: Arquivo GracieMag

A cidade de Irvine, na Califórnia, se prepara para receber mais uma edição do tradicional Pan de Jiu-Jitsu, segundo campeonato mais importante do calendário da IBJJF. O ginásio da Universidade de Irvine vai receber os atletas do dia 20 ao 24 de março.

De olho na lista de inscritos, divulgada pela Federação, o GracieMag.com percebeu algumas surpresas, como o retorno do bicampeão mundial Gabriel Vella. Veja alguns dos principais favoritos:

Peso-galo: Bruno Malfacine, Caio Terra, Fabbio Passos, Raul Marcello, Joseph Capizzi, Felipe Costa

Peso-pluma: Guilherme Mendes, Laercio Fernandes, Thomas Lisboa, Gabriel Willcox

Peso-pena: Rubens Cobrinha, Rafael Mendes, Isaque Paiva, Augusto Tanquinho, Kim Terra, Ítalo Lins, Ed Ramos, Samir Chantre, Wellington Megaton, Mario Reis

Peso leve: Lucas Lepri, Michael Langhi, Oliver Geddes, Vinicius Marinho, JT, Tanner Rice, Zak Maxwell, Maiky Reiter, Marcel Gonçalves, Nathan Mendelsohn, Carlos Eduardo Vieira, Gabriel Goulart

Peso médio: Otavio Sousa, Leandro Lo, Kayron Gracie, DJ Jackson, Magid Hage, Clark Gracie, Jake Mackenzie, Lucas Rocha, Vitor Henrique, Gabriel Rollo, Ian McPherson

Peso meio-pesado: Romulo Barral, Tarsis Humphreys, André Galvão, Abmar Barbosa, Guto Campos, Rodrigo Fajardo, Felipe Preguiça, Renato Cardoso, Raul Castillo, Ben Baxter

Peso pesado: Tarcísio Jardim, Luiz Panza, Nivaldo Oliveira, Roberto Tussa, Hugo Britto, Diego Herzog, Lucas Leite, Diego Almeida

Peso superpesado: Bernardo Faria, Léo Nogueira, Gabriel Vella, James Puopolo

Peso Pesadíssimo: Marcus Buchecha, Alexander Trans, Orlando Sanchez, Roberto Cyborg, Gustavo Dias

Feminino: Luiza Monteiro, Mackenzie Dern, Ana Carolina Lebre, Nyjah Easton, Beatriz Mesquita, Talita Treta, Gabi Garcia, Thaysa Ramos, Sofia Amarante

Faixa-marrom: Keenan Cornelius, Gianni Grippo, Paulo e João Miyao, Vitor Paschoal, Francisco Iturralde, Ben Henderson, Victor Silvério, Ilke Bulut, Kaue Damasceno.

E para você, quem vai roubar a cena no Pan 2013? Confira quem está dentro, no site da IBJJF, aqui.

Otavio Sousa / GM archive photo

“I fought Ben before at the Pan and beat him,” he says. Once again, Otavio was able to win with a submission from the back. “I swept him, passed his guard, took his back, and submitted him with a choke,” he says.

Sousa got the flu back in June and it really took a toll on his body. He lost a lot of weight and says he is still recovering from it. He wasn’t happy with his performance at the Worlds because of it, but he did come in second at the Samurai Pro after losing to André Galvão.

Otavio’s slowly been working his way back to good health and better Jiu-Jitsu, and was thus happy with his win at the Las Vegas Open. “I’m still underweight,” says the black belt, “I could have competed at middleweight at this tournament. But I’m happy with my day.”

Otavio, who was also refereeing the event, says he opted out of the open class because he felt unprepared for it. “I had breakfast really early and I’ve been refereeing all day, so I decided not to do it,” he says.

He says his favorite Jiu-Jitsu move is the armbar from mount. “I look for it all the time,” he says, “I’m patient and I smash the guy I’m competing against to try to get it.” Otavio, aptly known as the “Steamroller” in his Gracie Barra circle, will be hunting for his next armbar at the No-Gi Worlds this November.

Lovato sinking a guillotine at Abu Dhabi World Pro / Photos: personal archives

Lovato says it was a good match. The matches were only six minutes long and he started behind on points, but that didn’t sway him. “He took me down with a big takedown,” he says, “That was a little difficult for me because my plan was to take him down first. So I had to battle back from that. I caught him in two guillotine sweeps and won 4-2.”

Lovato says it was a great feeling. Interestingly, he says he trains very little No-Gi and is not focused on his no Gi Jiu-Jitsu game. He says he just competed in it as a warm up for the gi competition the following weekend. Unfortunately, the next weekend didn’t go so well. “I had a few issues with referee calls,” he says, “I managed to take third place in the Gi division, but felt like I should have been in finals.”

Disappointed, Lovato returned to Oklahoma but didn’t stop training in preparation for the Worlds. “I went right back to work,” he says, “I’ve been training with my students and a good friend of mine, Johannes Wieth, who came to Oklahoma from Germany to train with me for the Worlds. He’s really good. He’s a brown belt European Champion.” Lovato says he’s getting good training, doing a lot of drilling, Judo, grip training, and conditioning.

Although Lovato wishes he could have had a better performance at the Abu Dhabis, he says it was good preparation for the Worlds. “It was good to win next to Xande (Ribeiro). He won his No-Gi division as well, but unfortunately he got injured in the gi. He’s out of the Worlds now.”

Rewatch Lovato against Rodolfo Vieira at the Abu Dhabi World Pro:

Although Ribeiro is out of the Worlds, he and Matt Jubera are flying out to Oklahoma to lead Lovato’s last week of training camp in an effort to perfect his and his students’ games for the big event. “He’s going to lead the camp, analyze my performance, and help me with any last minute details that need work,” Lovato says, “That will finish up our training.”

Lovato's team after Dallas Open, laden with medals

Lovato’s team, on the whole, has been doing quite well. “My team took third at the Dallas Open. With 34 competitors, we won 31 medals.” Lovato himself just received his ADCC invitation. “I will be in London in September,” he says, “But my main concern is the Worlds.”

Lovato wants to become world champion again. “I’ve done it once and I know what a great feeling it is,” he says, “It’s all I’m thinking about every day. When you dream about it and work so hard to achieve it, there’s no greater feeling. I want to have the best performance possible. The last twelve years of my life have been about winning the Gi Jiu-Jitsu Worlds.”

Besides his Worlds training, Lovato has some other exciting news to share. “One of my purple belts is making his UFC debut after the Worlds. His name is James Head.”

Head was recently signed by the UFC to fight on the undercard on June 11 in Vancouver. “I’m going up there to corner him,” Lovato says, “I’m really excited about that. He just beat Gerald Harris and now he’s going to face Nick Ring.”

Head started boxing when he was a teenager and has good experience. He had a few fights before he started training with Lovato. “I got him focused on Jiu-Jitsu,” Lovato says, “He’d never formally trained in it before. He got really good really fast. He took second at the Worlds as a blue belt after a year and a half of training. I gave him his purple belt and then he took second at the No-Gi Worlds. Then he defeated Gerald Harris and now he’s ready to go to the big show.”

Lovato’s good friend Mauricio “Veio” Amado, a Chute Box muay thai black belt (along with his brother Dida), has been helping Lovato get Head ready for his fight. “He’s a natural,” Lovato says about Head, “Nick Ring is undefeated. He’s Canadian and the fight will be in his hometown, but I know what James is capable of and I think this is going to be a great matchup.”

Lovato is also happy about the opening of another new academy, this time in Salem, Oregon. “The teachers who run it are very high-level competitors: Ben Baxter and James Puopolo,” he says. Puopolo has been visible on the competition scene recently, having won the ADCC trials in San Diego and his division at the Pan. He came in second in the open.

(from left) Ben Baxter, Rafael and James Puopolo

Lovato says he’s known Baxter and Puopolo for a few years. “We are really close,” he says, “They are great guys. They just opened their academy in March. I went there to officially recognize them as a Lovato Jiu Jitsu Association school. The name of their school is Salem-Keizer Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.”

Things are going well for Lovato. “My academy in Oklahoma is expanding,” he says, “I bought the building next to us and we are doing some remodeling. I will have a total of 6500 sq. feet.” Lovato now has over 200 students at his school and offers Jiu-Jitsu classes to kids and adults, including Gi and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu, and muay thai and MMA training. For further information, check out www.okbjj.com and  www.facebook.com/lovatojr.

Bruno at Houston Open 2010. Photo: João Crus.

O

The year 2011 will be loaded with challenges and IBJJF “Open” tournaments, which gained momentum in 2010 and will now come in with more installments in the new year.

The first of them is the Houston International Open, which is already open for sign-ups and a reduced rate until January 15. The final deadline to register is February 2. The event will take place February 12 and 13 at the University of Saint Thomas in Houston, Texas.

The big name at the 2010 event was Bruno Bastos, who won the ultraheavyweight and absolute divisions, overcoming the likes of Stephen Hall (Alliance) and Ben Baster (Lovatos).

For further information and to participate, click here.

The news is that the IBJJF has now put together the Boston International Open, which will take place in August.

Check back with GRACIEMAG.com for more news and be sure to sign up!

Bruno no Houston Open 2010. Foto: João Crus.

O ano de 2011 vai ser cheio de desafios e as competições “Open” da IBJJF, que ganharam bastante força em 2010, voltam com tudo e com mais edições.

A primeira delas é o Houston International Open, que já tem as inscrições abertas, com desconto até o dia 15 de janeiro. A data limite é no dia 2 de fevereiro. O evento acontece nos dias 12 e 13 de fevereiro, na University of St. Thomas, Houston.

Em 2010, o grande nome do evento foi Bruno Bastos, vencedor no pesadíssimo e no absoluto, tendo batido feras como Stephen Hall (Alliance) e Ben Baxter (Lovatos).

Para saber mais e participar, clique aqui.

A novidade fica por conta do Boston Internacional Open, mais um evento da IBJJF, que acontece em agosto.

Aguarde mais novidades e não deixe de lutar!