João Costa comemora vitória na final até 99kg, na seletiva do ADCC. Foto: Milena Maldonado/Divulgação

O faixa-preta João Costa está confirmadíssimo no ADCC 2022, em Las Vegas no mês de setembro. Dono de uma das melhores campanhas da peneira organizada por Mo Jassim em Balneário Camboriú, há duas semanas, o lutador da Fight Sports está empolgado para o evento principal, e falou das suas qualidades como competidor.

Dono de um vigor físico de impressionar e um wrestling afiado, João chega à sua melhor fase na carreira competitiva para procurar surpreender atletas mais experientes na busca da medalha de ouro no ADCC nos Estados Unidos.

“Acredito ter um wrestling muito bom para o Jiu-Jitsu”, avalia João. “É difícil me derrubar e consigo impor um ritmo de agressividade constante, que faz diferença. Hoje me sinto confortável jogando por cima e mesmo que não consiga passar a guarda, sei que é difícil me raspar. Mantenho a agressividade para poder abrir o jogo dos meus adversários. Mas se precisar também faço guarda (risos)!”

João falou sobre seus treinos e táticas para o evento em setembro: “Minha ideia é focar ainda mais no treino físico. Eu me senti bem, mas sei que lá o bicho pega ainda mais. Minha meta não é participar, é vencer o ADCC!”, dispara ele, que tem nove meses como faixa-preta.

João Costa na guerra pela vaga contra Ceconi. Foto: Milena Maldonado/Divulgação

Durante a campanha de ouro na seletiva do ADCC, João precisou medir forças com seu colega de time, Luccas Lira. Para ele, foi a parte mais difícil no torneio.

“Lutar com meu companheiro de equipe foi complicado, porque desde que ele chegou na Fight Sports a gente sempre foi muito próximo”, disse a fera. “Então sempre tive um carinho muito grande por ele”.

Na final até 99kg, João venceu Henrique Ceconi, e explicou o que fez diferença:

“Minha vontade de ganhar falou muito alto. Desde 2019, quando fui assistir ao ADCC, pus na cabeça que iria um dia participar desse evento. Poderia ser agora ou em dez anos, mas eu iria estar lá! Quando consegui ir à final eu sabia que era a minha chance. Em nenhum momento parei de atacar! E deu tudo certo”, vibra o novo astro.

Sem lutar no Brasil desde 2019, João destaca a principal mudança nesse tempo treinando Jiu-Jitsu nos Estados Unidos.

“Em agosto de 2019, lutei um campeonato de kimono no interior e me sagrei campeão e por coincidência meu pai também estava lá me assistindo, então o Velho tá me dando sorte! (risos). Com certeza hoje sou um atleta muito mais maduro e experiente. Provavelmente, a única coisa em comum entre mim e aquele João de 2019 é o coração, com uma vontade imensa de vencer!”, encerra o campeão.

João Costa is one of black belts from Roberto Cyborg. Photo: Milena Maldonado/Divulgação 

João Costa is as confirmed as it gets for the 2022 ADCC Worlds, scheduled to take place in September in Las Vegas. The owner of one of the best campaigns from the qualifier promoted by Mo Jassim in Balneário Camboriú two weeks ago, the black belt from Fight Sports is excited for the big one.

The owner of enviable physical vigor and a robust grappling game, João will be going in during the best phase of his career to fight for the gold medal in the biggest ADCC show ever.

“I believe I have very good wrestling for jiu-jitsu! Because it’s very hard to take me down, and I’m able to impose a pace of constant aggressiveness, which makes a difference! I feel very comfortable playing on top, and even if I can’t pass, I know it’s very hard to sweep me! I always keep up the aggressiveness to be able to open up my opponents’ game. But if needed, I’ll also play guard. [Laughs.] For the main event, I’m gonna focus even more on my physical training. I felt well, but I know that things get really competitive over there. The goal is to win the ADCC!” says João, who’s been a black belt for just over nine months.

During his golden run at the ADCC trial, João was forced to face his teammate Luccas Lira. He says that that was the toughest part of the tourney.

“Fighting my teammate was quite complicated, because ever since he first showed up at Fight Sports, we’ve always been very close! So I’ve always had great affection for him,” says João, who then goes on to analyze his win over Henrique Ceconi in the -99kg division.

“My desire to win spoke very loudly! Since 2019, when I attended the ADCC, I put it in my mind that I was going to one day take part in that event. I could be the next year or in ten years, but I was gonna be there! When I went into the final I knew it was my shot… At no point did I stop attacking or trying to get the fight going! Thank God it all worked out,” says the new grappling star.

Not having trained in Brazil since 2019, João points to the main change in this period of training in the U.S.

“In August 2019, I fought in a championship in the interior in the gi where I became champion and coincidentally my dad was also watching me, the old man’s been giving me luck! [Laughs.] Certainly today I’m a much more mature and experienced athlete. Probably, the only thing in common between those two athletes is the heart that has an immense desire to win!” he wraps up.

João was the best athlete at brown belt. Photo: Personal archive

João Costa, 27, had to overcome the pain of a chest injury when he was still in his second fight in the absolute brown belt division of the No-Gi Pan, which wrapped up last weekend in Dallas, Texas. The student under Roberto Cyborg would go on to fight twice more in his pursuit of the gold.

“I strained the left side of my chest in the middle of the fight,” said the Campinas native in a recent interview. “It hurt, but I was coming off a sequence of four fights prior, due to having won the heavyweight division. I got much stronger mentally after overcoming this challenge, and in the following fights I won with tenacity, intelligence and disposition.”

João went on to say how it felt to defeat his rival Adam Bradley (Atos) for the second time, since this wasn’t even their first No-Gi Pan final together. “Due to the fact that I had fought the same opponent at the No-Gi Pan of last year, it was the fight that left the biggest mark on me, because I already knew my opponent and knew it would be a tough fight. The fact that he went on about it online also made me hungrier for the win. I don’t like this type of thing; I’ve always respected all my opponents, but with him it was a little different. Because of this rivalry, a very good energy was created during the fight, where everybody was yelling and getting very excited from both teams.”

Now a three-time champion of the IBJJF’s No-Gi Pan, João also revealed the strongest aspects of his game, which is honed alongside the elite athletes of Fight Sports in Miami, Florida. “I like trading takedowns standing up; I feel that my wrestling is currently very sharp,” he said, adding: “I like passing but if I need to play guard, I’m ready. People train very hard here, and I feel that I’m evolving with every session. I’m excited for the future.”

The time João has spent with Roberto Cyborg, as expected, has resulted in many lessons learned. “One of the most important lessons, certainly, was about mindset,” João said. “He is the strongest person, mentally, that I have ever met. This made all the difference in my career. The way of looking at life, the way of overcoming an injury… Many things. What’s done is done; there’s no point in crying about it. What’s important is to continue working however you can.”

João finished up by commenting on the rise in the popularity of no-gi Jiu-Jitsu seen in the past couple of years. On whether the no-gi side of the sport can become more popular than classical BJJ, he said, “I don’t think the gi is going to lose its shine, but for sure no-gi is soaring right now. The competitions are growing more and more, so yes, it’s a possibility.”