Travis Stevens replaces Lovato in the middleweight GP. Photo: IOC

The level of talent in the second installment of Copa Pódio’s middleweight GP remains very high. With Rômulo Barral, Keenan Cornelius and Alexandro Ceconi already confirmed, the organization has now announced Travis Stevens as a replacement for Rafael Lovato Jr.

The event will mark Stevens’ return to Rio de Janeiro, where he took gold in the 2007 Pan. “I’ll be a real threat to the Brazilians in the GP,” said the confident Renzo Gracie Academy brown belt.

And he did prove a real threat even to elite Brazilian athletes as recently as last year when he defeated world No. 1-ranked fighter Leandro Grilheiro at the London Olympics, later taking fourth place.

“Travis Stevens’ Jiu-Jitsu is very high quality. Even as a brown belt, he was given the right to open a school bearing the Renzo Gracie name, as Renzo knows he has great talent. In Judo, Stevens got the best of every single Brazilian opponent at the major competitions. But in Jiu-Jitsu, how’s it going to play out? The answer will be known at the next Copa Pódio GP, and fans won’t want to miss it,” said promoter Jeferson Maycá.

The middleweight GP will be one of the attractions of the next edition of Copa Pódio, to be held in Tijuca Tennis Club on Sept. 8. Six spots remain open for the GP, and the organizers intend to announce who’s filling them over the next few weeks, as well as Leandro Lo’s adversary for the event’s superfight.

(From a press release.)

Montenegro’s Milena Knezevic taking a rear-naked choke from Angolan player Magda  during a handball game at London Olympics / Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters

Jiu-Jitsu isn’t yet an Olympic sport, but one of the style’s signature moves, the rear-naked choke, reared its head in London this Wednesday. In the handball match between the female national teams of Montenegro and Angola, Montenegrin player Milena Knezevic, 22, got caught in the hold by Angola’s Magda Cazanga during the game. At the end of the match, which Montenegro won by 30 to 25, Milena left the court on a stretcher.

Situations such as this one unfold with great frequency on the street or even in soccer games, for example. But how do you protect yourself in such cases?

“The squeeze is produced using the arms. One arm goes in across the front of the neck and the hand latches onto the bicep of the other arm. Now the other hand presses the head forward,” explained the black belt André Nogueira, a Bitetti Combat champion.

“As it was done kind of joltingly, it could have hurt the windpipe, neck or even her spine. If she’d known Jiu-Jitsu she’d have defended her neck by bringing her chin to her chest and turning her head in the direction opposite that of the hand that went in,” he added.

What about you, gentle reader, do you know how to defend against chokes from the back? No? Then it’s about time you learn some Jiu-Jitsu.

Check out some videos of how to escape from the unpleasant position.

1. Pagels and Marcio Correa teach standing rear-naked-choke defense 

2. Marcos Schubert teaches how to defend a choke from the back