The Copa Pódio promotion has released the first official event poster, featuring one of the most heavily anticipated matches of the night: the showdown between Leandro Lo, the big name from the first season, and Felipe Preguiça, the current absolute world champion at brown belt.

“The Heavyweight GP will be the final episode in the saga of Leandro Lo, the star of the first season of Copa Pódio, which started last summer and ends this summer,” says Jeferson Maycá, the director of the event. “The first time they faced off, in the Middleweight GP, they had a great, evenly matched match. Now Preguiça’s even more motivated. There’ll certainly be plenty of excitement for the fans,” he added, speaking to GRACIEMAG.com.

Regarding Leandro Lo’s absence from the heavyweight contest, a question raised by fans on Facebook and here on GRACIEMAG.com, the promoter provoked:

“Who know? Maybe he’s the big surprise for the final berth.”

Indeed, the final and mystery-veiled spot in the Heavyweight GP will be announced by the on the day of the groups draw, scheduled for November. Word has it that there’ll be a world champion filling it. But could that champ really be Leandro Lo?

Check out who’s currently on tap for the January Heavyweight Grand Prix:

Xande Ribeiro (Ribeiro JJ)

Alexandre Souza (Gracie Floripa)

Alexandro Ceconi (Ceconi Team)

Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo JJ)

Bruno Bastos (Nova União USA)

Caio Monstro (Nova União Ceará)

João Gabriel (Soul Fighters)

Léo Nogueira (Alliance)

Rodolfo Vieira (GFTeam)

A organização da Copa Pódio de Jiu-Jitsu apresentou o primeiro pôster oficial do evento, com um dos combates mais esperados da noite: o duelo entre Leandro Lo, o grande nome da primeira temporada, e o faixa-marrom Felipe Preguiça, atual vice-campeão mundial absoluto na graduação.

“O GP dos Pesados será o episódio final da saga de Leandro Lo nesta primeira temporada da Copa Pódio, que começou no verão passado e termina neste verão”, diz Jeferson Maycá, diretor do evento. “Na primeira luta de ambos, no GP dos Médios, eles fizeram uma grande luta, parelha. Agora Preguiça está mais motivado, certamente teremos muitas emoções para os torcedores”, completou, em papo com o GRACIEMAG.com.

A respeito da ausência de Leandro Lo na briga pelo título máximo dos pesados, questionada por muitos fãs no Facebook e aqui no GRACIEMAG.com, o organizador provocou:

“Quem sabe não é ele a surpresa da última vaga?”.

De fato, a última e misteriosa vaga do GP dos Pesados será anunciada até o dia do evento de sorteio dos grupos, marcada para novembro. Especula-se que vem aí um campeão mundial. Mas será mesmo Leandro Lo?

Confira quem já está escalado para o Grand Prix dos Pesados, marcado para janeiro:

Xande Ribeiro (Ribeiro JJ)

Alexandre Souza (Gracie Floripa)

Alexandro Ceconi (Ceconi Team)

Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo JJ)

Bruno Bastos (Nova União USA)

Caio Monstro (Nova União Ceará)

João Gabriel (Soul Fighters)

Léo Nogueira (Alliance)

Rodolfo Vieira (GFTeam)

Nova União USA team leader Gustavo Dantas and his gold medal from the American Nationals 2012 senior 1 featherweight division / Publicity photo

One of our most active GMAs when it comes to promoting tournaments and heading competition teams, Nova União USA’s Gustavo Dantas is gearing up to participate in the inaugural World Master and Senior Jiu-Jitsu Championship this October 7 in Long Beach, California. Excited about getting back into the mix as a competitor since his gold-medal winning return at the US Nationals last weekend, his exhuberantly equipped new school, as well as the upward trend in his Nova União competition team’s results, the Senior 1 featherweight spoke to GRACIEMAG about what he has up his sleeve for the near future. Here’s what he had to say:

GRACIEMAG – How did Nova Uniao do at the Nationals?

I’m very happy with the results, 17 medals from 23 competitors. We were only a few points behind the third place. We took almost fifty people from Arizona to compete at the Vegas Open, so our team ended up being smaller for the Nationals.

You are one of our busiest GMA members. How did your preparation for this tournament go, with so much on your plate?

In between Nova União USA, seminars, GD Jiu-Jitsu Events, my NPO Live Jiu-Jitsu (http://us.livejiu-jitsu.org/) and running my school, when I prepare myself for a tournament, I try to train twice a day five days a week, including strength and conditioning and swimming. I don’t care if I am competing for one single match at senior 1 or a tournament at adult division; I am going to train as hard for both. I believe confidence comes from hard work. When I am not able to prepare myself the way I need to due to my other duties or to injuries, I just choose not to compete. I am dealing with some injuries right now, but I will push one month more until the Worlds, and then I will take a break.

You opened your new Jiu-Jitsu Academy six months ago. How is the school doing?

Doing great! I was happy to compete at the Nationals, I was like: “Man, I’m living my teenage dream of having my own 100% Jiu-Jitsu academy, teaching, and competing at almost 38 years old. I am happy to be here competing and coaching”.

We have just hit 200 students, with a little over 40 kids. I put everything that I had in my life into my academy, and it’s paying off. We have a lot of good competitors, but we do have a lot of families who train together. The kids’ program is taught by my black belt Steve Rosenberg, and the women’s program is with my fiancée Kristina Barlaan.

Check out Gustavo’s signature overhead sweep, again used to good effect at the American Nationals:

What is your teaching philosophy?

When I was a younger, I always wanted to have my own team, train my students for competitions, and build champions. As I got older, I started to realize that Jiu-Jitsu goes way beyond that. Jiu-Jitsu taught me how to challenge myself, face my fears and anxieties through competitions, and helped me in the process to become a champion in life. My passion for training competitors is still intact, but with a new version: build champions on the mat and in life. That is what I want my legacy to be. An ordinary person who believed in his dreams, overcame a lot adversity, achieved his goal, and helped people to achieve theirs, which led me to start to discover another passion: studying about self-improvement, sports psychology and getting certified in mental coaching.

I want to make my family and friends proud that they knew me, that when I die, I will be remembered for my passion for Jiu-Jitsu, what I did for the Arizona Jiu-Jitsu community, and my interest in helping people to achieve their goals. Since I was a kid, I always craved for achieving things and me being able to help someone to achieve something meaningful for them makes me happy, and hopefully they can carry on, and help other people to go after their dreams. There is a reason why my students get good results: I give all my heart into coaching.

Any special thanks?

For sure to my sponsors AGGRO Brand; Living Canvas Tattoo in Tempe, Arizona; Origin Gi; FightertTech; Preferred Rehab; and of course all my training partners.

By Ryan Heilman

At the latest installment of the IBJJF Las Vegas International Open, Team Nova União kept the ball rolling from the good year they have been having; winning the Phoenix and Dallas Opens and coming fresh off of a second-place finish at the Rio Open just two weeks before. Acting quick, not to let the momentum stop, Nova União managed to pull off a close second place finish this year in Las Vegas.

The biggest assets of the team proved to be in the adult blue belt division: 18-year-old Alex Bacon won the featherweight division, while Aaron Wilson took the lightweight class, and representing for the females was Sarah Black, who not only won the middleweight division but also managed to grab top spot at open weight. All of them are strong contenders for the 2013 World Championships. Also, coming straight from his second-place finish at the International Masters and Seniors in Rio, Danny Alvarez traveled from Texas to take gold for the masters in the black belt, featherweight class.

Nova União’s U.S. leader, Gustavo Dantas, could not be happier with his team’s showing. “This is our third year in a row taking second at the Vegas Open. Every year we’re getting closer to first. We had nearly half of the competitors of the first place team, and we only lost by 16 points,” said the proud coach. With 65 competitors (50 of which coming from Dantas’s home state of Arizona, the rest from Texas, New York, Nevada, and Kansas) the team claimed an impressive 47 medals. Nova União plans to keep the strong results going through 2013 and is diligent about their goal of winning the World Championships once again.