Photo: Erik Engelhardt

The fourth season of Copa Pódio in Jiu-Jitsu, which begins on January 9th at the Gymnasium Hebraica, in Rio de Janeiro, has all the ingredients to be the best in the history of the league. Each edition of Copa Podio, features new directions for the professionalization of the gentle art.

The greatest champion of the competition, and the only fighter to have fought GPs in three different categories, Leandro Lo, goes in search of not only defending his reign at the Lightweight Grand Prix, but also winning the Middleweight and Heavyweight titles in tournaments that will close the season of Copa Pódio.

Leandro Lo will make his farewell in the Lightweight category and will have the opportunity to go in search of the "Triple Crown", along with other participants from the Lightweight GP. The president of Copa Pódio, Jeferson Maycá, explained how the innovative system will work, which also awards some extra money to the Lightweights who have managed to reach the podium of the three categories throughout the season of professional Jiu-Jitsu league.

"The top three contestants from the Lightweight division will have the right to dispute the Triple Crown, that is, will be automatically qualified for the Middleweight Grand Prix, and if any of them gets on the podium in that category, they already ualify for the Heavyweight GP. The athlete, who reaches the podium during the three events of the fourth season, wins the Triple Crown, which will yield a cash prize and a contract with Copa Pódio," he said.

Leandro Lo was the Lightweight and Middleweight champion in the first season of the competition, and apart from defending the Lightweight title successfully in the second season, he has also snapped up the vice-heavyweight championship in the same year, defeated only by the giant Rodolfo Vieira. The fighter from São Paulo knows it will be a unique opportunity to win the Triple Crown and will spare no efforts to accomplish the feat.

"If I can win the Triple Crown it would be great. I have also found out that there will be a cash prize so I am training even harder to realize this achievement. I am super motivated! I am still holding back a little with my weight for the account of the Lightweight GP, but it will be good for me to move up the weight, because I have already reached about 85 kg in the past and it felt really good," said Lo.

Competing as Lightweight already from his purple belt, the champion ensures that he won´t miss the category that made him famous, but his idea is to make the best possible impression in his farewell. "My intention now is to fight in other categories and get heavier. I am 15 kg away from where I want to get to, and then it would no longer be practical if I kept going up and down in categories, therefore this will be my last Lightweight championship. I have fulfilled my role, as I fought with everyone at this weight. I am training hard to keep my title and I feel very excited, because it has been some time since I have fought as a Lightweight, and as it will be my last opportunity, I have an obligation to fight well and leave a good impression," he said.

Jeferson Maycá explained the decision to create the desired Triple Crown, especially for the lighter athletes: "The Triple Crown will be earned only by the Lightweights, because it is a category that is always diminished in the whole, because the weight difference ends up complicating the performance of these athletes. So I am giving this extra incentive to them," concluded the president.