Copa Podio 2014 Middleweight GP Results

Another great event from Copa Podio happened last night (22nd of November 2014). Thought with several stream issues, a historical problem with the promotion, the Copa Podio 2014 Middleweight Gran Prix itself had incredible matches from top to bottom.

Felipe Pena was crowned the king of the Copa Podio middleweight division once again, Preguica fought tremendously with incredible matches through and through, but there is a definite tribute to be paid to Luiz Panza who placed second in an amazing final match, one Panza lost in the final seconds. The former Marco Barbosa competitor, now with Checkmat had a fabulous performance last night with a exciting display of 50/50 guard, which he used to submit 4 out of his 5 wins. This year’s Pan American champion proved that the dreaded guard can be both entertaining and deadly.

The superfights went between the most incredible displays of jiu jitsu to the most boring match in recent history. If Tim Spriggs, ‘Hulk’, Gilbert ‘Durinho’ and Leandro Lo had great performances, ones that put spectators on the edge of their seats, especially Gilbert and Lo who had an all out war. The Joao Miyao vs Gianni Grippo fight, on the other hand, was a waste of an hour (yes an hour) of ‘leg spaghetti’ with Miyao insisting on staying on his back, even when he had clear openings to sweep and come on top. The fight was so painful to watch, that at one point one of my friends who was watching the fight with me said: “I wonder if Miyao gets bed sores?”. In the end Miyao took the victory because he had less penalties than Grippo (even though the score board had it the other way around). 4 penalties to 5, all for stalling.

Superfight aside (apologies for the rant), the Copa Podio event was a spectacular success with very good fights, showing that jiu jitsu really can be an entertaining sport. Below are the results on the card.

Copa Podio (Podium Cup) Results