Judo with a touch of MMA
Canto’s rival trained Jiu-Jitsu for 2 years to beat him
After a contusion that removed him from the Pan-American Games on July 21, Flavio Canto recuperates. Yesterday, upon returning to teaching class at the Rocinha center of Instituto Reação (“Reaction Institute"), with a sling on his right arm, the judoka received the crew from “O Globo". As conveyed by journalist Ary Cunha, Flavio spent four days locked in his home, taking morphine-based medicine to relieve the pain in his dislocated elbow, during the semifinal against Travis Stevens.
“I’ve gone through my days of mourning and now want to fight. For me, this Pan was like the Olympics. It was in my hometown, with lots of dear people to me watching. I am aware that I will never be in an atmosphere like that again during my career,” said Canto to the Carioca newspaper.
The influence of other martial arts was decisive in the Pan’s judo results, stated Ary, reporter for “O Globo” who covered judo at the Pan: “Wrestling to take Leandro Guilheiro down and our own Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to surprise Flavio Canto. When everyone thought Cuba would be the great rival, the United States’ team kept the unpleasant surprises for the Brazilian judokas (...)," wrote Cunha on the 22nd, one day after the two favorites for the gold suffered dramatic defeats to American athletes.
“I practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for two years in the USA. It was fundamental for my battle with Flavio Canto. It's just that I would have liked to have beat him in another way, without him being injured," said Travis Stevens, welterweight gold medalist (under-81kg).
Guilheiro fell victim to Ryan Reser’s counter attack in the lightweight (under 73kg) final and took silver. "He used a typical wrestling technique. Judo is democratic and I have to be prepared for that. It was an oversight on my part," admitted Leandro in "O Globo", further citing countries in Asia and Europe as examples of using other martial arts in judo. “The judokas of Mongolia, for example, use sumo techniques. The Russians use sambo to defeat their adversaries. The diffusion of these arts is changing judo."
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