Leandro Lo: King of BJJ

There are few who display the potential of modern jiu jitsu like Leandro Lo.  The Cicero Costha black belt is considered by many one of the pound for pound kings of jiu jitsu because of his ability to win in whatever weight class he enters and his ability to put on strong showings in absolute divisions.  Why is Lo such an effective and dangerous competitor?  How is he able to rack up wins the way he does?

Versatility

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of Leandro Lo’s game is his versatility.  The man is quite literally dangerous wherever he decides to go, and continues to be dangerous wherever the match may go.  He has take downs and sweeps at his disposal, and has an impressive submission game too.  He also happens to be very hard to submit, only having been submitted 7 times in his career as a black belt.

Both Guard and Top Game

When one looks at the trajectory of Lo’s career, the reason for his versatility becomes apparent: namely it was out of necessity.  During Lo’s early career he favored a guard heavy game, but after suffering an injury began to focus on a top game.  The result of this is a competitor who is dangerous no matter where the match goes.  If he winds up on top he is able to apply smothering pressure and utilizes a wide array of submissions, if he winds up in guard, he can sweep and submit as needed.

Element of Surprise

Another aspect of Leandro Lo’s game that makes it so unique and dangerous is his unusual choices of techniques.  He does specific things that may be counter-intuitive to most jiu jitsu practitioners, often zigging when people think he should zag and vice versa.  Unorthodox is the name of the game.  Lo has solid fundamentals and combines those fundamentals with an unusual and disorienting game.

Unpredictability

When you watch Lo’s competition footage, you can never quite predict exactly what he’s going to do next.  The choices of grips, the placement of weight, his game as an entire entity tends to defy common expectations, and the fact that expectations exist is exactly what Leandro Lo plays on to win battles, matches and championships.

Leandro Lo's Tactics

When you look at Leandro Lo’s BJJ Heroes page, certain things become apparent:

1. His favorite techniques are the Toreando Pass and the Spider Guard which means the guy likes to pass AND play guard.
2. He has competed between 164 and 194 pounds.   The guy is comfortable within a 30 pound spread of weights.
3. When he competes against opponents much larger than him, he holds his own, sometimes even winning.  He has beaten many noteworthy giants.
4. His is a game of finesse, timing, speed, and most of all technique.  He knows what techniques to use when and how to apply them in such a way that he wins.  And he does just that, he wins.  A lot.

As a versatile athlete and competitor, Leandro Lo has developed winning methodologies and tactics.  He has also developed ways to apply techniques for which his opponents are generally unprepared.  These combinations and permutations of techniques that many of us take for granted are why he is considered by a lot of people the pound for pound king of the current Jiu Jitsu scene.

Instruction from a Master

Recently, Leandro Lo put together a set of instructional videos explaining some of what he does.  He covers in detail many of the techniques and tactics that he has used with such great success.  Thought these techniques and tactics are fundamentally sound, they are extremely advanced.  They are complex and feature many moving parts all of which are necessary to make the techniques work.  Lo’s secret to success is in his complexity and dexterity.

Check out the tutorials and try them out. https://bjjfanatics.com/product/the-lo-guard-matrix-passing-4-dvd-set-by-leandro-lo/  Adopting Lo’s techniques is not an easy task, but it is well worth it.  They will give you the ability to frustrate opponents who are not familiar with the techniques.

You can pick up Leandro Lo’s tutorials here .  Be patient with these techniques as they are challenging, but ultimately rewarding.  Practitioners who have taken the time to learn them have seen great benefit from being able to use these advanced techniques and tactics in their jiu jitsu game.