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Cássio Silva: from painful defeat to recognition in Paris, France

As a purple-belt, Cássio Silva, now a black belt-based in Paris, discovered that he should dedicate 100% of his time to the sport

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Cássio Silva is in control of a flawless performance. For 2024, the plan is to remain at the top.
Cássio Silva is in control of a flawless performance. For 2024, the plan is to remain at the top. Image: @cassiosilvajj

The year was 2018. Cássio Silva, now a renowned black-belt in France, leader of the School of Champs, was a purple-belt, feeling all the adrenaline from participating in his first major competition of the season – the IBJJF Euros, held in Lisbon, Portugal. It was in fact as a purple-belt that Cássio, who discovered Jiu-Jitsu in French Guiana at the end of 2012, felt the strongest desire to make the sport a means of earning a living. The result of the 2018 Euros played a decisive role in this change of mentality.

In the first fight, Cássio Silva came face to face with Thalison Soares, now a black-belt representing AOJ, from the Mendes brothers. In the match, Cássio lost on points and saw his opponent’s arm raised. Disappointed, the purple-belt left the stadium crying. That day, it was his coach’s words that injected the dose of courage that Cássio needed to truly dedicate himself 100% to the sport.

“I started to have a lot of positive results in the purple-belt, due to my bigger dedication. I won several IBJJF Opens in Europe and dominated national competitions in that belt, but I was still involved in jobs to support my travels. I went to my first important competition in 2018 at the Euros, in Lisbon, and Thalison Soares was my first fighlt. I lost on points and left the stadium crying. My coach at the time, Matias, told me something that touched me a lot, he said: ‘all the preparation you did in two months, Thalison has been doing since he was 11 years old. If you want to beat guys like that, you’re going to have to do it 100%.’. I came home and quit my job. This happened in January. March 16, 2018, was the last time I worked outside of Jiu-Jitsu.”, he recalls.

Cássio Silva discovered Jiu-Jitsu after his first contact with MMA

When he started his career as a fighter, Cássio took the opposite path: generally, Jiu-Jitsu athletes are seen migrating to MMA. In his case, his introduction was in MMA and the deeper contact with Jiu-Jitsu came in an attempt to improve his ground game.

“I started Jiu-Jitsu ‘late’, at 20 years old, in French Guiana, with the French professor Anthony Albertini, that was at the end of 2012, beginning of 2013. After having started some MMA classes, I thought it would be good to improve the grounding game. After I took my first Jiu-Jitsu class, I focused exclusively on it.”, he said.

As a white and blue-belt, Cássio told the VF Comunica team that he competed hard, but did not achieve impressive results. “I was very combative and didn’t know how to win, I moved to Paris after only a year and a half of Jiu-Jitsu and in 2014 I stopped training because of work. When I returned, in 2016, I started to want to make a living from Jiu-Jitsu, I invested a lot of time and all the money I had into fighting.”, he remembered.

Cássio Silva celebrates grappling title in a CFJJB GP, the French Confederation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Cássio Silva celebrates grappling title in a CFJJB GP, the French Confederation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Image: @lunivers.athletics

Currently, Cássio Silva considers Paris his home and has been enjoying an excellent moment in his black-belt career, winning important titles and solid leadership of his team in France. The Euros, for example, mentioned at the beginning of the article, reserved another gold for him in this 2024 season. Even better is winning a title of this importance in Paris, a city that occupies a place of great affection in the athlete’s career.

“I was very well received here. Today, I want to do something big for the people here, I want to be able to help make French champions as a form of recognition.”, projected Cássio.

On May 18th, Cássio Silva has another challenge scheduled in France. He is on the main card of ADXC 4, which will take place at the Dojo de Paris. The black-belt will face Marko Oikarainen in a flyweight Gi match. Fighting at ADXC is an opportunity that Cássio was eagerly awaiting. Well positioned in the AJP rankings, this was an expected invitation, it was just a matter of timing. Cássio is looking forward to his debut fight in the organization and projects a victory in favor of the show.

“I’m very confident that I’ll finish in the first round. I was invited because of my results, without a doubt, but there was also the contribution of my residence in European territory, they couldn’t leave me out.”, he concluded, ready to take action next week.

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Written by Emmanuela Oliveira

Emmanuela Oliveira é faixa-marrom de Jiu-Jitsu e formada em Comunicação Social. Dentro do tatame, aprendeu que é possível conjugar Jiu-Jitsu, escrita e o gosto pelas artes visuais em um só pacote.

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