Emmanuela Oliveira 
Another AJP Grand Slam title went to Cássio Silva, the master 1 black-belt, a Brazilian who lives in Paris, who is still on his mission to conclude 2024 without a single defeat. He was champion fighting in the -56 kg division at the Rio’s GS, which took place at the end of July. For Cássio, who has been in Europe for a few years now, fighting in Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro, is an opportunity that involves affection.
“Rio de Janeiro is my favorite place, I felt happy to go fight there. There are places we go out of obligation, but Rio de Janeiro is different. I went with a very calm mind, to enjoy the city as well. This is the third time I’ve fought in the Grand Slam Rio, I won in the last competition and this one too,” Cássio said after mentioning that he spent three months in the state before the competition, preparing at a GFTeam academy.
Two students from the School of Champs accompanied their professor to compete in Brazil
To compete in Rio de Janeiro, Cássio Silva was accompanied by two students from the School of Champs, a Jiu-Jitsu school that he coordinates in Paris, France. Cássio spends most of his time in this academy, whether teaching, training or managing the business at the school. Regarding the students who competed at ABGSRio, Cássio felt that his teaching has been yielding good results.
“I went with two students, a couple. One student had just earned his black-belt. He had three fights in the master 1 division, won the first two and was stopped in the quarterfinals against Thiago Macedo, the champion of the category. Since it was his debut, I thought it was very good. My other athlete had three fights too, got the submission, and curiously lost to Thiago Macedo’s wife in a tied match, a very tough fight. She just got her brown-belt and has been training with me since she was a white-belt.”.
“I don’t feel any difficulty”, Cássio affirmed about his opponents
Regarding his performance in the competition, Cássio told the VF Comunica team that he had two fights in total. As he is at the top of the ranking, he has a privileged position in the bracket, which allowed him to advance to the semifinals right away. The leader of the School of Champs spoke about confidence and how comfortable he feels when facing his opponents.
“I feel very confident. Nowadays, analyzing the guys in the division, I don’t feel any difficulty. The biggest problem for me is the opponents who like to stall the fight, which was the case in my final. These are always the biggest problems for me, because they don’t open the game. I’m a guy who likes to fight for real.”.
Cássio Silva’s glory at the Grand Slam in Rio was his fifth win during the circuit, a collection of gold medals from different countries. Later this year, he plans to visit Russia and the United States to win more Grand Slam titles from the same federation. The World Pro, the AJP’s global event, is a tournament that he is already targeting to end this cycle in the best possible way.
“I want to win my third World Pro title in a row, and I’m going in with total motivation. This year I competed a lot in the AJP and since I have several projects next year, maybe I’ll only compete in the World Pro. My main goal is to finish the season in first place in the rankings, in 2022 I came close. This year I want to go undefeated and take first place considering all the Master 1 divisions.”.
