Copa Podio is only 19 days away, but things are already heating up between Erberth Santos and middleweight Grand Prix champion Leandro Lo. 

At the IBJJF Belo Horizonte Open on Saturday Erberth faced off with Lo’s teammate – NS Brotherhood’s Alex Aparecido – in the final of the super heavyweight division. Aparecido had beaten Erberth at the Sao Paulo Open shortly before Worlds, tapping out Santos with a triangle. 

Erberth went on to won the rematch in Belo Horizonte, and as you can see in the video below, pointed to and directly challenged Leandro Lo in front of everybody.

"Leandro Lo is one of my idols and he inspires me, and what I did was a challenge," said Erberth in a post on Facebook. "I said 'see you at Copa Podio', because we will fight on July 9 at the event. I'm sorry if I offended anybody, but I'm stoked that this match will take place and I think every jiu-jitsu fan is waiting for it too." 



"I don't like to talk, I'm a fighter and I prefer to fight," says Lo in an interview with GracieMag. "There are 10 guys there and we're going to go to war on July 9. We'll see who's who." 

 

Santos is one of the 10 competitors scheduled to compete in the Copa Podio Middleweight Grand Prix on July 9, of which Leandro Lo is defending champion. 

Lo seemed unfazed by Santos’s challenge but knowing him he’ll be even more fired up to defend his title in Buenos Aires. 

Remember you can watch the Copa Podio 2016 Middleweight Grand Prix exclusively here on FloGrappling. Watch it live on July 9!