Xande Ribeiro Poised To Finally Be The Stronger Man In 88kg ADCC Division
“Gi chip out, no-gi chip in,” says Xande Ribeiro. The veteran black belt, who made his ADCC debut in 2001, has no problem jumping from rule set to rule set. But the defining factor for the 2017 ADCC World Championships next month in Espoo, Finland, is that he will drop to -88kg.
“I always fought at 99kg, I always had to gain weight and eat a lot to get to 98kg," Xande says. "I always had great performances, but I always felt I wasn’t the stronger man. [Rafael Lovato Jr.] is huge now, he’s big, he’s confident. He always fought -88kg. It was always very sad to see him lose so much weight.”
There has been much talk of the -88kg division being the "group of death," with big names such as Leandro Lo, Romulo Barral, Gordon Ryan, Keenan Cornelius, Pablo Popovitch, Rustam Chsiev, Dillon Danis, Murilo Santana, and more entered to compete at ADCCs on Sept. 23-24.
It’s an amazing division, and I’m looking forward to going there and reclaiming my title. There are a lot of good guys there but I know exactly how to win that tournament.In addition to Xande, the Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu team will send Justin Rader (-66kg), Lovato (-99kg), Jared Dopp (+99kg), and Casey Hellenberg (+99kg).
“We’re gonna take over Finland for sure,” Xande says.