If you’ve watched Francisco Lo compete, you know that you can never take your eyes off his mat. The Cicero Costha black belt can end a match in the blink of an eye with his explosiveness and precise submission skills. At the 2022 Pan No-Gi, Francisco competed for the first time as a black belt in the US and he quickly made it known that he was a highly dangerous competitor. In his opening round match, he jumped over the seated guard of his opponent straight into a triangle, rolling to his back and finishing an arm lock. He would go on to place third at the major no-gi event, and then went to Katy, Texas to train alongside Matheus Gabriel and Samuel Nagai. He spoke about his experience training with the CheckMat aces.

“It was an incredible experience. I already knew Samuel and Gabriel from Manaus. I trained with Samuel as a blue belt. We were from the same academy! I learned many things. Between the three of us we have the same game, always looking for the finish. I learned a lot there. Not just jiu-jitsu, but also life experience.”

After the Pan No-Gi, Francisco competed at the Worlds No-Gi, the Absolute GP, and the Europeans. In addition to competing in his weight class he also competed in the open class in all of those events, a decision he felt helped him gain valuable competition experience as a black belt.

“For sure, I always liked to fight absolute. I got on well with bigger guys but I decided not to fight in the absolute after the Europeans because I want to mature my game at black belt. Maybe I’ll fight the absolute at the Worlds, I’ll think about it. The absolute helps you to have more fighting experience and that helped me a lot.”

Francisco will look to use his experience at the major championships and in the open class divisions against the #5 ranked medium-heavyweight in the world, Ronaldo Junior, in a super fight at the IBJJF FloGrappling GP. Ronaldo, who is known for his speed and tenacity while passing the guard, won the Pans, American Nationals, and Pans No-Gi in his first year as a black belt. In 2022, he took 3rd at the World Championships and has consistently hit the podium at the major tournaments. Despite Ronaldo’s success, Francisco remains focused on implementing his jiu-jitsu in the match.

“I don’t know much about him. I just know that he likes to use the lapel when he feels pressure. So I want to put all the pressure I have on him to come out with the win. He has a good lapel game, but nothing about it scares me or bothers me. I don’t know what to expect on his part, but on mine I can say that I’m going to get the submission as quickly as possible!”

You can watch Francisco Lo take on Ronaldo Junior on Friday March 3rd exclusively on flograppling.com. The event also features a men’s lightweight GP, a women’s heavyweight GP, and a 30 minute super fight between Tainan Dalpra and Isaque Bahiense.