Flávio Canto is a Brazilian judo champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, who won the bronze medal in the – 81 kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. He previously competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Canto won three medals in a row at the Pan American Games: 1995, 1999 and 2003. he is known for his high level ground game and there are many stories of him having dominated many BJJ champions on the ground in training.  

Apart from also being a BJJ black belt, Flavio Canto is also a fan of Jiu-Jitsu. He recalled to Tatame about the time he watched the Mundials in 2001, at Tijuca Tennis Club in Rio De Janeiro, where he accompanied his training partner Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro, who was the favorite to win the worlds that year. However, another beast of Jiu-Jitsu was in his way: Fernando Tererê , who the judoka admires. The match ended in favor of the Nova União athlete, Shaolin but for Flavio, another factor called the attention of the Olympic medalist:

“The crowd was really noisy. I was impressed with the suporters of Tererê. The fans of Alliance and the Cantagalo  favela came in mass to support him. It was a spectacle. This was a great time for Jiu-Jitsu.”

In this interview with mixedmartialworld.com , he talks about Judo in Brazil, and his training BJJ:

“What are some of the major differences between Judo in Brazil and Judo in the rest of the world?

FC: Judo in Brazil is highly respected by media because of its good results. No other sport has so many Olympic medals as judo around here. That makes people think of it as a victorious sport in Brazil. That is something that doesn’t happen in so many places (Japan, Russia, France and Korea). Because of that a Judo player that achieves good results in the national team has great chances to be able to live out of Judo, at least while he is an athlete. We have sponsors and an organized Federation. Maybe another important difference is that we are a country traditionally very fond of martial arts. We have Capoeira, BJJ, top fighters in MMA… Almost every kid has already practiced a martial art and the Judo players are able to bring some of other martial arts techniques in their game.

You have one of the best ground games in judo. How does it compare to BJJ guys and have you worked your Ne Waza with BJJ guys to develop?

FC: I have always loved Ne Waza and my Judo school, with Geraldo Bernardes, gave a big importance to the ground game. We trained it everyday. I also had the privilege to train all my life with Paulo Caruso, a great BJJ coach. Where I lived we had many friends from BJJ and we trained together pretty often. I fought two tournaments in BJJ, I won both – a State Championship and a National Championship – and after that I realized,  that it would be better to keep on training with everyone even if I didn’t compete BJJ tournaments anymore. In that same year I won the national Judo trial and the president of the National Federation by then told me that I should focus only in Judo tournaments. As my main goals were all in Judo I followed in the “Olympic trail”.”