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Claudio Calasans: ‘MMA Move for Challenge Not For Money’

Claudio Calasans: ‘MMA Move for Challenge Not For Money’

 

2015 will be a year where Claudio Calasans made history.

The Atos black belt has won two major titles: The IBJJF World Championship and the ADCC Open Weight gold medal.

In ADCC, Calasans came in as a underdog in the open weight class. Calasans usually competes at middle weight in the Gi, and is the lightest ever ADCC open weight champion.

Calasans was eliminated on the first day of ADCC, beaten on points by team mate Keenan Cornelius in the -88kg quarterfinals.

It was a tough loss that almost made him not sign up for the open weight the next day. He did sign up and ended up winning the open weight in a tough final against Joao Gabriel Rocha.

With Calasans being the open weight champion of 2015, he will have to face team mate and coach Andre Galvao in a 2017 superfight.

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Galvao defeated Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. The first prize for the winner is $40k so for that much money, they have no problem facing each other:

Claudio Calasans is another BJJ player to have his name speculated in the MMA world. At a time when many Jiu-Jitsu champions  are preparing for this transition, Calasans points out that he was against the idea, but lately he started warming up to it.

Calasans told Tatame:

“I do not rule it out before but I always said that I would not fight, but today I already think … It all depends on the proposal. If I’m happy to do that, I might fight, but nowadays I have this focus on moving to MMA. But it’s all about opportunity, if there is one, why not right? If I can train well, it might happen. “

For Calasans the financial aspect is not the most important:

“People speak of this financial issue, but for me it would be more a matter of challenge, to prove that I can give something more, show more stuff that champions are already showing. The financial aspect may be good, but for an established champion in Jiu -Jitsu, beginning an MMA career may not financially be so good … The financial part is good for those who already are at the top of MMA, but these guys make a nice money, but the beginning in MMA is equivalent to starting Jiu-Jitsu. So for me, it is a matter of challenging yourself, to prove to myself that I can always do more “