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 world champions on the ground in training.
Canto was also a Brazilian National BJJ champion at purple belt. Canto stated
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”.”
In 2004 there was talk of organising a grappling superfight between Flavio Canto and Ronaldo Jacare (then world bjj champion, who also had a strong Judo background). The project never came to life.
Canto is regarded by many as the judoka with the best ground game (newaza) in the world.
Who are the Judokas with The Best Ground Game?
Today retired from the mats, time and again the Judo ace wears his kimono and puts his skills into practice. This December he visited the renowned Kodokan judo school in Tokyo, Japan. Canto did a loose training session against Yuka Osumi, the Japanese national champion black belt.
You can see that Canto rolls more like a BJJ player, going inverted, using tornado rolls, leg drags, X Guard and even places his infamous Canto Strangle:
