Last week, Copa Podio announced their willingness to change the way they would deal with the lapel guard, the 50/50, heel hooks, and advantages in their events. Jeferson Maycá, the director of Copa Podio made a statement on the Copa Podio Facebook page, surrounding the controversy of the lapel guard:
“The lapel guard is not being banned from jiu-jitsu and far less from Copa Podio. We are simply stipulating a limit to the amount of time a fighter can maintain this position before having to penalize him for using it to tie the fight up. This is not the case of Keenan Cornelius.
I still don’t really understand all the fuss, as Copa Podio is a professional event and any alteration to its rules only affects the fighters that compete in the event.
With or without the lapel guard, I am very fond of Keenan Cornelius and the only reason he is not in Copa Podio is through his own choice. Last year, he dropped out of the Middleweight GP due to ADCC and I was really upset as I am certain that he will have many ADCCs in his career , but the possibility to see him as champion of Copa Podio as a brown belt is something we will never have.
Whatever the case, I am sure he would be a huge threat to the throne of Felipe Pena in the Middleweight GP (86 kg/189.6 lbs) at Copa Podio.”
