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Two training partners meeting on the mat.Drawn in cream, forest green, and muted terracotta. People and objects are symbolic illustrations.
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Cicero Costha

Cícero Costha taught children through PSLPB in Ipiranga, where Leandro Lo began jiu-jitsu at 14.

Biography

Cícero Costha is a black-belt jiu-jitsu instructor whose work is closely tied to Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem (PSLPB) in Ipiranga, São Paulo. A 2016 Jiu Jitsu Style account described him teaching jiu-jitsu to children in his impoverished community through the project. It gives his academy a concrete setting: children learning on mats rooted in their own neighborhood. Leandro Lo was one of the students who entered jiu-jitsu through PSLPB. According to the 2016 account, Lo arrived at Costha's academy at age 14 in 2003. A later memorial from the São Paulo Legislative Assembly also says Lo began at 14 through Professor Cícero Costha's PSLPB; it confirms the age and connection without supplying that year. The 2017 Graciemag report offers other examples from the academy: it names Paulo and João Miyao and Luiza Monteiro, alongside Lo, among the people Costha had trained at PSLPB. An affiliated academy's 2021 profile offered a wider view of the project at that time. It identified Costha as the head of the Ipiranga headquarters and described PSLPB as a social project where underprivileged young people could live and train. In that account, the academy was not only a training room. It also joined instruction to the practical question of where young people could stay while they trained.

Sources for this profile

  • Jiu Jitsu Style via War Tribe, “Inside Issue 34,” September 15, 2016.(opens in a new tab)

    • A 2016 Jiu Jitsu Style preview published by War Tribe describes Cícero Costha as a black belt taught by Rocian Gracie and Marco Barbosa.

      Where in the source: LEANDRO LO: STRIVING FOR MORE; sentence describing Costha as “a black belt taught by Rocian Gracie and Marco Barbosa.”

      Accessed:

    • The same 2016 account says Costha led Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem (PSLPB), taught jiu-jitsu to children in his impoverished Ipiranga community, and that Leandro Lo joined the academy at age 14 in 2003.

      Where in the source: LEANDRO LO: STRIVING FOR MORE; paragraph beginning “His road to stardom started in 2003” and continuing through the description of PSLPB and Costha’s teaching in Ipiranga.

      Accessed:

  • São Paulo Legislative Assembly, Requerimento nº 1754 de 2022, August 8, 2022.(opens in a new tab)

    • A 2022 São Paulo Legislative Assembly memorial states that Leandro Lo began jiu-jitsu at age 14 through Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem (PSLPB) of Professor Cícero Costha.

      Where in the source: REQUERIMENTO Nº 1754, DE 2022; Justificativa, item 2, lines 12–15 of the two-page PDF.

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, “Jiu-Jitsu: Os segredos da De la Riva, com Cícero Costha,” December 7, 2017.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag's 2017 report calls Cícero Costha the leader of PSLPB and says he trained Leandro Lo, Paulo and João Miyao, and Luiza Monteiro on its mats.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraph under “Jiu-Jitsu: Os segredos da De la Riva, com Cícero Costha”.

      Accessed:

  • Fuji Mats, “Avant-Garde BJJ,” October 15, 2021.(opens in a new tab)

    • A 2021 profile of an affiliated PSLPB academy says Cícero Costha led the headquarters in Ipiranga, São Paulo, and describes PSLPB as a social project that enabled underprivileged young people to live and train there.

      Where in the source: ABOUT THE SCHOOL; paragraphs beginning “Avant Garde Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Malta” and “The PSLPB is not only a great team”.

      Accessed:

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