Rising from the Slums
In Brazil, where an estimated 50 million people live in favelas, or slums, it’s common for a child to dream of changing his or her life through sports.
In years past, kids have aspired to follow in the footsteps of soccer idols like Romário and Ronaldo, both of whom were born in the Rio de Janeiro favelas. Nowadays, the popularity of mixed martial arts in Brazil and the growth of its international market have attracted more athletes from these poor communities who aim to become the next Wanderlei Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira or Anderson Silva.
Growing up in Vila Cruzeiro at the Complexo do Alemão, the most violent favela of Rio de Janeiro, Andre Santos never lost sight of his goal to become a champion. Violence, a lack of money and the tempting proposals of drug dealers constantly knocked on his door, and Chatuba had to fight hard to avoid the criminal element. Today, he’s considered one of the biggest revelations in Brazil’s 183-pound division.
“I was born and raised with many guys who went towards the wrong life, but I chose the path of being an athlete while they chose another way and I respect them,” says Chatuba, who began training in the style of Luta Livre, or “free fight,” thanks to a social project organized by Marcio Cromado Barbosa, founder of the RFT team. Chatuba was one of 120 local children who trained for free under Barbosa and one of his students.
Before accruing his impressive 13-1 record, Chatuba honed his craft at RFT’s headquarters in the distant Botafogo district.
“Many times, I had to cancel traveling to my training because of confrontations between the police and the criminals close to my house,” says Chatuba. “I felt like I was in a war zone. Young men who live here must have the will power to not succumb to drug dealers’ offers and follow the wrong path. I saw many friends who trained with me surrender. Today, many of them are dead or in jail.”
Chatuba’s idol is UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, a man the young fighter hopes to emulate by breaking into the competitive ranks in the U.S. or Japan.
“Anderson Silva had many difficulties, and today he can offer his family a better life by being a fighter,” says Chatuba. “My dream is to fight in the U.S. or Japan and earn money to live better.”
The Heroes of Santo Amaro
“I am Spider Man, you are Marlon and he is Hacran.”
In the slums located on the hillside of Santo Amaro, a district close to downtown Rio de Janeiro, children usually play by mixing the heroes of fiction with their real-life counterparts. That’s a fair comparison. After all, their heroes fight and defeat everyday villains, like hunger and violence.
To achieve his comic-book status among children in the community, Marlon Sandro had to break down many barriers. Raised without a father, Sandro tried soccer. However, at the age of 13, he found his true calling when his uncle brought him to Flamengo to train, and he knocked out a boy named “Capeta” on the field.
“Everybody was afraid of the guy,” recalls Sandro.
A life in fighting was still a few years away, though.
Working in a business office, the 17-year-old Sandro was introduced to Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend and Nova União team founder André Pederneiras through his friend, Hudson. Though Hudson put Sandro on the right track, he did not live to see his friend’s success. With the support of Pederneiras and fellow fighter Rafael Carino, Sandro persevered and, in addition to amassing his unblemished 14-0 record, he opened a place that has offered free lessons to the children in his community since 2003.
“I want to give them the opportunity that I have not had,” says Sandro, who supplements the rent by working as a lifeguard.
Sandro, who has enjoyed two recent wins in World Victory Road’s Sengoku featherweight tournament in Japan, notes that his program has prevented many children from turning to a life of drug dealing.
“It took many children away from crime life, but I lost a boy who I thought would be a phenom. The kid ended up being murdered,” says Sandro.
Sandro’s cousin, Hacran Dias, and Eduardo Dantas, called “the young devil” in the ring, are two of the undefeated fighter’s most promising students.
Follow the leader
Hacran Dias started fighting at the age of 18.
“I always tried to follow the path of Marlon, never went to the other side and always wanted to have the opportunity to train with Nova União,” says Dias, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt.
At first, Dias had to juggle his training with odd jobs.
“Sometimes, I wouldn’t eat lunch so that I could leave earlier and get to training in the afternoon -- I was sure of what I wanted for my life,” says Dias (11-0-1), who made his Japanese debut against Takafumi Ito in the Pancrase promotion on March 26.
Sandro’s other standout pupil, Dantas, is already internationally recognized. Born in Santo Amaro, Dantas started training jiu-jitsu when he was 13. Thanks to his innate talent for fighting, he was training MMA with Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro and the entire top team of Nova União by age 18.
That year, Dantas won his first fight against Luta Livre black belt William “Parrudinho” Porfirio and then defeated two other black belts. Only 19, Dantas is ranked No. 1 in Shooto Brazil and has even tasted victory in Japan’s Shooto organization.
“Today I live 100 percent for MMA,” says Dantas, who idolizes Wanderlei Silva. “Unfortunately, I’ve only fought two events this year; I would like our country to have more events like in the United States and Japan. I want to fight, and when I stop, I want to teach jiu-jitsu and MMA.”
Milk from the Ring
While many fighters divide their time between work and the training academy, Julian “Jabá” Soares supports his two children, Julian, 4, and Milena, 9, solely through his MMA earnings. It wasn’t always that way for the Barbosa-trained black belt.
A resident in the Babilônia favela in Copacabana, Jabá previously balanced his training at RFT with a job delivering newspapers.
“I woke up at midnight every day and worked up until 7 a.m. delivering newspapers; then I went straight to my cardio class at RFT, trained and went back home to take care of my children,” says Soares. “I just slept a little, from 7 p.m. until midnight.”
This strenuous routine, repeated Monday through Saturday, only increased Soares’ competitive determination. In fact, one day he took his children to one of his fights in the Rio das Pedras slum when he had no one else to care for them.
“Knowing that my children were there watching me increased my appetite to win,” says Jabá. “I came in the ring to kill or to die.”
Soares knocked out his opponent and then embraced his crying children in the center of the ring.
With the same calmness he exhibits in competition, Soares faced the war with drug dealers who brought terror to his community in June 2007.
“From 7 p.m. on, there were rifle shots all during the night, but the walls of my living room are very thick. We slept in the living room, and we stayed quiet until the noise ended,” he says.
When asked which fighter he most admires, Jabá named UFC veteran Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares without hesitation.
“Not because of the belts won (Palhares won the Fury Fighting Championship’s middleweight title in 2007), but for his simplicity and the obstacles that he has overcome,” Soares says. “He is an example for us all. I’m sure that he will be champion.”
Soares, who has won eight fights between 170 and 176 pounds, will soon make his debut at 154.
Like Soares, Brazilian Top Team black belt William Porfirio also has two children for which to care.
“I work vigilantly for my tips as a taxi driver, because I can’t get the milk for the children with just MMA,” says Parrudinho, who lives in the favelas of dos Macacos, an area north of Rio de Janeiro.
The violence in Porfirio’s favela took the life of the teacher who’d introduced him to fighting.
“I started with him at 16 years old,” he says.
Shady Promoters
Anyone who saw Hollywood’s super-produced film “The Incredible Hulk” could get an idea of the dimensions of the Rocinha favela, the largest in Latin America with some 120,000 inhabitants. In the movie, Bruce Banner lived there while he was hiding out in Rio de Janeiro.
Only aerial images showed the real Rocinha, because the scenes of persecution in the film had to take place in another favela -- one of the few in Rio where the power of drug dealers is not so great. In Rocinha, as well as many of the 730 other favelas in Rio dominated by drug dealers, it has become increasingly difficult to hold an event that does not first have to meet the approval of the criminals. Still, MMA thrives.
Fascinated by vale tudo -- which attracts more practitioners in Rocinha every day -- the drug dealers decided to promote the Rocinha Fight event on Aug. 2. Before the event, media professionals were asked by one of the organizers not to take pictures of the VIP area under any circumstances. There, near the ring, sat the favela “owners.”
The show went off without incident. No gun-toting drug dealers were seen, but the event produced some questionable moments. After being knocked out, a local fighter received a “second chance” and eventually submitted his opponent with a guillotine choke.
The favela in Rio das Pedras may be one of the few not dominated by drug dealers, but the “militias” -- ex-policemen who charge residents a fee for blocking the entry of drug dealers -- promote their own MMA events. Eduardo Pachú was the great name behind two shows held there. Thanks to his impressive victories, he was catapulted into the Fury Fighting Championship lightweight tournament, which, in turn, could lead to international opportunities.
“I believe more events will emerge in Brazil, in the favelas and other places,” Pachu says. “We have many talented people but only a few events for them.”
With so many athletes living in communities, it seems only fair that more opportunities would come their way. However, events organized by militia and drug dealers carry a lot of baggage with them. Ultimately, the sport can only lose with such shady promotion.
submitted after brutal leg kicks left him nearly immobile. The bout was on the preliminary card, but made its way on the televised broadcast at UFC 92.