“Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” – Napoleon Hill
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#TBT to the day I achieved my first life goal – become a Black Belt World Champion 🥋🥇 Back in these days & when I was a kid coming up, you hardly ever saw a non Brazilian on the Worlds Black Belt podium. In the first 10yrs of the World Championships, it happened only a handful of times (@bjpenn, @garthtaylorjj, @albertocrane, @robertdrysdalejj) After traveling to Brazil for the first time to compete in the Worlds, barely 16yrs old, in 1999, I made it a life mission to win a Black Belt World title. But being in Oklahoma, just my dad & I & our students, far from world class Jiu-Jitsu made it very tough. I never won the Worlds at the lower belts & there were plenty of times when I wondered if I was ever going to be able to do it…
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Things changed when Sensei Saulo @ribeirojiujitsu invited me to train with him & his brother @xanderibeirojj. I dropped out of college & ran up a pretty substantial credit card debt to travel & train with them consistently. I started to win more & more & I ended up doing what I never even dreamed of, becoming the first person to ever Grand Slam. (2007)
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I won this world title in the last seconds because I learned how to embrace my journey & my failures. I saw numerous people winning all the time & I wondered what made them better than me. I grew to understand that what made me special wasn’t any particular talent or skill, but that I always kept showing up & trying my best. No one ever expected a kid from Oklahoma to be the next 🇺🇸 Black Belt World Champion, but I refused to stop fighting for my dream.
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I went on to medal at the Worlds 8yrs in a row in 4 different weight classes. It used to eat me up that I never got a 2nd gold, but I’m very proud to have stood on that podium alongside the greats so many times, representing my country, & hopefully inspiring the next generations to go after their dreams despite any adversity standing in their way. Never stop fighting!!! 💪♾
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Thank you @ibjjf for sharing this special memory 🙏