My Story

Since I was a kid I’ve always been into athletics and sports. Throughout school, but three years that I went to Military School, I played competitive basketball and soccer. In Military School they didn't support any kind of competitive sport so between my Junior High and Freshman year I had no other option but to quit playing both.

 Not playing sports took a toll on my confidence, for I went from being an active to a sedentary kid. It made me feel angry, empty, and depressed so to mitigate those feelings I ended up compensating with food. By the end of Junior High I found myself overweight and with a low self-esteem. It was then when I realized that the trade off wasn’t worth it and I was the only one who could change my situation. 

My world changed when I came closer to Martial Arts at the age of 16, the first year I left Military School, through one of my best friends. He had invited me and some other friend to come over to his gym and give Jiu Jitsu a try. At that time Jiu Jitsu was a big trend in Brazil and most kids of my age wanted to be known as a “Jiujiteiro”.

I still remember how I felt on that day when most of the guys, same age as I, on the mat dominated me. I left that trial class feeling so intrigued by how easily one could submit a much bigger or stronger opponent just by knowing how and when to apply the proper technique that I fell in love with the infinite possibilities of the art and before I'd even realized it, I was hooked into Jiu Jitsu.

At first, I didn't really enjoy rolling with the other guys so all my effort went into conditioning and on practicing drills. Since I didn’t know how to put the techniques together, for me, roll time was synonymous with getting smashed on the mat. And, who likes that?  After a while I realized that the more I trained the better I got, so this realization alone gave me enough motivation to keep training and the understanding that the results would come sooner or later.

After three months into training my Head coach gave me the nickname “Tractor” for, he said, it reflected my offensive style on the mat. I then entered my first tournament to compete as a Team in which each member had just one match. The Team lost, but I won my very first match. As a result, my confidence grew exponentially and so did my Jiu Jitsu. Roll time was now fun, it was a time which I looked forward to at every single practice.

From White to Brown belt I came to win several tournaments in the state and within the Northeastern Region of Brazil. After eight years dedicated, exclusively, to the art of Jiu Jitsu I felt the urge to take on a new challenge and also wanted to test my skills inside the cage. In 2004, after fighting the Jiu Jitsu World Cup in Brazil as a purple belt which earned me the brown belt, I decided to make the transition to Mixed Martial Arts.

My first MMA fight came with one month notice at the end of 2004, a few months after I got my brown belt. A teammate wasn’t able to fight so I stepped in and accepted the offer. My opponent already had a 4 - 0 record and he was well known in the region for being a fearless fighter. The experience was wild, I’ve never felt so nervous as on the day of that fight. The first round was 10 min. round followed by two rounds of 5 min. each. It was hard but I won that fight by TKO in the first round at the 9’45” mark.

The 2nd and 3rd MMA events I participated in were more like tournaments. To become the champion one had to fight up to three different opponents on the same night and each fight was of two rounds of 5 min. each. The winner of a fight would then move up to face the next opponent. The first tournament, I won my first fight by TKO in the first round but lost the second fight by submission in the second round. The second tournament I won the two fights by unanimous decision.

It was then with a record of 9 - 1 and having  built a reputation in my home state when I realized that if I wanted to pursue a career as an MMA fighter I had to step up my game and go after bigger challenges. In the year of 2007 after having earned my black belt under Marcos Vale I left my family in Brazil and came to the U.S with $1.000 in my pocket and a dream to fight inside the most famous octagon in the world, the UFC.

Within three months living in the U.S I was invited into BJ Penn’s camp in Hawaii to help him prepare to fight Joe Stevenson for the UFC 80 - Rapid Fire on Jan. 2008 and then, against Sean Sherk for the UFC 84 - Ill Will on May 2008. Both camps were an amazing experience for me, from Monday to Saturday all I did was eat, train,  and sleep then repeat all over again. Those camps were no joke, it was hard work day in and day out. However, it boosted my confidence in my abilities and pushed me to work even harder. 

My dream came true in September of 2009, two years after stepping on US soil, when I signed my first contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to fight on the UFC 103 - Franklin vs. Belfort against Nick Lentz. He was a tough opponent, the fight could go either way for any of us, but unfortunately the judges gave the victory to my opponent by unanimous decision. After that fight, I signed seven more contracts with the UFC to fight some of the very best fighters in the world like Edson Barboza, Gleison Tibau, John Gunderson, Yoislandy Izquierdo, and Yves Edwars. 

Fast forward to 2014, after being part of some of the largest UFC events in history, including UFC 148 - Silva vs. Sonnen II, and UFC 170 - Rousey vs. McMann, and at the same time being hunted by many injuries, I’ve made the decision to retire from MMA. It was a tough decision but my body wasn’t healing fast enough for me to keep up with the high intensity training demanded to compete at such a high level.    

Since then I’ve switched my focus back into Jiu Jitsu and if not training or competing in tournaments I spend most of my time teaching others the skills that have taken me a lifetime to acquire. Martial Arts is what I’m passionate about and what makes me come alive. I look forward to passing on my knowledge to others for as long I’ll be able to.

Oss,

Rafaello Oliveira.