Sal Mora sent along the following:
August 15, 2007. In a hot summer day in San Diego, California, as Kid Peligro walks into UNIJJ at noon, Saulo Ribeiro has the doors closed and the fans off, raising the temperature into the already HOT dojo to semi-unbearable temperatures as he leads his troops into another grueling session as they prepare for another historical event: the 2007 Worlds, held for the first time outside of Brazil! Under these extreme conditions, no one complains as the session goes on for over 2 hours. In the end everyone is exhausted but with a purposed look in their eyes. Soon Saulo will lead his troops to the mats at the Long Beach State U. as he returns to compete in the Worlds (BOMB #1) , 2 years after retiring from these same mats when he finished 3rd in the Absolute division.
In his corner, the new leader will have amongst other, his brother and Current World Absolute Champion “Xande” Ribeiro, current Brazilian National Champion Rafael Lovato Jr, former World Absolute Brown Belt Champion “Pezao” Magalhaes, current World Masters Champion Regis Lebre, multiple times ladies World Champion Leticia Ribeiro, Paulo Guillobel, Jorge Brito, Pan-Am Champion Brown Belt Leo Santos and many, many other top fighters.
Only last weekend Saulo took Xande, Lovato and Leo Santos to compete in the Nikkei Cup, a judo tournament held at this same Pyramid, in Long Beach. Everyone in the group won their division Ippon after Ippon. Now the work is almost done. The lesson wasn't lost and Saulo remembers it well. He once told me as he prepared for one of his multiple titles: “Everyone wants to be a Champion, but no one wants it more than I. I have trained harder than everyone and have sacrificed more than most and someone is going to have to pay for this!”
Of note, in the group, training hard with the Gi and more than holding his own was U.F.C. Star Diego Sanchez (BOMB#2). Diego is now part of UNIJJ and at this point is helping the team prepare for the Worlds while they help him prepare for his next U.F.C. Battle. Diego has been a presence at the academy and his work ethic fits perfect with this group, be it during Gi class, Alvaro Romano's Ginastica Naturals class of the MMA training Diego is the picture of dedication and concentration and fits in with everyone here.
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