Redação VF Comunica 
From Manaus’ generation of 1993, Manuel Ribamar is one of the most talented and most decorated athletes. On his resume, he has titles in the European, Pan American, and No-Gi World Championships.
A regular competitor since he was young, Manuel had to reinvent himself after seven years as a black belt. The motivation simply wasn’t strong enough, but that changed with the birth of “Laurinha”, his first child.
Now with the new member of the family, Ribamar tells that he felt enormous happiness in competing again. This time everything would have to be different though, so he took the necessary steps to ensure this change. The first step was to have a nutritional follow-up with Nathalia Chantre, in addition to having more training sessions during the week.
“The birth of my daughter was a game-changer in my career! I looked back and thought I could do everything differently. I want my daughter to be proud of me and be able to say one day that her old man was a world champion and a great athlete. My biggest goal today is to improve my performances until next year’s world championship, where I plan to be champion in my weight!”, reflects Ribamar, at 29 years old.
Last weekend, at the Austin Summer Open, Ribamar was the champion in the light-heavyweight division and absolute, winning the no-gi contests. Next, he tells how was the duel against Jaime in his journey for the no-gi gold.
“It was a tough fight with a lot of movement and strategy. Jaime has been competing a lot and, since I just returned to the fold, I really wanted to fight someone who is competing a lot, so I can feel where I am technically. Not only was it great to fight him, but it was also a rematch of the 2018 No-Gi Worlds, where I lost by the judges’ decision”, recalls the champion, who had 3 fights in total, winning two by submission.
Ribamar will fight again in the coming months and has plans to compete in the IBJJF no-gi tournaments as well.
