Outside Source
Last Sunday, Brazil’s Gustavo won the Rizin lightweight title in Japan by knocking out Ilhom Nazimov at 2:08 of the first round. The emotion of the disciple of former Chute boxer Andre Dida caught the attention of Japanese fans. Upon receiving the belt from Rizin head Nobuyuki Sakakibara, he cried profusely and made a point of dedicating the title to his late father and the former Pride Fighting Championships great Wanderlei Silva.
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Back in his home state of Curitiba on Wednesday, “Killer” spoke to Sherdog about the victory and explained the importance of these two figures in his career.
“My father passed away when I was 12 years old, and the last thing he did for me, the week before his death, was to enroll me in a Karate academy,” Gustavo explained.
Karate training was essential for the boy to work through the trauma of seeing his father killed at his doorstep, transforming the anger not into an instinct for revenge, but into a gigantic desire to become a champion and be a source of pride for his father, “Wherever he was.”
By excelling in Karate training, Gustavo was taken to coach Dida, who realized that in addition to talent, this youth had such a strong focus on becoming a champion that it forced the coach to want to restrain him.
“He always had a great desire to learn and an extreme work ethic,” Dida revealed. “So much so that my biggest problem with him was always making him understand the importance of recovery. When I found out about his father, everything made sense.”
Gustavo’s rapid evolution in ground fighting led Dida to allow his pro debut at the age of 18 inside of Parana’s Nightmare Arena. The youngster prevailed by submission.
Between 2015 and 2017, Gustavo fought seven more times in events in Parana and won them all by stoppage. Thanks to his aggressiveness and killer instinct, in the image and likeness of his idol Silva, “The Axe Murderer,” Luiz received the nickname “Killer” from his master Dida.
One little push
At 22 years old and with eight wins on his record, Luiz couldn’t wait to have an opportunity outside of Brazil. It was two weeks before Rizin 12 that Bruno Carvalho, who was supposed to face the experienced Yusuke Yachi in the main event, got injured. Coach Dida, even knowing the risk of having his athlete debut against a Shooto and Pancrase veteran with 25 fights, decided to offer him to the Japanese event, which unfortunately refused. That’s when Silva, who knew the history of “Killer” well, decided to step in.
“The Japanese wanted someone more experienced for the main event, so Wanderlei told Dida, ‘You can say I’ll go with him.’” Faced with the possibility of having the Pride FC legend at the event for free, the Rizin staff didn’t think twice. Gustavo reciprocated his idol’s gesture with a brutal knockout of Yachi and sealed his contract with the Japanese event.
Eight years and eleven fights later, “Killer” finally won the belt and, for obvious reasons, made a point of thanking his two heroes on the microphone for their attitude, which was fundamental in helping him achieve his dream.
“I worked so hard! I don’t go out at night, I don’t do drugs, I only live for the sport,” Gustavo explained his behavior after the fight. “I had some defeats in my career, but none was greater than the loss of my father, so every time I lost, I picked myself up and trained harder because I knew that, with hard work, one day I would get there, and thank God that day came, which is why I got so emotional.”
Asked to choose one of the four opponents who beat him in Rizin—Mikuru Asakura, Patricky Freire, Roberto Satoshi de Souza and Shunta Nomura—for a rematch for his belt, in his first defense, the champion didn’t think twice.
“Thank God I wasn’t hurt and I’m ready for whoever Rizin decides, but if I could choose, it would undoubtedly be Nomura. Our fight was decided by a headbutt he gave me, unintentionally, but it opened a cut that led the referee to stop the fight. I would really like to fight him again,” the champ vocalized.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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