Issue 061
April 2010
Ricardo Almeida was a fan-favorite in Japan before many people in the USA even knew what MMA stood for. Then, riding a six-fight win streak that had seen him beat Nate Marquardt and become the middleweight King of Pancrase, he chose to retire and promptly disappeared off the radar, only to resurface in 2008 when he signed with the UFC.
The Brazilian will make his welterweight debut against the dangerous Matt Brown on UFC 111, held in his home state of New Jersey. We caught up with Almeida to find out about the mystery retirement, the drop in weight and where he got his famous nickname.
FO: Ricardo, you have been fighting jiu-jitsu since you were young, and won multiple competitions. How did the decision come about for you to start MMA, and how was that transition?
RA: There was really no plan on doing it. I had moved here to the US to help Renzo [Gracie] out with his school. I was competing all over the world doing jiu-jitsu and submission grappling. Whenever Renzo would fight MMA, I would travel with him to help him train for the fights and help corner him.
I was in Japan with Ryan, Renzo’s brother, for Pride. One of the Brazilian guys that was supposed to fight got hurt, so they were going to call somebody to take his place and I was like, “I am already here; I’ll do it!” I really had no idea of what I was getting myself into. I ended up winning that fight [against Akira Shoji, Pride 12, Dec 23, 2000].
That was around the time that Zuffa was buying the UFC. Dana and Lorenzo came to Renzo’s academy, trying to get Renzo to fight for the UFC. Renzo sent me and Matt to fight there. My very second professional fight was already back here in the US with the UFC. But like I said, there was never a plan for me to make the transition from jiu-jitsu into MMA. I had to learn pretty quickly to do all the other things.
FO: After a series of wins, you decided to quit in 2004 in what many believe to be your prime. Why did you decide to stop?
RA: I was fighting, and I was happy and it was a great time. I had six wins in a row, but I wasn’t really happy with where my school was. I was fighting in Japan, so every time we had to travel and be away from home. It’s not like everyone got to see the fights – sometimes it was on TV, sometimes it wasn’t. The state of MMA as a whole wasn’t where it is now. Remember that this was pre-The Ultimate Fighter.
With my wife being pregnant with our second kid, I just started to think long term, and I just didn’t see any sustainability with what I was doing. I knew that what I wanted to do with my school, I wouldn’t be able to do it while a fighter. Thinking about my family, my students and my school, I decided to retire from fighting and just focus on my school. We were able to build one of the biggest jiu-jitsu schools in the world, and impact the whole community in a positive way.
FO: Then, in 2008, you decided to come back in and fight professionally again. How did this decision come about?
RA: One day I just looked around and saw The Ultimate Fighter. There I saw Diego and Koscheck, these new, younger guys. Takedowns, submissions, punches, kicks – just doing everything. I really thought I was having a glimpse of what MMA was going to look like in 20, 50 years from now – fighters who are not pretty good, but very, very good at everything. I just couldn’t watch this whole technical development happening in MMA and not be a part of it. I am still debating whether it was the best choice, but I am here and I am really having a good time.
FO: How did the move to the drop in weight come about?
RA: I had an injury last year, a sports hernia, so I can’t really lift weights. I’ve dropped six to eight pounds in my walk-around weight. Georges [St Pierre], we train together at Renzo’s school, he asked how much I weighed. I think I was 191lb back then. He looked at me and said “Ricardo, do you know Anderson Silva walks around, like, 220?” He said “Are you crazy? How could you even think about fighting 185lb?” He was definitely a motivator, telling me to go to 170lb.
FO: You mention GSP. You are going to be in the same category as him. Would you fight each other?
RA: Right now we’re teammates. It’s not something I think about. He is the champion. He is the best and most dominant welterweight ever. I just wanna fight the best guys in the world, but right now we’re just teammates.
FO: Finaly, where did you get the nickname ‘Cachorrao’, meaning ‘Big Dog’ in Portuguese?
RA: The lifeguards in Brazil gave me this nickname before I started training jiu-jitsu. It was actually a character from a Brazilian soap opera – I guess he was kinda like a Michael Corleone. It was just because of surfing at the beach – I was always organizing barbecues and soccer games and sometimes kicking people out of the water, so they started calling me ‘Big Dog’.
Ricardo Almeida spoke with Dan Rod
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