Renato

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This page is dedicated to all the Babalu fans out there. Im not Renato Babalu Sobral. Just a big fan.I do not in any way shape or form speak for Babalu and the information herein is strictly based on what is available to me via the internet.Renato "Babalu" Sobral-Da Cuinha is a mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil, currently fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a member of the Gracie Barra Combat Team with a professional MMA record of 28 wins and 7 Losses,with 14 victories coming by way of submission. Some of his notable achievements include defeating notable fighters Trevor Prangley, Mauricio Rua, and Jeremy Horn in a single night at IFC tournament Global Domination.Sobral's background is in wrestling. Before joining the Gracie Barra Combat Team, he trained in Ruas Vale Tudo, a martial arts system developed by the legendary Marco Ruas. [1]Sobral is known throughout the UFC for his intense and grueling training regimen, which typically involves bench-pressing fellow workout partners, running up the steep mountains of Brazil and swimming 2000 meters in an hour. Babalu's mountain runs are also legendary.Sobral's nickname Babalu comes from a brand of Brazilian bubble gum he used to chew. ... Sobral has the name of his two-year-old daughter, Maria Fernanda, tattooed on his chest. "She makes me stronger, she makes me focused. She's my vitamin."TRAINING: Four hours of hard training a day. I train mornings and afternoons from Monday to Friday with free training on Saturday mornings. I arrive around 9:30 at the academy and train until lunch time. I stop and go back to the academy from 2 to 6pm. Yoga and/or swimming at the end of the day to relax. I usually go to sleep early when I am under strong trainingHere is what Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral says about his first fight with Chuck Liddell in 2002 and the most important thing he learned in the knockout loss to ‘The Iceman’, and there is no hesitation in his response.“The first thing I learned is that if you don’t want to fight, stay home. If you don’t really want to fight, stay away from the cage because it’s dangerous.”Entering the UFC 40 bout against the future light heavyweight champion, Sobral was on the fast track to big things in the world of mixed martial arts. A well-rounded fighter who was not averse to a good scrap, the Brazilian was one of those fighters who was a mirror image to Liddell in terms of attitude. He would fight anybody, whether it was former UFC heavyweight champs Maurice Smith and Kevin Randleman, or future Pride standout Fedor Emelianenko. And if he lost, he would go down swinging and be back in action as soon as humanly possible. He was learning on the job and his 17-4 record against stiff competition showed that he was moving in the right direction.But he was also conflicted, worrying whether fighting for a living interfered with his religious beliefs.“I asked myself a couple times, why am I still fighting,” said Sobral. “This is against what Jesus said to do.”Being less than 100% mentally is okay in small doses if you’re a writer, an insurance salesman, or a toilet cleaner. In fighting, it’s a recipe for disaster, as Sobral found out when Liddell landed a high leg kick and knocked him out at 2:55 of the first round. It was something you could see it in his face even before the opening bell, as small grins replaced the intense and focused stares most fans recall when thinking of ‘Babalu’. Physically, he was there; mentally, that was another story.And the loss hit him even harder than Liddell’s finishing kick.“After I lost to Chuck I felt the worst I had in my whole life,” said Sobral, who again questioned whether fighting was something he wanted to do for a living. “People told me not to fight, to go change my life, do another job. And I tried to change my life and do a different job after I fought Chuck. I moved to America and tried to teach an MMA class here.”It wasn’t the same. Sobral is a fighter, and he needed to fight. So after some serious soul searching, he came to a realization that what he had to do was get back into the ring.“One day I just looked at myself and said, ‘what are you doing? You were born to fight,’” he recalled. “Jesus said for all of us to do what we do the best and what we love to do. You have to be what you were meant to be.”The road back wouldn’t be easy though, and he wouldn’t see the inside of a UFC Octagon again until April of 2005. But in that time away, Sobral re-invented himself, got focused, and ran up a seven fight winning streak, with no feat more impressive than his consecutive victories over Trevor Prangley, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, and Jeremy Horn in September of 2003. Oh yeah, there’s one more detail to mention about those three wins in the IFC Global Domination tournament – they all took place in one night.To beat three world class fighters in a row is an amazing feat in itself; for Sobral to do it in one night and with a heavy heart due to the recent death of his brother, and words don’t do it justice.“The first thing that I remember is that I had good training, that I had my coach and my friends with me,” said Sobral of that night in Denver, Colorado. “But the main thing was that my brother was with me. He had died, but I felt his spirit close to me in the fight. This helped me a lot.”That may have been the night that Sobral grew up and became a serious contender for championship honors. Fatherhood would follow for ‘Babalu’, giving him even more motivation to do well for two-year-old Maria Fernanda, whose name is tattooed across her father’s chest.“It (his brother’s death) pushed me a lot,” admitted Sobral. “Now, I have my daughter to push me more. She eats too much and likes to dress in cool clothes.”Sobral laughs, and it’s clear that he’s at peace now with himself and with life. Now the only thing left to do is avenge his last defeat to Liddell and win the UFC light heavyweight belt. He gets that opportunity this Saturday night at UFC 62.“This fight is the big shot in my life,” said Sobral, who believes that 70% of the fight game is mental. “I have to prove to myself who I am. I don’t care about the pressure. The only pressure I have is from myself.”Renato Sobral has come a long way from November 22, 2002, and he owes it to a newfound dedication, a new team (Gracie Barra), his daughter, and the realization that what he does truly means something.“I never asked God to be champion because everyone’s the same in God’s eyes,” he admits. “The only thing I do is thank God every day for being able to stay here, not to get hurt, for my opponent to not get hurt, and to have the opportunity to be what I have to be. This is a gift God gave to me, so I have to enjoy it. I don’t ask for anything, I just say thank you.”My background is in wrestling. I started training when I was about 10 or 12 years old.On the same theme, how did you get into vale tudo, and what led you to the Ruas Vale Tudo team?The move to Ruas Vale Tudo was a natural move for me since I was interested in other fight styles. As Vale Tudo grew a lot in Brazil, along came the opportunity to join this style. I took it.What was it like training with Marco Ruas, Pedro Rizzo and the other guys at RVT?It was always a very good, the guys are all tough and very experienced, this helped me get started.Why did you make the move to Gracie Barra team, and how have you found the training there?Gracie Barra came to me with an ambitious project to put together a strong, experienced and effective fight team, and I was pleased to be involved. The training is great, their ground technique is really fabulous and we also have strong boxing and wrestling techniques.How is a typical week of training for you?We train two times a day, morning and afternoon from Monday to Friday and sometimes Saturdays. We also have special physical, conditioning and cardiovascular training.Do you use a special diet?It is important to eat well to have energy for so much, but we cannot gain weight. Usually there is no special diet, I just keep eyes open not to gain weight.What shape are you in? Are you ready to fight? All healthy?Yes, I am completely ready to fight and in great shape! I'm currently weighing in at 93 kg (205 lbs).Have you made any improvements to your game since we last saw you at IFC? For those who didn't see your fight against Pele, how has your game changed since training with Gracie Barra?Yes I have improved a lot, especially my ground techniques because of the strong training with master Carlos Gracie Jr and also Roberto "Gordo" Correia. I feel more confident when I am on the ground now and the month I spent in Cuba this year was also important to consolidate even more my wrestling abilities.Where are you based right now?I am based in Rio de Janeiro where Gracie Barra Combat Team is.You've been fighting professionally since at least 1999. You spent most of your career fighting for the RINGS promotions, but you've also fought in the UFC, IFC and various other organisations around the world. How do you rate these promotions? What was good or bad about them?They are all great events. I have the best impression of these organizations. It's sad that RINGS no longer exists. UFC and IFC were great experiences, both very important for my career development and I just hope they keep growing and giving me and other fighters more opportunities to show our abilities in MMA.As far as I'm aware, you have only fought in England once - at UFC 38, when you beat Elvis Sinosic. What did you think of England, and are you looking forward to fighting here again? What led you to the Cage Rage promotion?Yes I am definitively looking forward to fighting in England again. I had the best impression when I was there before and I know MMA fights have grown in England - as well as all around Europe - so I believe the crowd will be very enthusiastic. Cage Rage is a great event, I have been wanting to fight there since Cage Rage 7 in July, but I was injured last June while training in Cuba preparing for the fight.In 2003, you won the IFC tournament, beating top fighters like Trevor Prangley, Mauricio Rua and Jeremy Horn. You fought like a real champion and impressed everybody. Some people expected you to then continue that momentum and take bigger and bigger fights. But you didn't step back into the cage until October 2004, when you beat Pele at Jungle Fight. What was the reason for your time off?I was deciding to change team and making the move took time. After the move we started training and getting acquainted with the new team. It was a time of great change for me. As I mentioned before I was supposed to fight in Cage Rage 7 but I got injured and had to recover.Okay. Well at Cage Rage 9, you'll be fighting against Cyril Diabate, a very quick and dangerous French striker and actually the man who you were supposed to be fighting against at Cage Rage 7. How much do you know about him? Have you seen any tapes of him? Do you have any opinion about him as an opponent?I have seen some of his fights and I think he's good., epecially at Muay Thai. But he will get hurt and I will beat him up!What do you hope to achieve by fighting in England? Do you want the Cage Rage title or is this just a chance to stay active?I want the title of all the events that I participate in and I am ready to be the next Cage Rage ChampionWhere do you see yourself heading after this? Do you want to go to Pride? UFC? Is there anyone you really want to fight?Well, every great fighter wants to get to Pride. I am expecting my chance at Pride to come soon. As I have said before I want to win the title of all the events I fight in, so when I get to Pride I want to have a chance to fight Wanderlei Silva, the current champion of that promotion! I also want to get a chance to fight again at UFC and I am sure this will also come soon. Name Renato Sobral Nick Name Babalu Record 28 - 7 - 0 (Win - Loss - Draw) Wins 2 (T)KOs (7.14%) 15 Submissions (53.57%) 11 Decisions (39.29%) Losses 3 (T)KOs (42.86%) 1 Submissions (14.29%) 3 Decisions (42.86%) Association Gracie Barra Combat Team Height 6'1 (185cm) Weight 205lbs (93kg) Birth Date 9-7-1975 City Rio De Janeiro Country BrazilMMA record ..