I must say Margarida practically radiates jiu jitsu!! You can`t help but smile around him! His love for the art shows in everything he does and says.
Check out Alicia’s website at www.AliciaPhotos.comFernando “Margarida” Pontes held a seminar at Fabio Santos` school in San Diego on Friday, May 6th. I had the opportunity to sit down with him for a quick interview. I must say Margarida practically radiates jiu jitsu!! You can`t help but smile around him! His love for the art shows in everything he does and says.
I want to thank Fabio for allowing myself and two of my teammates to attend the in-house seminar. It was greatly appreciated!!
AA: How old are you?
M: 25. No, of what? Physically, mentally or spiritually? AA: Give me all of ‘em!
M: Physical – 25….Mentally (laughing) – maybe sometimes 20, 15, 30, 50… I`m good about most of it, ya know? And spiritually? Eternity.
AA: And what weight group are you in?
M: 200 AA: You recently competed at the Yamasaki tournament on the east coast. How many matches did you have?
M: Three AA: And how`d they go?M: Awesome. First one was with Beto. He`s very good guy from Yamasaki school. I used to train with him a long time ago. He`s very strong with pressure. I was doing a great movement with him – I was very loose and he was being very fluent. Some guys you train they stall and the fights, when you see, it`s ugly fight, you know? So he was trying to do something too, so the fight was fluent. In the three fights I did, I make the guys tap.
AA: With what?
M: Beto was choke, the other guy was footlock – I broke his foot. I didn`t mean to.
AA: He didn`t tap?
M: He tapped, but he tapped when it was too late. And PeDePano it was arm.
AA: Armlock?
M: Ya, he got big arms.
AA: So how was that match? That`s the match everybody`s talking about. How did you feel?
M: I feel I was in the universe… the cosmic energy. Cause the thing is, on the mat, right there on the ring, it shows the true – it doesn`t show the fake. You`re gonna get me if you`re really better than me. And if you beat me for the rules… cause sometimes I lost for the rules. Sometimes you win for the rules. You don`t really win the guy… you just win when you finish, when you knock the guy out. Then they really know you win. Cause like me and Jacare. First time we fought I break his foot, I crack his foot. But the time was over and then he won when I was trying to take him down… and the referee, it`s Abu Dhabi, it`s 1 point for him if I can`t take him down. If I just try, you know, they give it for him. The second fight with him, I just saw today again, it was like finish, me & him stand up. So he won in the rules. He didn`t really won the fight, cause the fight didn`t finish yet. So the true didn`t show up, the real true, you know what I`m saying? Nobody tap. We finish the fight, one looking at the other, the both was stand up, so the fight didn`t finish, you know?
AA: This was your first tournament for a while, right?M: It was my first after I won the Worlds.
AA: What do you have coming up? Do you have any tournaments in mind? What are your plans?M: The thing is, I don`t know, because all the time my plans change, you know, I change my plans. The only thing I`m for sure is for today, you know? In life I`m sure, but tomorrow I don`t know if I`m going to be alive. To me, you know, everyone have your own life – my life is day by day. AA: You don`t have any tournament plans?M: I want to fight everything.
AA: You think you`ll be able to do the Worlds?M: I would, but I don`t know if I`ll go. Depends of many things, you know?
AA: We`d all love to see it.
M: Ya, I know, me too. I would love to fight that. But sometimes it`s hard to fight. Not ‘fight` but it`s hard to fight in the mat. It`s hard to fight with the referee. It`s hard to fight with the people that get angry when you lose. It`s hard to fight with the mafia. If you go to confederation down here it`s Gracie man. I have to fight the guy, I have to fight the referee – he`s Gracie, I have to fight with all of the Gracie, you know. And always somebody try to make you, you know, you concentrate yourself. It`s hard. And no money. That`s bullshit. That`s hypocrisy, you know. I don`t like hypocrisy. So that`s, I don`t know. I don`t know. But I would, because the thing is, I just go cause I love this art. I love to fight. Just the only thing making me go, you know. Make me centered. Mentally it makes me centered. And my physical too.
AA: Are you staying the states right now? Are you training here?
M: I was in Europe for 2 months. Serbia, Sweden, Stockholm, Holland, Paris, Germany, Washington DC, now San Diego. Next week I go to San Francisco, I hope. I don`t know. I`m just traveling the World, around the World. I`m just trying to pass my message. Every place I go I leave a message.
AA: Will you be teaching any private classes while you`re here?
M: Yes.
AA: How much longer are you here, in San Diego?
M: Probably just a week.
AA: Who are you training with? Who`s your team?
M: My machine, my body, that`s my team. It`s individual sport, you know. You`ve got a team, but, my team doesn`t follow me where I go. Just me and God. That`s it.
AA: Is there anybody you`ve trained with that`s had a big impact on you?
M: Yes, yes, yes. Many, you know. Rickson, Minotauro, Fabio, Fernando Yamasaki…the people I train with. All them, you know? The white belt can show me, the blue belt, you know. Somebody ask me ‘who`s your teacher?` I said many people they are my teacher, because every little thing I learn with you, you`re gonna be my teacher, you know? If I learn something you are my teacher for one day. You taught me something! So you are my teacher, you know? I`m grateful for everybody teach me little bit.
AA: Is there a match or fight that really sticks out in your mind, either good or bad, that had a big impact on your game?
M: Yes, yes. Like, many fights in my life, I fought, and then I watched the tape. Like today I watched the tape and I saw the referee stealing the fight for me, in my back, because I couldn`t see. I was looking at the guy and the guy was giving the guy points. The guy was pushing me. After the fight, when you saw the tape, you saw how many people was like, you know, the people outside, they kiss me, say ‘hey man you the best` then I look at the tape they was yelling to I lost! You know? There are so many people they got mask, you know? Now I just tell them, let the match go down. Just be true. The true is with the God, the fake the Devil, you know? God is true. God is true. True is God. I hope the hypocrisy get better, you know? And I hope that the fighter win the game, the match, you know. When they get out them house, to leave them ego in the house. Leave vanity in the house. Don`t bring to the fight. Sometimes you go to gym and they wear the mask. They think they`re more than you. But it`s not.
AA: I know your ride`s waiting….do you have anything you`d like to add?
M: No… I just wanna fight for the freedom. Peace and justice. Justice, peace and freedom. That`s what I want.