Saulo Riberio Interview 2002

Saulo Ribeiro is back in Rio training hard for a string of up coming fights. He just shared the podium with his brother Alexande at the Arnold Gracie Tournament. Now we caught up with him working his wresting with Darrel Golar and working out with Paulo Carouso.

Saulo Ribeiro is back in Rio training hard for a string of up coming fights. He just shared the podium with his brother Alexande at the Arnold Gracie Tournament. Now we caught up with him working his wresting with Darrel Golar and working out with Paulo Carouso.

OTM: Tell us about your last big win in Ohio at the Arnolds.
SR: Basically my brother did all the hard work. I only had one match. I submitted the guy from the back. After that I had a by, I would have faced Marcelo Clemente, who trains with me. Then in the semi-final I should have fought the winner of Marc Laimon vs. Leo Dalla. Dalla defeated Laimon but he got sick and couldn`t fight. So I closed the brackets in the final with my brother. My brother beat all the guys in his bracket.

OTM: Saulo tell us about your upcoming Grapplers Quest fights.
SR: Basically it is going to be ten guys in the division. The tough guys I am going to face are Jeff Monson, Rodolfo Amaro and Ricardo Almeida. I think if everything goes my way I will face Ricardo Almeida in the finals.

OTM: Have you been doing any special training for this event?
SR: Basically I have been improving my takedowns with wrestling, but mostly I have been training a lot on the ground. This is where I want to concentrate my game, because I don`t want to spend too much time standing. I am always looking for the submission on the ground.

OTM: Who have you been training with?
SR: My academy is full of a lot of really tough kids; basically I train with all my students. Also, I am training a lot of wresting with guys from Top Team, Gracie Barra, and Nova Uniao to improve a lot. They are heavy guys and I need to train more with heavy guys. Now I am 183lbs and it is good for me to train with heavy guys.

OTM: What are you up to after Grapplers Quest?
SR: I am coming back to Brazil. Then I will start my training for my Vale Tudo fight in Hawaii, Super Brawl on the 14th of June against Egan Inoue. After that I will keep training and be getting ready to fight in the Worlds again in July.

OTM: What is your brother up to?
SR: He is training for an event in Hawaii on the 25th & 26th of May. It is a no-gi tournament.