Fábio earned his blue belt after just five months of training. And no, it wasn’t because he was given it too early and neither was it because of his friendship with the instructor, which happens in other schools. He achieved it through hard work and coincidence. Hard work because of the amount of training he had dedicated himself to, and coincidence because life seems to have conspired in his favor.
In 1994, Fábio had already graduated from Colégio das Neves and had been admitted to Escola Técnica Federal do Rio Grande do Norte for the following semester. This left him with a lot of free time at home. Since his house was close to Combate Real, Fábio spent his free time going to all of the Jiu-Jitsu classes available, which was three times a day. At this time, Fábio practically lived at the school and his improvement was extraordinary because of his dedication to the gentle art.
The belt exam was in August of 1994, one month before his 16th birthday and five months after Fábio started training (like previously mentioned). In normal circumstances, Fábio would have been awarded his yellow belt because of his age, but since his birthday was just one month away, they decided to give him his blue belt.
The belt exam at that time was different because sport Jiu-Jitsu, like we know it today, wasn’t widespread and there weren’t many competitions, just a maximum of two or three per year. Thus, the belt exam was based on self-defense, judo throws, Jiu-Jitsu positions and striking. In other words, it was Traditional Jiu-Jitsu. The competition format at the time was the following: you would start standing where strikes to the body and slaps to the face were allowed, but the second the opponent would grab the gi, striking would no longer be permitted. Sport Jiu-Jitsu on the ground would follow.
On the day of the exam, just two people were awarded their blue belts: Fábio and Vital Nóbrega. Together, they had to demonstrate throws, Jiu-Jitsu and striking. For the striking portion, a belt was tied linking their belts together, meanwhile, strikes to the body and the famous slap to the face were permitted. It was tough because every time that one would try to escape from the other, he would end up pulling the other towards him instead, thereby making it impossible to avoid the fight.
Fábio was able to tolerate the striking, but Vital was older, stronger, and had been training Judo for a long time. He would help Fábio by telling him, “Do Osoto-gari now, do this, do that”.
According to tradition when receiving a new belt in Jiu-Jitsu, Fábio’s head was shaved. Since he was too young to look like a university student, he seemed more like an underage criminal, which didn’t please his family when he got home. His mom wanted to take him out of Jiu-Jitsu, and it took a lot of convincing to make her change her mind.