In 1995, Combate Real relocated to Avenida Prudente de Morais, near the intersection with Alexandrino de Alencar. At this new location, the school grew, became a lot stronger and participated in many competitions that year.
The first one was the North-Northeastern Championship, which took place in Natal at the ETFRN. Many athletes from other states such as Ceará, Paraíba and Pernambuco participated. The result from the State Championship was repeated: both Fábio and Ronaldo won their three fights and met in the finals.
Moreover, with sponsorship from Eduardo Flor from Riograndense, the school got in the habit of renting a bus to travel to Fortaleza and Recife, where Jiu-Jitsu was more developed and there were bigger competitions. The tradition on these trips was the famous, so-called taparia. The rule was that the front half of the bus would face the back half of the bus in a fight-off, in which only slaps to the face were permitted. This always resulted in one or more injured athletes that would have to compete the following day in bad shape.
Contrary to causing a divide within the team, the taparia increased camaraderie, creating a strong and united team that was full of friendships.
As per usual, the center of attention was João Antonio (the same guy who had argued with a referee, as mentioned previously). During bus trips, João Antonio was always the rowdiest. Once, while Fábio was in the front half of the bus and João Antonio was in the back half, the front group managed to capture João Antonio.
Fábio and four others worked together to hold down their small but rambunctious teammate. One guy held on to his arm, the other grabbed his leg and two others helped elsewhere. All the while, Fábio had his foot on his neck while slapping his face and still, João Antonio refused to give up. They would yell, “Give up!!!” and even then he would reply, “I won’t give up, you shitheads!!”
When they got tired of hitting him, they decided to let him go on the count of three. He was a wreck when he got up, and Marcão looked at him and started laughing. João Antonio asked, “What are you laughing at, monkey? Get up so I can give you a beating, porra!”.
Marcão, known for his particularly gentle way ―which led him to become a member of the military police squad―, got up and slapped him so hard that João Antonio can still feel it to this day and has a herniated disc from the incident. João Antonio could hardly compete afterwards and couldn’t feel his arm from the injury, even after returning from the trip.