The End of the Cold War

The conflicts between the schools began by coincidence in Vila Folia. I’m saying “by coincidence” as a way of speaking, but in reality the conflicts would have begun one way or another. Fábio was at a party on the south coast with Maguinho, Nandola and the same teacher from the other school who had had a problem with Paulo da Praça (as mentioned in an earlier post).

This teacher lived close to Fábio and they used to talk all the time. However, when the gossiping and secrets began, they stopped talking altogether. When Fábio would try to say something to either him or others from his school, they would turn away. That’s when their relationship had changed.

It so happens that a friend of Fábio’s (who had nothing to do with Jiu-Jitsu), was leaving the party with his girlfriend when the teacher and three members of the rival school, cowardly attacked him for no reason. To this day, the reason for the attack remains unknown.

This guy then returned to the party looking for his friends. He was scared and angry at the same time about what had happened. Coincidentally, Fábio, Maguinho and Nandola were aware of their friend and they had found out what had happened. They all wanted vengeance, but they knew that it wasn’t their fight and they initially didn’t want to get involved.

Meanwhile, the four attackers from the rival school appeared at the scene. The previous victim was now surrounded by almost 20 of his friends, who were outraged. The whole group began questioning the other four, demanding to know why they had attacked him and swearing at them. Fábio, Maguinho and Nandola stood on the sidelines watching.

At one point, the teacher from the rival school who had caused all of the trouble, looks at Fábio and says, “And you, I’m gonna get you!!!”. Not understanding, Fábio replied, “Me???”, to which the other confirmed. The victim’s group seemed to like that idea and encouraged a fight-off between the two. Everyone opened the circle for the two in the middle, then Fábio took off his shirt, put his hands up and said, “Let’s go, just me and you!!!”

The teacher started backing away while Fábio moved forward. Fábio asked him why he was backing away and told him to come fight him. That’s when Maguinho and Nandola grabbed Fábio and told him that there was no reason to fight and that it wasn’t right. Then they left together.

At the moment when the victim’s group saw the teacher backing away, they seized the opportunity to attack them. They beat up their four guys and got their revenge. After all, they greatly outnumbered them.

Following the event, the four guys from the rival school that got beat up, ended up going after each of the guys from the other group, and got their revenge one at a time. In Fábio’s case, the teacher kept calling Rodrigo Wanderley (the teacher at Combate Real), trying to set up a closed-door fight at the school. This is how disputes used to be settled. It was the vale-tudo of the time. Fighters would fight it out and after it was all done, they would shake hands and each go their separate ways.

It so happens that Fábio was still underage at the time (17 years old), and he would turn 18 in September of 1996. The teacher from the rival school was already of age and the fight couldn’t be set up because of the underage conflict. Nevertheless, it was simply a question of time, because in the end, everything that must happen will happen!!