Two weeks after Fábio started training jiu-jitsu, there was an in-house tournament at Combate Real. An in-house tournament means that only athletes registered at the school are allowed to compete. Due to the small number of athletes at that time, Fábio signed up to fight in the adult division at just 15 years old. It took twice the courage because, firstly, he would be fighting after a short amount of training, and secondly, he would already be fighting adults.
The first fight was against Vladimir, better known as Mancha in Natal’s underground. He is still to this day a good friend of Fábio’s, as well as being a part of Turma da Xiola with the previously mentioned Gustavo Maguinho and Guilherme Vanim. Fábio was victorious against Mancha.
The second fight was against Marcelo Nóbrega (Vital’s brother), where Fábio won once again. Eventually, Fábio and Vital would end up getting their blue belt at the same time. The third fight was against Marco Célio where Fábio lost by points and still believes to this day that he was robbed. He believes this because he can, but at the time he didn’t know the rules.
After he lost, Fábio spent about half an hour sobbing, upset about his defeat. This showed his passion for the sport and a desire to always win, given that most others would have been happy with two wins at their first competition. Josebias, Neves’ other friend and Xiola, was the one who consoled Fábio.
One month later, there was the state competition. Once again, due to the lack of athletes in the divisions, Fábio had to fight in the adult division. During the first fight, against a much stronger opponent, he got caught in an armbar and was too proud to tap. The referee made the right decision and stopped the fight. Outraged, Fábio said that he hadn’t tapped. Rodrigo Couceiro (Fábio’s coach) came running over to say that Fábio hadn’t tapped.
While continuing to claim that he hadn’t tapped, Fábio, nearly crying at this point, was starting to feel a tremendous pain in his arm. By coldly analyzing the situation, the way a referee should, he made the right decision. He was simply protecting the athlete’s physical integrity. But at the time, emotions were running high. Fábio’s teammate, João Antônio, —who was well-known for having a quick-temper— started to shout and curse at the referee, calling him every name in the book.
Chaos quickly followed and everyone ran in to break up the fight. Meanwhile, Fábio stood in the middle of the turmoil with a throbbing pain in his arm, yelling, “I didn’t tap, I didn’t tap!!!”. Once the melee was over, Fábio headed straight to the hospital to put on a sling because the pain was unbearable.
In the aftermath of the scuffle, João Antônio was banned from training jiu-jitsu for a year. The Jiu-Jitsu Federation suspended him for his disrespect towards the referee. To outsmart the suspension, the team would train with João Antônio at different times, hidden, and when there was no risk of members of the Federation showing up.