Renato Sobral - A Changed Man

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By Thomas Gerbasi

Ask Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral about his first fight with Chuck Liddell in 2002 and the most important thing he learned in the knockout loss to ‘The Iceman’, and there is no hesitation in his response.

“The first thing I learned is that if you don’t want to fight, stay home. If you don’t really want to fight, stay away from the cage because it’s dangerous.”

Entering the UFC 40 bout against the future light heavyweight champion, Sobral was on the fast track to big things in the world of mixed martial arts. A well-rounded fighter who was not averse to a good scrap, the Brazilian was one of those fighters who was a mirror image to Liddell in terms of attitude. He would fight anybody, whether it was former UFC heavyweight champs Maurice Smith and Kevin Randleman, or future Pride standout Fedor Emelianenko. And if he lost, he would go down swinging and be back in action as soon as humanly possible. He was learning on the job and his 17-4 record against stiff competition showed that he was moving in the right direction.

But he was also conflicted, worrying whether fighting for a living interfered with his religious beliefs.

“I asked myself a couple times, why am I still fighting,” said Sobral. “This is against what Jesus said to do.”

Being less than 100% mentally is okay in small doses if you’re a writer, an insurance salesman, or a toilet cleaner. In fighting, it’s a recipe for disaster, as Sobral found out when Liddell landed a high leg kick and knocked him out at 2:55 of the first round. It was something you could see it in his face even before the opening bell, as small grins replaced the intense and focused stares most fans recall when thinking of ‘Babalu’. Physically, he was there; mentally, that was another story.

And the loss hit him even harder than Liddell’s finishing kick.

“After I lost to Chuck I felt the worst I had in my whole life,” said Sobral, who again questioned whether fighting was something he wanted to do for a living. “People told me not to fight, to go change my life, do another job. And I tried to change my life and do a different job after I fought Chuck. I moved to America and tried to teach an MMA class here.”

It wasn’t the same. Sobral is a fighter, and he needed to fight. So after some serious soul searching, he came to a realization that what he had to do was get back into the ring.

“One day I just looked at myself and said, ‘what are you doing? You were born to fight,’” he recalled. “Jesus said for all of us to do what we do the best and what we love to do. You have to be what you were meant to be.”

The road back wouldn’t be easy though, and he wouldn’t see the inside of a UFC Octagon again until April of 2005. But in that time away, Sobral re-invented himself, got focused, and ran up a seven fight winning streak, with no feat more impressive than his consecutive victories over Trevor Prangley, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, and Jeremy Horn in September of 2003. Oh yeah, there’s one more detail to mention about those three wins in the IFC Global Domination tournament – they all took place in one night.

To beat three world class fighters in a row is an amazing feat in itself; for Sobral to do it in one night and with a heavy heart due to the recent death of his brother, and words don’t do it justice.

“The first thing that I remember is that I had good training, that I had my coach and my friends with me,” said Sobral of that night in Denver, Colorado. “But the main thing was that my brother was with me. He had died, but I felt his spirit close to me in the fight. This helped me a lot.”

That may have been the night that Sobral grew up and became a serious contender for championship honors. Fatherhood would follow for ‘Babalu’, giving him even more motivation to do well for two-year-old Maria Fernanda, whose name is tattooed across her father’s chest.

“It (his brother’s death) pushed me a lot,” admitted Sobral. “Now, I have my daughter to push me more. She eats too much and likes to dress in cool clothes.”

Sobral laughs, and it’s clear that he’s at peace now with himself and with life. Now the only thing left to do is avenge his last defeat to Liddell and win the UFC light heavyweight belt. He gets that opportunity this Saturday night at UFC 62.

“This fight is the big shot in my life,” said Sobral, who believes that 70% of the fight game is mental. “I have to prove to myself who I am. I don’t care about the pressure. The only pressure I have is from myself.”

Renato Sobral has come a long way from November 22, 2002, and he owes it to a newfound dedication, a new team (Gracie Barra), his daughter, and the realization that what he does truly means something.

“I never asked God to be champion because everyone’s the same in God’s eyes,” he admits. “The only thing I do is thank God every day for being able to stay here, not to get hurt, for my opponent to not get hurt, and to have the opportunity to be what I have to be. This is a gift God gave to me, so I have to enjoy it. I don’t ask for anything, I just say thank you.”

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