Antonio Ricardo Jardim Libório (born July 13, 1967) is a

Brazilian jiu jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting ( ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

black belt under Grand Master Carlson Gracie. He is the co-founder of American Top Team (ATT) and

Brazilian Top Team The Brazilian Top Team (BTT) is an academy specialized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts. It established in April 2000 by Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Libório, Mário Sperry and Luis Roberto Duarte, former members of the Carlson ...

(BTT), the founder and CEO of Martial Arts Nation and the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Institute (IBJJI), and also a professor of BJJ at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. According to ''Fight!'' magazine's most recent "Power 20", which profiles the twenty "most significant power players, movers, shakers, ambassadors, and game-changers in MMA," Libório is currently ranked #13. He was nominated as "Coach of the Year" for the Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Awards in 2009.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu career

Antônio Ricardo Jardim Libório was born on July 13, 1967, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, Brazil. His introduction to combat sports began at the age of 4, when he began studying

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

. He later took up a variety of traditional and modern martial arts, including

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. ...

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterise ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. At 14, he began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the

Carlson Gracie Carlson Gracie (August 13, 1932 – February 1, 2006) was a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. A member of the Gracie family, he was the eldest son of Carlos Gracie, and nephew to Hélio Gracie, founders of Gracie jiu-jitsu. Carlson Gr ...

academy in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, which produced black belts such as

Vitor Belfort Vítor Vieira Belfort (; born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavyw ...

, André Pederneiras, Walid Ismail,

Mario Sperry is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the '' Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

and Ricardo de la Riva. Libório received his black belt from Carlson Gracie in 1993 at the age of 26. In 1996, Libório entered the first ever "Mundials," or

World Jiu-Jitsu Championship The World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (commonly known as the Worlds or Mundials) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament held once every year by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. It is widely considered to be the most important and ...

, winning a gold medal in the super heavyweight (super-pesado) division over Leo Castello Branco, a much heavier opponent. He was awarded the title of "Most Technical Black Belt" in that tournament. The next year, Libório competed in the International Masters Mundials under his middle name, Antônio Jardim, taking gold in the meio-pesado (middle-heavy) division. He gained renown as a jiu-jitsu player, leading Carlson to claim he could beat the legendary

Rickson Gracie Rickson Gracie (; born November 21, 1958) is a Brazilian 9th-degree red belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and a retired mixed martial artist. He is a member of the Gracie family: the third oldest son of Hélio Gracie, brother to Rorion and Relson G ...

in a sport jiu-jitsu bout.

Mixed martial arts career

Ricardo co-founded

in collaboration with three other Carlson Gracie students,

Murilo Bustamante Murilo Bustamante (; born 30 July 1966, in Rio de Janeiro) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Middleweight Champion. He is one of the founders of the '' Brazilian Top Team'' and is the current leader. In addition to comp ...

, Luis Duarte, and

. In 2001 Ricardo was approached by American businessman and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, Dan Lambert. Dan recruited Ricardo, and together they formed a partnership, which would eventually become American Top Team. Libório had his own MMA debut against

Pancrase Pancrase Inc. is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the Ancient Olympic Games. Suzuki and Funaki ...

wrestler

Ikuhisa Minowa is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler currently competing in IGF as . A professional MMA competitor since 1996, he was a longtime veteran of PRIDE and Pancrase and has also competed in other mixed martial arts promotions s ...

for Japanese promotion Deep the same year. In a bout with almost no strike thrown between the contendants, Libório opened the first round struggling to take Minowa down, but he gained half mount for a while and threatened him with an

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the arm is known as an armbar, and it includes the traditional armbar, p ...

, which Minowa returned with a standing

kimura Kimura (written: lit. "tree village") is the 17th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese novelist *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese botanist *, Japanese idol and singer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanes ...

attempt. Ricardo dominated an uneventful second round, resuming his domain the top position and almost locking a

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keiko ...

at its end, and he would go on to trade submissions with the Japanese wrestler at the third and last round, being still entangled in a

leglock A leglock is a joint lock that is directed at joints of the leg such as the ankle, knee or hip joint. A leglock which is directed at joints in the foot, is sometimes referred to as a foot lock and a lock at the hip as a hip lock. Leglocks are ...

exchange when the bell rang. As the match was stipulated to be without judges, it went to a draw.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Draw , align=center, 0–0-1 ,

, Draw , Deep - 1st Impact , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most p ...

, Japan ,

ADCC Superfight

On August 29, 2015, Libório fought former Carlson Gracie teammate,

, in the

ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship The ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, is an international submission grappling competition, organised by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC). The inaugural tournament was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 1998. It has been held every two yea ...

"Superfight." After 20 minutes and two overtime periods, the referees awarded the decision to Libório.

After ATT

Martial Arts Nation

After Leaving ATT in 2015, Libório founde
Martial Arts Nation
in 2018. The martial arts firm specializes in consulting, events, licensing, and branding for BJJ and other martial arts. The company's primary focus is to create sustainable programs that teach character education, leadership, and

well-being Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in t ...

with their martial arts curriculum. Additionally, the founder of MA Nation is very focused on fostering an inclusive and welcoming culture inside every MA Nation training facility.

University of Central Florida (UCF)

Libório has made an impact at the University of Central Florida (UCF) through his BJJ club structure, classes, and events. Master Libório, in August 2018, came to UCF and helped restructure the UCF MMA club and transformed it into a BJJ club through a new organizational system and welcoming culture. At the end of 2018, the club had 30 members. By 2020, the club had 250 members, was the largest sports club at UCF, and had the second-highest female participation rate out of all other sports clubs. On August 26, 2019, he created the first BJJ college class to be offered by a university in the U.S. from a world champion and coach. In 2020, Libório continued by adding a level 2 intermediate class to the establish beginner class schedule. His classes and club have reached hundreds of students. In March 2018, Librio, through th
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Institute (IBJJI)
sponsorship o
Martial Arts Nation
and affiliation with th
Institute of Sports and Social Justice
at UCF, hosted the first Florida collegiate Jiu-Jitsu in-state competition Resenha or "hangout" event. The event focused on getting people who usually are fans off the stands and participating in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Furthermore, essential topics of the event included learning more about the sport's mental and physical benefits, including helping with self-defense, anxiety, depression, focus, and self-confidence through a "Mat and Chat" system developed by Libório. In total, over 350 people participated, and 85 Black Belts from across the U.S. came to the event.

Orange County Public Schools (OCPS)

In 2018 Libório founded an after school Martial Arts program with aims for its implementation throughout the U.S. He partnered with OCPS to create the first afterschool martial arts program in Orange county Florida at Edgewater Highschool, through Martial Arts Nation, with an emphasis on BJJ. Márcio Pimentel was the lead coach of the program, and Professor Kyle Leisher is currently the head administrator of the club at Edgewater. BJJ is the primary sport of this project; however, other martial arts are now being taught as well, such as Judo, grappling, and self-defense. Like many other programs Libório has founded, the focus of this project centers around building self-confidence, character education, raising self-esteem, and particularly for high school students, anti-bullying education. Teaching how BJJ can positively impact a person in his or her everyday life, not just in competition, is also a central element of the OCPS program. The Edgewater program has seen year after year growth since its inception due to its organizational structure, welcoming culture, and MA nation sponsorship.

Work with the visually impaired

After

craniosynostosis Craniosynostosis is a condition in which one or more of the fibrous Suture (joint), sutures in a young infant's skull prematurely fuses by turning into bone (ossification), thereby changing the growth pattern of the skull. Because the skull cann ...

rendered Libório's daughter visually impaired at 1½ years old, he developed a community outreach program through American Top Team. The academy is certified to teach judo to visually impaired students.

Championships and accomplishments

*Three time Brazilian National Champion *IBJJF World Champion 1996 *3rd Abu Dhabi Submission Tournament 1999 *2nd Abu Dhabi Submission Tournament 2000 *World Champion Masters Division 2000 * NAGA Coach of the year in 2005 *National Coach for USA Grappling *Inducted into the NAGA Grappling Hall of Fame 2005 *Voted most technical brazilian jiu-Jitsu competitor in 2006 Mundial *Worked with the Wounded Warrior Project and U.S. Navy Seals *USA Grappling Honors Award recipient 2009 *Inducted into the official World Grappling Hall of Fame 2010 *Inducted into the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame 2010 *ADCC 2015 Superfight Champion masters def Mario Sperry *2016 Rio de Janeiro international Olympic supervisor for judo and wrestling *Palm Sports Abu Dhabi Honors award recipient 2018 *Martial Arts Industry Association Honors award recipient 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liborio, Ricardo Brazilian male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian male judoka 1967 births Living people People from Coconut Creek, Florida World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship medalists Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city)