Nathalia and Livio Ribeiro. Photo: Personal Archive

The type of work done by Nathalia Chantre, 31, is a key part of the process of professionalization of BJJ as a sport. Playing a fundamental role in the performance of a number of elite athletes, this nutritionist is responsible for building a nutrition plan and enabling fighters to go into their matches healthy, living up to their full potential.

If in previous eras of the sport, it was possible to see athletes cutting weight in wrong ways and consuming fatty foods and sodas, nowadays this sort of behavior has to be kept to a minimum. The professionalization of BJJ has arrived in all spheres, from prize money to the care athletes have for their performance.

A nutritionist certified by the International Sports Sciences Association, Nathalia has monitored more than 300 athletes across more than five years in the field. In her opinion, a high-performance athlete who takes meticulous care of the details of their nutrition tends to come out on top.

“A time comes when the athlete’s key has to turn, so to speak, and they understand that in order to stay at a high level these days, it’s necessary to have more than good training; they need to be more than just talented,” said Nathalia, who’s also a BJJ student, in a recent interview. “It’s important to surround yourself with a multidisciplinary team that’s going to put you at your 100% to perform with excellence.”

She added: “One of the great differentials of my work with athletes consists of investing time with each of them. I treat athletes individually to understand their goals in a thorough way, their training, possible flaws, difficulties, and to not spare any efforts to develop a nutrition plan. I want the athlete to have adherence, for the plan to be compatible with their reality, making it easier to conquer the desired goal. That’s why I say that I don’t do consultations; I do nutritional monitoring with athletes and practitioners of BJJ. Our contact is very close; I make adjustments daily, if necessary, in the pre-competition phase.”

At this year’s IBJJF Pan, one of the biggest events of the calendar, Nathalia had multiple of her athletes come out victorious, not the least of which was Lívio Ribeiro, the roosterweight champion. The nutritionist went into some detail on her work with him.

“Lívio speaks openly of the crazy stuff he used to do to hit the weight before he had nutritional monitoring,” she said. “He, for example, used to cut water in the week that precedes a fight. Additionally, he would cut foods rich in carbs and use laxative drugs. It’s unbelievable how someone can train and fight in those conditions, completely dehydrated and without glycogen reserves. Certainly, he would sleep poorly, and his immunity was extremely low. When I became aware of this situation in March, the first thing was to get the house in order and adjust the basic: improve intestinal health, increase water intake and improve sleep quality.”

“He understood that he’s not supposed to starve to hit the weight, he doesn’t need to dehydrate, and he has no reason to cut foods with sources of carbs,” Nathalia continued. “So I included in his diet: rice, cuscuz, pasta, potatoes, various fruits, oatmeal, tapioca, beans and many other foods rich in micro- and macronutrients. I also used some supplements such as: beta alanine, probiotic, vitamin D3, magnesium, omega 3 and creatine. By the way, creatine does no harm when it comes to cutting weight. Quite the opposite: it’s an extremely safe supplement; it improves tolerance to straining, muscle recovery, on top of improving adaptive response to the training.”

In previous tournaments, Lívio had chosen not to eat before the first round, because his main opponent was the scale. This time, in 2021, everything has changed, and Lívio had the best performance to date in his early days as a black-belt.

“I followed Lívio’s training up-close, and his evolution was visible — especially in the final stage of the training, close to the competition, where usually he already felt extremely saturated, stressed and fatigued,” said the nutritionist. “I was very excited to see him in the competitions. It was going to be the first time he would eat on fight day! I was sure his performance was going to be special, and it was! He knew he was able to be explosive from the start until the end of the match; he knew he had energy reserves and was well trained, because he had the physical preparation provided by Itallo Vilardo and the training at Ares academy in Modesto, led by Prof. Samir Chantre.” She subjoined: “Those who think nutritional monitoring makes no difference certainly have never had the opportunity to be followed by a good nutritionist.”

Nathalia is a Health Coach with Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and is currently getting a postgraduate degree in nutrition, metabolism and physiology in sports.

Pedro Lott and his team during an IBJJF competition in USA. Photo: personal archive

Team Carlson Gracie is assembling, again, a strong competition squad for Jiu-Jitsu tournaments around the world. Currently a resident of Canada, Pedro Lott is a strong arm in this restructuring, and has as his mission, alongside Master Carlson Gracie Jr, the task of providing his athletes with opportunities to train at a high level, travel and compete in the main IBJJF tournaments and, above all, to have a career plan.

Pedro, a black-belt since 2008, spoke of how the roots of team Carlson Gracie — one of the biggest competitive forces of the aughts — remain strong, and how they plan not just to make good athletes, but for them to have solid careers in the sport.

“Master Carlson Gracie Jr. has been restructuring the team in such a way that all of today’s athletes will tomorrow have a future on the team, because competition is a short stage in the life of an athlete,” he said. “Today we’re champions, but tomorrow we have to pay bills, support families, and that’s what’s most important. The preoccupation of our master with these athletes is for them to be able, tomorrow, to live off the sport with dignity.”

The team’s most recent competition was the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation’s (CBJJ) Brazilian Nationals, where it was represented by 126 athletes ranging from blue-belts to black-belts, including Guthierry Barbosa, Matheus Nascimento, Alexandre Molinaro — the team’s black-belts.

“From blue belt to black, we have lots of athletes,” said Pedro. “The names mentioned above, as well as Rerrison Gabriel, Cleison Santos, Yago Oliveira, Filipe Assis, Wesley Teixeira, Maria Raniele, Luiz Eduardo, are some of our athletes in the colored belts. They’ve been making some noise in the recent tournaments. They are students under Profs. Juan Lopes and Douglas Rufino, who are teachers with our team Carlson Gracie. We have other names that are greatly standing out, and you’ll know about them soon.”

Pedro, who leads his own gym on Canada’s West Coast, went on to talk about the challenges the pandemic brought — but also, on a better note, about the strides the sport has been making around those parts.

“BJJ on the West Coast of Canada was evolving at a pretty fast pace in the last seven years, but with this pandemic and the regulations by the Canadian government, things greatly slowed down around here,” he said. “In the last 19 months, our gym was closed for 12 months in total, opening and closing within the period. But the community will go back to growing again, and it has all my support to do so.”

He added: “At our gym, in Canada, we have many students who have been standing out in the masters; we have many IBJJF world champions. There’s a 23-year-old black-belt who won the Orlando Open in his first year as a black-belt, in 2020.

Chayse Diekema, Pedro’s student and Pan champion. Photo: personal archive

“I should mention my student Chayse Diekema, who, in the space of a year and a half, became champion at the European Championship in the blue belt without getting scored on, and in the same year, already wearing the purple belt, was champion at the Pan with a submission in the final. This year, she was runner-up at the No-Gi Pan with an arm that was injured from the quarterfinals on. At the gi Pan, she finished her opponents in all her fights, in an incredible performance. Her mindset in on another level; she’s going to take the brown belt by storm, and in the black belt she’s going to be in the top five of the world, without a doubt.”

Pedro ended the interview by talking about the legacy of the late Carlson Gracie.

“The fact that our team bears the Carlson banner makes our athletes and all our teachers stronger due to knowing that we don’t represent only a team, but rather a legacy that shaped the greatest athletes and representatives of the sport in the world. Carlson Gracie was Jiu-Jitsu’s ‘SWAT team’ for decades. When Jiu-Jitsu needed someone to defend its name and honor, it was Carlson or someone from his team who was there to defend the legacy.”

Ralek Gracie in California. Photo: Personal Files

Ralek, one of Rorion Gracie’s ten children, has some solid MMA performances under his belt from his days fighting in Japan, where he made his debut at 21 years of age and collected three triumphs in three fight—including a memorable unanimous decision over Kazushi Sakuraba.

Now 26, Ralek wants to do even more for Jiu-Jitsu. In spearheading the campaign to promote Metamoris Pro, a star-studded tournament coming up October 14 in San Diego, the black belt addressed his motivation in launching the event, explained how you can watch it live at the venue or at home, and described the criteria for picking the competitors. (Check out the matchups on the card here.)

“I wanted to create something that I would compete in. Something where the guy who beats me needs to submit me, not just win with a sweep,” the Gracie explained.

GRACIEMAG: According to the event rules, official match duration is 20 minutes, without points or advantages. The winner is the one who gets the tapout. Those are surely good rules for the fans. Are they good rules for Jiu-Jitsu as a whole as well?

The objective is to show the most pure form of Jiu-Jitsu without any reservation. Today the top competitors need to adjust their style to win in the highly competitive points game.

What was your aim in creating this event?

I wanted to create something that I would compete in. Something where the guy who beats me needs to submit me, not just win with a sweep. This way we can understand who is the best. But that’s not the end of it, because in the process of finding the best individual athlete you also find the most beauty in the art. Jiu-Jitsu is an art, and I want to give them as many colors as possible on a blank canvas to show their artistic ability. Picasso would not want it any other way.

What was the hardest part about putting together an event of this scale?

The most difficult thing believe it or not is understanding what top caliber athletes need and deserve. Since I am a black belt and professional fighter, I know what it’s like to get the right treatment and the wrong treatment. Every difficult task is overcome with the desire to give to those guys what I would want for myself, then it becomes easy.

What’s the venue like?

The first event will be held at the Viejas Arena in San Diego on the San Diego State University (SDSU) campus. Very nice place that can seat 12,000 people. We plan to use a giant curtain to create the stage and seating for 7,500 and if need be open it up for 12,000.

Will there be an internet broadcast?

The event will be live streaming at www.Metamoris.com. We are putting a lot of resources into making the PPV a black belt production so that people really feel like they are there live. You can visit www.Metamoris.com for a Ticket Master link [for tickets], and the stream will be for sale in the coming weeks.

What was your criteria in picking the fighters?

Only the best.