Atletas na etapa Iron Man Brasil, realizada em Florianópolis: cerca de 4km a nado, 180km pedalando e 42km de corrida, em nome da amizade. Foto: Acervo Pessoal/GRACIEMAG

Numa competição de Jiu-Jitsu, três palavras estão sempre presentes: superação, amizade e homenagem.  Elas também se encaixam na história que vamos contar a seguir.

Competidor de triatlo, o casca-grossa Fabio Samuel Ávila, o “Lixo”, treinava forte para disputar seu primeiro Iron Man – a Copa do Mundo da modalidade – até que uma fatalidade passou pelo seu caminho em alta velocidade. Em julho último, Fabio sofreu um acidente de carro em São Paulo, e está em coma até hoje.

Com o acidente, o praticante de Jiu-Jitsu Ricardo Landim “Foquinha” (Ryan Gracie) e o amigo Caco Figueiredo resolveram levar a cabo uma homenagem e tanto: decidiram competir o Iron Man Brasil, em Floripa, no lugar do parceiro de todas as horas.

Foram oito meses de treinos, luta e sofrimento transformados em homenagens, dedicação e esperança. No fim de maio, data da prova, mais de 20 amigos foram para Florianópolis para torcer por eles, todos com camisetas lembrando o nome de Fabinho e a frase “Juntos somos fortes”.

Foquinha aproveitou o momento para lembrar o falecido mestre Ryan Gracie, também com seu logo estampado na camisa da competição, bem no peito.

“Durante vários momentos da prova, o faixa-preta Foca correu ao lado do irmão Foquinha, dando mais força para ele acabar a prova”, conta outro amigo, Leandro. “Enquanto isso, o Lixo estava no hospital, em São Paulo, mas também vestido com o uniforme da equipe, torcendo de alguma forma. Após muita emoção, dor e cansaço, ambos terminaram a prova”.

Ricardo Foquinha (tempo de prova: 12h44min) e Caco (14h58min) terminaram a prova e já sabiam o que fazer. “Agora chega de corrida e pedal, só Jiu-Jitsu de novo”, gritou Foquinha, ao cruzar a linha de chegada.

“Eu e Foquinha tivemos a maior e mais dura experiência pessoal de nossas vidas, que foi completar o Iron Man Brasil 2012. O corpo chega ao seu limite e só o apoio de pessoas especiais levam você a seguir adiante. Amamos você, Fabio”, comentou Caco, o mais novo faixa-branca da equipe Ryan Gracie, e desde já um dos mais guerreiros.

Athletes at Iron Man Brasil, held in Florianópolis: around 4km swimming, 180km biking and 42km running, in the name of friendship. Photo: Personal archive/GRACIEMAG

There are three ever-present words at Jiu-Jitsu championships: overcoming, friendship and tribute. They also fit the bill for the story we’re about to tell.

A competitive triathlete, Fabio Samuel “Lixo” Ávila was training hard to enter his first Iron Man competition – the World Cup of the sport – until he had a high-speed run-in with fate. Last July, Fabio suffered a car accident in São Paulo and is in a coma to this day.

Because of the accident, Jiu-Jitsu practitioner Ricardo “Foquinha” Landim of Ryan Gracie academy and friend Caco Fiqueiredo decided to pay their unfortunate chum quite a tribute: they decided to enter the Iron Man Brazil competition in the city of Florianópolis in their partner’s place.

They transformed eight months of training, battling and suffering into an homage, dedication and hope. At the end of May, when the race took place, over 20 friends traveled to Florianópolis to cheer for them, all wearing T-shirts with Fabio’s name and the phrase “Together we’re strong” emblazoned on them.

Foquinha took the opportunity to remember the late master Ryan Gracie, whose face also featured on the competition T-shirt, right on the breast.

“Several times during the race Foca ran alongside his brother Foquinha, egging him on so he would finish,” recounted another friend of theirs, Leandro. “Meanwhile, Lixo was still in the hospital in São Paulo, but also wearing the team uniform, in some way cheering for them. After plenty of emotion, pain and fatigue, both completed the race.”

Ricardo Foquinha (clocked time: 12 hours and 44 minutes) and Caco (14 hours and 58 minutes) finished the race and knew just what to do. “Now enough of running and pedaling, back to just Jiu-Jitsu,” shouted Foquinha as he crossed the finishing line.

“Foquinha and I had the biggest and toughest personal experience of our lives, which was to complete Iron Man Brazil 2012. The body reaches its limit, and only the support of special people can get you to forge ahead. We love you, Fabio,” said Caco, the latest white belt on team Ryan Gracie, also one of the team’s biggest warriors.

Scarlett Johansson as the "Black Widow" in Iron Man 2: she'd be quite fetching in a gi, don't you thing? Photo: Paramount/publicity.

If you’ve been doing a good job of managing your time and made regular trips to the cinema, you’re surely among the dozens of millions of movie-goers who’ve seen this epic scene, where Scarlett Johansson submits a wise-cracker in the blockbuster movie “Iron Man 2”.

In preparing for her role as a sensual spy and skilled scrapper, Scarlett took to training boxing, pro-wrestling (with the help of cables for the insane flying moves), and of course MMA and Jiu-Jitsu—as it turns out, a martial art that the leading man of the movie, Robert Downey Jr., has been an enthusiast of ever since starring in “Sherlock Holmes.”

DOUBLE ATTACK IN THE RING

It happens that the GRACIEMAG.com team, having been toiling away to revamp the site to better serve you, didn’t pay that much attention to the 2010 movie based on the popular comic book character. We dropped the ball, while the heart throb landed a sweet  double attack, trapping the arm and pressuring the neck—great stuff.

There’s always time to redeem ourselves and make right, though, as the wise masters teach us.

At the 55-second mark of the video below, Scarlett pulls off the aforementioned sub. The next video down shows the bombshell in training.

“We shot the fight scenes in four days, but we spent months training for it,” recalled Scarlett at the time. “She was a strong and independent character, who reminded us women that we don’t have to always be fragile, that it’s nice to kick people’s butts every now and again. I loved it.”

Now if you, dear reader, agree that she has a knack for the sport, comment below and let us know at which school you feel she should continue her Jiu-Jitsu studies.

Any remarks like, “Today’s training is at my house!” will be promptly removed. Gawking and ogling is fine, just don’t lose your composure.