Ricardo Liborio - 6th Degree BJJ Black Belt

Ricardo Liborio is a top black belt in jiu-jitsu under Master Carlson Gracie. He is a leader of the American Top Team and Brazilian Top Team Academy. Liborio is also the CEO of Martial Arts Nation and the instructor of jiu-jitsu classes at the University of Central Florida. In 1996, Liborio was the first World BJJ athlete in the super heavyweight division.

Ricardo Liborio was born on 13th July 1967 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the age of 4 years, Liborio first practiced Judo and after a year, participated in a competition. Liborio was also trained in the Tae Kwon Do in the early few years of his life. Liborio’s initial training took place at Carlson Gracie Academy in Copacabana. Carlson Gracie and his brother, Rolls Gracie taught in this academy. Rolls Gracie died due to a paragliding accident a few months after Liborio’s joining the team. Carlson Gracie’s amazingly flourished Liborio’s BJJ career and trained him as a skilled athlete.

On the students' demand, Carlson Gracie signed a contract that mentioned that Liborio would get permission to receive 30% of his athlete's purses. There was only one condition, he needed to return to Brazil a month before the competitions to teach his students. Meanwhile, Liborio moved to compete in the ADCC Top Submission Wrestling Championship. After moving back, Liborio went to Japan where he received the shocking news that Liborio together with several other students had been expelled from the Carlson Gracie school. Liborio flew to Chicago to solve this matter by a discussion but Carlson refused to resolve this.

Ricardo Liboro moved back to Rio and developed a new team named “Brazilian Top Team” (BTT). Ricardo Liborio, “Bebeo” Duarte, and various other strongest fighters then started teaching jiu-jitsu there.

When Ricardo Liborio was preparing the Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira “Minotauro” for his battle against Mark Coleman in Japan, he received a proposal from a Japanese fight promoter. Liborio was asked in a proposal to teach the Japanese athletes for 6 months by staying there. Liborio found this proposal exciting and promised the sender to think about this. Meanwhile, he moved to America to train his friend Murilo Bustamante who was going to fight against Chuck Liddell. Surprisingly Liborio received another proposal from American impresario, Dan Lambert. When Lambert heard about Liborio’s Japanese proposal, he immediately sent the counter-proposal to him. He wanted the Ricardio to spend some time in Florida. Liborio was completely impressed by this proposal and then decided to stay there for a long. That was the main time when Liborio purchased the name American Top Team (ATT).

Ricardo Liborio deeply loves his wife and daughters. One of his daughters, Bella is blind and suffering from the medical condition craniosynostosis. Along with his family, Liborio always admires his students and considers them as his family. He loves to give vacation events, and Brazilian BBQs and assisted them in their useful alteration to more better and caring males and females.

Ricardo Liboro always loved to compete against the fighters having higher-weight divisions. Liborio excellently showcased his grappling skills and conquered numerous titles at various tournaments. In 1996, Liborio secured the winning position against the super heavyweight Champion, Leo Castello Branco. Based on his victory, Liborio was awarded the title “Most Technical Black Belt”. He also won the 2015 ADCC Super Fight Tournament. In 2009, Liborio was nominated as the "Coach of the Year" for the Fighters Only World MMA Awards. Liborio’s name is also included in the list of Florida Mixed Martial Arts Hall of Fame!!

After his daughter Bella was diagnosed with craniosynostosis which led to visual impairment at the age of 1½ years, Liborio initiated a community outreach program through the American Top Team (ATT). This academy provides judo learning classes to visually disabled students.

Ricardo Liborio had a great belief in backup plans for BJJ competitions and self-defense.

He always guides his students regarding alternative plans as there is a possibility that the best techniques can fail at the desired moment. A fighter should be aware of the implementation of backup plans with supreme confidence.

Mike Tyson, a famous American boxer had a saying, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." These words of Mike are the true representation of wisdom which in turn is the main reason why instructors of martial arts always pay attention in teaching their students the importance of backup plans in a competition.

Liborio always conducted special classes for their students where he explained the necessity and significance of backup plans. Liborio shared a few words that perfectly resonate with all forms of martial arts experts.

Ricardo Liborio’s file comprised two major goals which included martial arts training and assisting others in elevating their life standards by promoting the training benefits. He said:

Teaching jiu-jitsu is a gift and a privilege. Note that striking and grappling you can learn in arts originating from any corner of the globe - there is wrestling in Mongolia, there is hitting in India, there is grappling in every corner of Europe. But high-level ground fighting, with guard and efficient finishes, only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Once BJJ legend Ricardo Liborio explained in an interview why should learn to lose in BJJ. He said:

There is an extensive list of Liborio’s students who have trained under him but two students are highly renowned which includes:

Ricardo Arona was a student and teammate of Ricardo Liborio. Before the ATT developments, Ricardo prepared the Arona for various fights. In the late ’90s, Arona won the World BJJ Championship twice and then in 2000, Arona was the winner in ADCC. Before the retirement, Arona secured a 14-5 record in mixed martial arts.

Before training under Ricardo Liborio, Murilo was a training partner of him at Carlson Sr’s coaching institute. Murilo learned a lot from Liborio in jiu-jitsu and MMA competitions. Liborio also organized various training camps for Murilo. Due to the results of his training under Liborio, Murilo won the 2000 ADCC Championship and the 1999 BJJ World Championship.

In the 1996, World Championship, Ricardo Liborio faced the Marcelo Figueiredo. Liborio stunned the audience with the shocking Armbar technique that he applied against Figueiredo. With this move, Liborio won the match.

In the 1996, World Championship, Ricardo Liborio also secured the victory against the Remco Pardoel. By applying the Armbar technique, Liborio won the match and was declared as winner.

In the 2001 ADCC Championship, Liborio competed against the Kiyoshi Tamura. Liborio won the match by applying the Armbar technique.

RICARDO LIBORIO VS RICARDO AMERICANO Brasileiro 1995 | Old School Jiu Jitsu Match

Ricardo Liborio vs Castello Branco

JUDO Black Belt Tries To Break RICARDO LIBORIO fingers and pays the price!

Ricardo Liborio vs Ikuhisa Minowa

Adcc 2015 - Super Luta - Mario Sperry Vrs Ricardo Libório

Photo Credit: @liboriobjj