A master and a machine

It all comes down to love. Coming from a man built like a professional rugby player with hands that look like they could be used in place of an industrial vice-grip, this might be hard to swallow. Spend 10 minutes listening to Roberto Abreu explain how he won 14 world titles in the gruelling grappling sport of Brazilian jiujitsu (BJJ), however, and it all starts to make sense.
Listen for an hour as he explains his extraordinary focus. How he built his worldwide network of Brazilian jiujitsu gyms and earned the nickname, ‘Cyborg’. You’ll be impressed. Maybe even think of quitting your job, selling your stuff and buying a one-way ticket to Miami just to train with the man himself.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s jiujitsu, doesn’t matter if it’s medicine, doesn’t matter if you’re a lawyer. Anything you really love to do and you do it from the bottom of your heart, you’re going to be successful at it. If you don’t think about the money, if you just think about your love, just think that you believe in what you’re doing, there’s no way you’re not going to be successful at it. Just looking at what you’re going to get back from it is empty,” Abreu says.
That’s not to say that Abreu is some sort of globetrotting, hug-giving, Anthony Robbins-style inspirational speaker cashing in on past glories and leaving the blood, sweat and tears to everyone else. Far from it. First and foremost Abreu is a fighter.
Let’s start with the nickname.
Cyborg is not tough like you or I think we are after watching Rocky for the 37th time. Neither is he tough like the big fella in the gym who warms up with weights you’d need help from a family member to move. He’s not even tough like that gnarly, older guy in your martial arts class who looks like he’s gone 10 rounds with a cement mixer and come out the better of the scrap.
He’s from a whole different world of tough.
“I got in a car accident in 2000,” he explains. “I wrecked the car and it landed on top of me, smashed my arm. I got over 300 stitches. It was pretty bad. The doctors said I wouldn’t be able to move my arm again. Within four months I took second in the Brazilian nationals.”
His almost inhuman powers of recovery have become legend.
Recently, Abreu visited one of his protégés, John Eustace, in the Fight Sports Clare gym in Ennis. He was passing through the county on the way back from the ADCCs – the world cup of competitive grappling that takes place every two years – where he took third place in the over 99kg category. 
Fighting under adverse condition s seems to be a regular feature of Cyborg’s life as he went into the ADCCs with three significant shoulder injuries.
“I got hurt in August. I have three tears in my right shoulder [one in his rotator cuff]. l probably wasn’t even supposed to fight. So just to be able to fight was a victory,” he explains.
“The doctor said ‘you need surgery right now’. Two weeks before, I couldn’t even sit up in bed by myself but I said, ‘no, I’m doing it. How much worse can it get? It can’t, I already have a total tear. It can’t get worse. So the day after, I put it in my mind that I was fine, I was able to move my arm.
“I was always like that. I believe in myself over anybody.
“I always tell my guys, ‘winning is an attitude. Being a champion is an attitude. You don’t just win something, you’re a champion in life. Excuses are only for losers and impossible is just a word.”
“I came from a place that doesn’t have jiujitsu. I never had a teacher. I taught myself. That’s why I’m so happy to see John doing this work because what he’s doing here is exactly where I came from.
“When I graduated from college I wanted to do jiujitsu. I come from a well-off family. All my friends had a lot of money. I didn’t because I chose to teach jiujitsu. In my head I kept thinking, ‘I can do it’.
“I had no idea what was about to happen to me. I had no idea I would go to the US. I had no idea I would be successful the way I am.”
It’s easy to be suspicious of Abreu’s ideas. Sneer off his belief in himself and the power of hard work, dedication and clean living as platitudes or fortune cookie advice fit for the back of a Special K box. But to hear the man speak, see his conviction and then feel, at his offering, the bit of his collar bone that wobbles, the sliver of shoulder that moves inappropriately and it’s impossible to doubt him.
When he was 26 Abreu made the move from Brazil to Miami taking the first steps toward building what has become his Fight Sports empire. Despite enduring some tough times initially, it was a pivotal moment in both his career as an athlete and his life.
“When I came to Miami I didn’t have one friend. For the first three months I didn’t have one student. I’d sit by myself on the mat. I had nobody to train, I had nobody to talk to. I slept on the mat for six months. I’d wake up and train like crazy by myself and then I’d  go to these competitions in the US and beat everybody and then people started to ask, ‘who’s this guy?’ That’s how I started.”
He started teaching in 2002 after he had earned his purple belt. It’s a role he takes seriously, trying to give his students, particularly those further afield like John Eustace, both the encouragement and the example that he never had on his way up in the art.
“I try to be as good as I can be every day. I never had anyone to tell me to go train. I go train by myself. Some days when I had nobody to train with I would run on the streets, I would do my push-ups, I would do whatever. Having these guys today, like John, going down the same path I went years ago is beautiful. I get so excited for him.”
While Roberto was surprised to see his name spread to the west coast of Ireland – there are 10 gyms around the world that bear the Fight Sports brand – he never had any doubt his name was in safe hands.
“When John came to me and said he would like to open a gym and do it in my name? I said ‘hell yeah! That’s awesome’. I was proud of him. He’s a really nice guy. A really straight character. The main thing I look for from my guys is the character. I was sure that I was giving my blessing to someone worthy of the name.”
“I don’t think of Brazilian jiujitsu just as a martial art, I think that a big part of it is the lifestyle. That’s what differentiates from all the other martial arts. When I introduce it to my students, I tell them that jiujitsu’s the most comprehensive martial art for self-defence in the world and it’s going to bring you a totally different lifestyle,” he said.
“The health culture is not big here. That is the biggest challenge to John. To create a different culture of exercise and health. Jiujitsu, either you love it or you hate it. A lot of people can’t take it.
“They say, ‘no, that’s not for me, I can’t hug guys. I can’t have people on top of me. Whatever the reason is, for a lot of people it’s not for them. But for the ones that love it, they love it. It goes through their blood.”
The lessons BJJ teaches about living and dealing with pressure – both physical and mental – apply to more than just grappling mats.
Says Roberto, “The main thing is not the money, it’s the change that you can make to other people’s lives. John Eustace has a great mission, to teach people how to be healthy and how to like themselves better and fight better for a better life.
“Patience is the most important thing a jiujitsu player can have. It’s a long-term sport. If you want to beat someone, you’ve got to have patience. You’ve got to wait for the right time.
“I don’t care about winning, I care about fighting. I care about giving 100% of myself. It’s too easy for people to give up. Too easy to say, ‘no man, I can’t’.
“What you should be saying is, ‘I can, I can do whatever I want in my life’. The only one who stops you from doing things in your life is yourself, nobody else.”