Living in a small fisherman’s village in the Brazilian state of Rio
Grande do Norte, the 13-year-old born Janigleison Herculano Alves
decided he wanted to be a fighter after watching classic martial
arts flick “Bloodsport” on television. At that time, there were no
martial arts studios in his small district, so he boarded a bus to
Mossoro about 40 km (25 miles) away, where he was welcomed by
professional fighter Assuerio
Silva.
After the boy explained that he wanted to be a pro fighter, Silva
quickly strapped on his gloves. Silva then instructed Tibau to lay
on his back and try to escape from mount, all while Silva was
clubbing the young lad in the face with surprisingly heavy
ground-and-pound. Any normal child would be traumatized, never
passing by any martial arts academy again, but not the little
Gleison
Tibau.
“I got so deformed that I couldn’t return home,” Tibau reminisced
to Sherdog. “Otherwise, my mother would be really mad. So, I stayed
in Mossoro and returned to train the following day.”
Two years later, Silva put his valiant disciple in a Vale Tudo
event, and Tibau emerged victorious. Many years have passed since
then, and today, the 38-year-old Tibau still feels that fighting
brings the biggest pleasure of his life. With an over 50-bout
professional career, including 28 of those Ultimate Fighting Championship, Tibau has
reinvented his career following his 2018 release on the heels of
four consecutive losses.
After beating Efrain
Escudero at Golden Boy’s inaugural 2018 MMA card and submitting
Will
Brooks at Battlefield FC 2 the following year, the Brazilian
was picked up by the Professional Fighters League to compete in its
upcoming welterweight grand prix. Although he lost his PFL debut to
Joao
Zeferino, he topped ex-Bellator MMA champion Rory
MacDonald in a contentious split decision. Less than two months
later, he returned to the cage to put Micah
Terrill to sleep with an arm-triangle choke, and hopes that he
could serve as an alternate in case one of the finalists gets
hurt.
“I’m feeling better than ever,” Tibau explained. “I’m smarter,
stronger and now able to perform in my natural weight division. So,
I truly believe that my best is yet to come.”
Fighting two months apart thanks to the closely billed PFL events,
this league forces him to always be in shape. An opportunity could
arise at any time, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, fights can
drastically change on a moment’s notice.
“Forget about camp mentality,” Tibau said flatly. “In PFL, you
gotta be ready all season. In my first fight, the opponents were
changed three times; the last one, against Micah, five times. Also,
Ray
Cooper III [showed a false-positive test for COVID-19] and [PFL
President] Ray Sefo called
me immediately to be ready to face Rory again. To tell you the
truth, I love that adrenaline, it makes me remember my Vale Tudo
times. I’m training harder than ever and ready to substitute anyone
in the final.”
After fighting three times in the span of a few months, Tibau said
that, in 12 years with the UFC, he never made as much money in such
a short time. With his sights set on a million-dollar check either
this season or next, Tibau is closely watching the welterweight
final that will take place in October. When asked to choose a
favorite between Cooper and Magomed
Magomedkerimov, the American Top Team fighter believed his
teammate Magomedkerimov has more ways to win.
“I got really impressed by Cooper’s evolution,” Tibau stated. “He
surprised Rory by playing a totally different tactical game.
[Magomedkerimov] already submitted him in 2018, but I think it’s
going to be a different fight. In my opinion, this fight will be
decided by wrestling; [Magomedkerimov] is a better wrestler, I
think he will get the one million [dollar] prize. I told
[Magomedkerimov] that he [has to be champion this year, because
next year the title will be mine.”
A few other teammates of Tibau at ATT remain in this tournament,
and he believes each of them – Raush
Manfio at lightweight, Antonio
Carlos Jr. at light heavyweight and Bruno
Henrique Cappelozza at heavyweight – should all be favored
slightly. However, the only category he had no doubt to point a
clear winner is at women’s lightweight.
“I don’t see anyone [beating] Kayla
[Harrison],” Tibau said without question. “[The] other day, we
did some drills and I got really impressed by her strength. I never
trained with women so strong in my life. I think it’s gonna be
difficult today for someone to stop her. She will be champion again
for sure.”
The conversation then drifted to one of other active competitors in
the sport, leading to him discussing old opponents he has faced.
With the experience of having battled both Khabib
Nurmagomedov and Islam
Makhachev, the Brazilian weighed in on his countryman Rafael dos
Anjos, who is preparing to take on the aforementioned
Makhachev.
“When Poirier went to fight Khabib, I told him to train a lot of
wrestling, but he just trained striking,” said Tibau. “When I
fought Khabib, I never trained so much wrestling in my life, that’s
why I was able to block all his takedown attempts and even take him
down. Train[ing] in Brazil without top wrestlers, to face
Makhachev, is not the smart choice [for] RDA.”
A perpetually smiling Tibau was happy to discuss almost any topic
that came up, ranging from former foes to teammates and upcoming
hopes. The only subject that he avoids discussing is
retirement.
“[American Top Team head coach] Dan Lambert already said that he
would bring me to be a trainer, just like he did to [Thiago
Alves], but I don’t want to think about that right now. I truly
feel I’m passing through the best moment of my career. Believe me,
I’ll be the welterweight champion of the PFL 2022 season,” Tibau
concluded.