Evaldo Lima Martial Arts | IBJJF World Gold Medalist in Jiu-Jitsu

Jose Flores Interviews Jiu-Jitsu legend Prof. Evaldo Lima about his inspiring career and journey in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Prof. Evaldo is a direct Black Belt under Royce and Rodrigo Gracie.

Evaldo was in the Brazilian Airforce, he knows first-hand the effectiveness of jiu jitsu in self defense & combat.   He is also an IBJJF Gold Medalist as well as in other leagues.  Prof. Evaldo is still active in competing and teaches world-wide. He was appointed as one of the Board Members  of Kuwait's International Jiujitsu league due to the knowledge and passion of the art. He opened Neutral Grounds jiu jitsuin Long Beach in Dec 2003. Neutral Grounds  currently has 9 Black Belts under Prof. Evaldo Lima. 

• Royce Gracie’s Sparring partner during the days of Pride, K-1, UFC.
• IBJJF- Gold medalist in World.
• Pan Ams, European, Long Beach, Dallas, Las Vegas, Best of the West, Grappler’s Quest.
• Appointed Board member of Kuwait’s International ’ jiu jitsu Federation.

Interested in training with Evaldo Lima, visit him at Neutral Grounds Jiu Jitsu

Episode Transcript

Jose Flores (00:00):
Hello everyone.
Welcome to the word kick in thepodcast where I get the
privilege to talk to the legendsand warriors of the martial arts
world. Today I'm being joined bymultiple time world master
champion in gi and nogicompetition patnem champion and
European champion. He is a thirddegree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black
belt under hoys. And RodrigoGrazie, Mr. Ubaldo Lima, Sir,
how are you?

(00:22):
Good, good. How are you today?
I'm doing well. Thank you somuch. So for the people that
don't know you tell us a littlebit about yourself?

Evaldo Lima (00:30):
Well, I was born and raised in Brazil, the city
called Goiania. It's a center ofBrazil, on center line in the
middle of Brazil. It's about 200kilometers from Brazil to
capital,

Jose Flores (00:45):
or and okay. And you, obviously you live there
for most of your life.

Evaldo Lima (00:51):
Yes, I lived over there. I left the Brazil when I
was 21 years old, or so. Yes. SoI left Brazil, I actually I
hitchhike from Brazil, to theUnited States, you know, so
like, I always had this thingthat I wanted to go somewhere.

(01:13):
That's why most of the time whenI get in trouble with my mom, my
father, my mom, because my dadpassed away. It was eight years
old. So then I had like sixbrothers and sisters. Wow, I'm
the youngest one. So I would getin trouble a lot because I would
just take off and disappear. Youknow, just kind of explore, you

(01:35):
know, it was different times,different times. And I had like
a friend will say that we werecousins. Because we're I know
him seeds were like, I don'tkindergarten like five years
old. You know, he wasn't aneighbor. Let's see is five
years old. We always went toschool together. Then we kind of

(01:57):
lost touch during the highschool. All right, you know,
Carlos Carlos, his name. Andthat's what like I always wanted
to go somewhere some Dan joinedthe airforce right after high
school in Brazil, so I can gobecome a pilot. But it didn't
work out like that.

Jose Flores (02:19):
How was your? How was your Airforce experience
that numbers? Oh,

Evaldo Lima (02:23):
it was good. As a matter of fact, as soon as I
went to enlist and on to get tothe Air Force, because we are
have to do the mandatorymilitary. Alright, Brazil.

Jose Flores (02:33):
Yeah.

Evaldo Lima (02:34):
So on the year that you turn 18 Yeah, everybody has
to do it. And you can do like atest and then you go to like the
Air Force, the Navy, you knowMarines are and if you don't do
anything, they throw you anarmy. Oh, there you go. So when

(02:55):
I went to the the like the theTAs and all the qualifications
to go to the Air Force.
Actually, I saw Carlos that Ihad lost in touch for about
three or four years. And then wehaven't seen each other and I
saw him over there. Becausewe're the same age and and then
we, you know, we actually servedtogether all that time, we ended
up going to the Air Forcepolice. You know, I get I'm

(03:17):
actually I got to fly a lot, butnot pilot. Oh, no, no, just
flying all over the, you know,the state. Actually, the way
they work there. Where we areposted. We took care of two
states. Let's say the Presidentwas going to fly somewhere.

(03:40):
You're gonna do something onthose show states. We will fly
there. And we take the security.
That's what we did. I was an AirForce, but I was an infantry
officer. Okay, understand. Sothen we need a lot of like, you
know, like, Man combat, somefighting some guns, a lot of
that stuff.

Jose Flores (04:00):
And you're not doing jujitsu at that time? No.

Evaldo Lima (04:04):
I did actually karate. Oh, are here. You know,
when I was a kid because mybrother was into karate. karate,
and I still remember the name ofthe school and the teacher. The
name of the school. That was thename of the teachers. It was
fugi Yamaguchi. Yes. That wasthe, the, the guy that the main

(04:26):
instructor. He is a school wascalled to Yamaguchi. karate, and
that's

Jose Flores (04:31):
it. Yes. Yes. All right. Yes. So there was a lot
of Japanese at the time. A

Evaldo Lima (04:35):
lot of Japanese my neighbors of Japanese own when
I'm growing up to I had a goodfriend. You know, he was I would
say his last name was I thinkwas what an ad whatnot. Yeah,
all right. Yes. My name was NellBoone. Watanabe, so we, you
know, his father kind of like weused to mess around a lot. You

(04:58):
know, fighting All this stuff.
That's what we did in Brazil.
And Carlos actually he was injudo,

Jose Flores (05:05):
or was he?

Evaldo Lima (05:06):
Yeah, he was in judo, he joined nano judo. He
was like up to brown belt tojudo. Wow. So when we went to
the Air Force, I kind of getintroduced to the grappling kind
of thing in there, because thenwe have to do some training. All
right. And we had some peopleover there that did the

(05:28):
teaching, but at the time, likededuce was not one of it. You
know, at the time, it waskarate. They were always
thinking about karate, andTaekwondo, Taekwondo, Taekwondo
was the big thing at the time.
Really? Yes. Because people likethat cakes, the you know, all
the stuff the cat has, and nowthe suit was pretty cool. So but

(05:48):
I got introduced a little bit,but I wasn't, nobody said, Oh,
this is digital. Understand?
Yeah. It was like, Oh, this isJudo or this is like, Valley
today, you know, they'll say,okay. So then right after that,

(06:08):
you know, I get out of there forus. And I got a job and then
stopped working and was like,Okay, this is not what I want.
And that's when Carlos and Ihave So okay, yeah, let's go to
United States. Okay. Cool. Sothen we kind of, you know, back
back.

Jose Flores (06:26):
Yeah, just talk to us just

Unknown (06:29):
go north.

Jose Flores (06:30):
How I mean, I don't know. I don't know if it's too
personal. But how was thatexperience?

Evaldo Lima (06:35):
Well, it's it will, it was amazing. What happened,
because I get to see and dothings that it's incredible. But
I would, it was very dangerous,though. Why? Because it was
there was 1987 1986 end of1986 1987, something like that.

(06:57):
I don't remember the dates verymuch. But it's it's all it was
that time. Because I was on theAir Force. And I 84 you know,
and then it was about the outsabout 8687. One that I that I
left. And we just like you said,Just gonna aim north. So I was

(07:18):
on the center of Brazil. So wego up north, and we end up on
Amazon and owned the capital.
And then I saw like, I see I sawso many things. So beautiful
back then there was incredible.
So we have like seven days on aboat from the capital of Manaus,

(07:40):
which is the capital of Amazon.
All right, you know, the stateof Amazon, and which is an a
force for Amazon. And you go upriver, all the way to Colombia.
What? When we get to Colombia,and it was a cargo ship boat, so
the boat would stop andeverywhere to deliver stuff or

(08:01):
mail everything, you know, itwas pretty interesting. It was
pretty cool. Oh, and you'regoing up river. They're playing
to Bogota. And then bus, thingslike that. And during that time,
it was the same time that youknow, a lot of things was
happening in Colombia to SouthAmerica as the time that no Baba

(08:24):
Escobar. The man

Jose Flores (08:32):
was doing crazy.

Evaldo Lima (08:33):
So it's a big big it's a long journey was took
about about a year and a half,almost two years to get to the
nights to get to yes, really?
Yeah. Only thing we had it wasthe visa. We had the visa for
the you know, to come to thecountry. Yeah, you know, but we
didn't have you know, no moneydidn't know any English or

(08:56):
Spanish. Or you because they'regonna days we watch like, watch
the cowboy movies. Alright. Andthey like, oh, they're talking
Spanish, but they're nottalking. He's talking.

Jose Flores (09:11):
Oh,

Evaldo Lima (09:13):
like, but they would speak on on television.
Portuguese with some accent, youknow, when they double? So we
could understand and I reallythought that was a Spanish
accent. Yeah, well, when I firstsaw, you know, heard someone
speak Spanish. I was like, Whatthe heck is he saying I have no

(09:36):
idea. And I didn't know thatSpanish from Colombia is
different from the Spanish fromPanama is different from the
Spanish from

Jose Flores (09:45):
Guatemala. tamala.

Evaldo Lima (09:46):
Dora, Mexico, my God, one of the Mexico City I
couldn't understand attain, theywere talking really as they
spoke so fast. There was like,Oh, my head hurts.

Jose Flores (10:00):
Yes.

Evaldo Lima (10:01):
But then we finally made it here, you know, to the
United States. That was1988 1988. I remember it was
August 1988. All right.

Jose Flores (10:13):
So yeah, you made it to the US. You only have a
visa and you said a backpack?
Yeah. How do you manage?

Evaldo Lima (10:20):
So I had a friend that he had come to the United
States, maybe three, four monthsbefore he stopped in Mexico talk
and then he came to the UnitedStates. And then he would
communicate with a family inBrazil, saying that, you know,

(10:40):
all we're here, you know, we gota job or some people are helping
us a lot of Brazilians here.
And, and can I okay, so we gotin touch in Brazil, say, we want
to go back. We're gonna gothere. And because, you know,
Mexico was, it was good, youknow, for that time. Yeah. But
it was not a thing that wewanted. Our like, we're a goal
is to come to the US here, youknow, so yeah, it was like,

(11:03):
Okay, so let's just, you know,let's go. So actually, we took a
bus, and we went to Milan,middle to the city, Juarez. All
right. Yeah. See that? What sothat we cross it? You know? And
then we'll Okay, so where is it?
Oh, he's in Santa Ana was awareSanta. Sometimes California,

(11:28):
like, Where's California? Right.
Good. Like, Oh, man. So we hadto get a bus all the way from El
Paso. Santa Ana, that, you know,Oh, my God. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah.
So it was good, Tim, because weget to see the whole, you know,
oh, wait till way through it.
Yeah. And so we went when we gotto Santa Ana, he was at a

(11:53):
church. All right. And thepasture over there, the church,
there was kind of helping, youknow, them out with jobs and all
this stuff. And also it was theykind of took us into and on. So
we have a place to stay. Andfood, you know, they will give

(12:13):
us a like spaghetti. Oh, youknow, every day, we get it
because it was donating to thechurch spaghetti. Oh, and not
the middle sauce. Notice justjust the pastor. What

Jose Flores (12:28):
just passed and

Evaldo Lima (12:29):
they would be they would, there's a lot of things
that happened there too. So itwas okay. It was good. I was
grateful. I was grateful that Ihad a place to stay, you know,
and, and they kind of like helpthose. More. We came, we went to
like a prayer, you know, and I'mgot to meet another person,

(12:50):
which is important to you know,that for me to hear this Arthur?
Arthur. Yeah. Okay. So I got tomeet him. And this was the
craziest guy I ever met. Youknow, like, oh, man, but he was
cool. He was like, and I said,No, I get you a job. I got your
job. Don't worry about it.
You're already working. Don'tworry about it. And he was just
like, they're very, you know.

(13:12):
And then he got my first job.
United States. Our two got myfirst job at McDonald's because
his wife at the time, she was amanager at McDonald's.

Jose Flores (13:24):
Oh, okay.

Evaldo Lima (13:26):
So you know, and we came when we came, we had the
visa. Yeah, when all that stuff,so it was easier because we
could get an ID on driver'slicense and all that. So it was
so and then we met, you know,met Arthur to he got us the job.
You know, like, awesome. And,and that's a big part of that,
because Arthur, he grew up withthe graces. No way in Brazil.

(13:52):
One. And he kept telling us, youknow, they're going to open
school, they're gonna openschool, they're going to open a
school. And this is like, 1988.
So I think they ended up openinga school or 1990. Okay, yeah. In
terms and thought. All right.
Yeah.

Jose Flores (14:10):
And how did you get involved in that? I mean, the,
you know, the crazy name, theyknew who they

Evaldo Lima (14:16):
were. I knew a little bit about it. Everybody
kind of heard but it was no likenow that the internet you can
just see everything you hearbecause, you know, someone that
knows someone that knew someoneI know. And they told about it,
you know, and an artery he hadlike, hold up because he was

(14:36):
you. He was a camera man. Okay,you know, in Brazil, and he was
always filming and all this. Sohe had like a lot of VHS tapes.
And it would go to his house andlike I said, watch this and they
will put the tapes and you know,and show us the videos, fights

(14:57):
and all that stuff, right? Icouldn't appreciate She ate much
because I didn't do that muchlike Carlos did because he was a
doodle and he would sue that seethat any Understand? As you're
gonna see that back in the daywhen someone saw that, you know,
you didn't understand why thepeople are stabbing if you don't

(15:19):
know what's going on it's stillthe karate and the movies is
always like a Bruce Lee andChuck Norris and now that you
know, so everybody will lookforward to the, you know, to the
kicks to the punches to that,you know, so there was not
jujitsu wasn't that thing yet?
You know? Yeah. Intel thecreator the UFC Yeah, you know?

(15:43):
Yeah, they put in the UFC boyscame in exactly, well orian
created the UFC. And they chosehoist to fight. And to prove
that, you know what I see. Verycommon person that because if
you look at boys back in theday, walking on the street, you
just like, you know, I can takehim by buddy, but people don't

(16:08):
didn't know that. Yeah,everybody looked at the muscles
and you know how big the guy wasand and if you met boys in I
mean, Oh, is he see? He was justlike a regular guy. You know,
he's not like, like, go andlike, tough and, you know, he

(16:32):
pauses funny and he's just kindof like a normal because he used
to come sometimes. You know,this is before the UFC you
because you were carrozza starttraining right away actually, as
soon as they open carlesstraining, you know. And art was
there to go there were friendsthere training. And sometimes
they would come in and hang outhere long beach or so have like

(16:53):
a lot of Brazilian parties. Theywould con and everybody was hot.
That's this course. Great. Allthis grace is crazy. ob is this
is before the UFC. Oh my gosh.
And then we're like everybodywas new that Lowe's. Let's not
mess with that guy. But if youlook at it, it was like, yeah. I

(17:17):
think I can take I don't eventry. You can try. You put you in
a knot no best with you. So inthat time, I was working as a
diver actually. Oh, scubadiving. Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah. And I just got married,you know, like, at the time as

(17:44):
well, you know, 1991 All right,you know, so we got married. And
I was doing different things.
Like I was playing soccer on theteam over here, you know, and
everybody was training and I waseven training yet. All right. So
then it was our turn and Carlosthat kind of like, push me to
go, dude, you gotta you gotta doit. You got to do it. Because we
used to kind of look at let'ssee what you got. And we'll go

(18:06):
like, fight them and kind oflike wrestle around and oh, and
Ken knows a bigger guy strongand I'm doing all this stuff. So
I could get away with certainthings. Okay. He tell he start
training. Then for like, the bigevents, okay. But then he got

(18:27):
his blue belt. He's gone. And hegot his purple belt, then that's
it. Wow. Then he would just messme up. And I was like, man, how
can you do that? I was like, oh,then he starts showing me some
stuff. So Dude, I got a train.
And he says you need to trainyou need to stop training. Yeah,

(18:49):
that's when I kind of startedbut it was years later. It was
actually after the UFC. It wasactually was just rough the the
World Cup 1994

Jose Flores (19:00):
Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. That's when you decided
to go on it. And he said, Youknow

Evaldo Lima (19:04):
what, I'm just gonna do it. You know? So then
arten took me over there to theAcademy. You know, Melissa,
okay, let's start but but backin the den. It was you would
choose like one class a week,two classes a week, three
classes a week. And that's onehour class. And then the maths.
You had like 30 4050 people, noclass. It was like,

Jose Flores (19:32):
you know, a lot of people and this was after the
UFC or races that the popularityalready had grown. He was just

Evaldo Lima (19:40):
gone. Yeah. And everybody now knew What's up,
you know, like, okay, you gottado this. You know? There was
like, the challenges, you know,still people go over there. Try
to you know, yeah, no, it was itwas

Jose Flores (19:58):
it was intense.
That's what I'm trying to get itbecause I mean, jujitsu
skyrockets. But I'm pretty surethose people that were I want to
prove myself I want to. So theyou go through any of that,
like, when you were traininglike people that came into like,
Oh, no I could, you know, I'mbetter than you per se.

Evaldo Lima (20:14):
There was always somebody in, you've been in
martial arts a long time. Yes.
So, you know, there's sometimesa person comes in and you start
teaching a move and and thenthey in you kill see if they
like, they keep thinking like,you know, I can beat you. I can
be. I mean, I was like that.

(20:34):
When I first started, I waslike, you know, I can't prove
that I can do it. You know, youknow, the crazy white belts?
Yeah. Everybody goes throughthat. Everybody goes through
that. Like, even now today, youknow, we've been we have a
student that comes in, and hecomes as we call this the crazy
white. So we train with them.
And they're not a bad person.

(20:55):
They're not bad people. No oneis just that's how human beings
are. No, yeah, they want to,they want to win. They want to
they're very competitive. Yeah.
And they come in, and then theyjust want to I know, I want to
show that I can't do this. Yeah,they come in, and sometimes, you
know, they get hurt, sometimesthey get a better with some

(21:16):
other people. But when you getwith someone that have I have
technique, more technique andknows much more knows way more
than, you know, much more thanthey do. They have no chance now
that I know, I'd been there. Youknow, like, the first time that
I, you know, I train with boyswhen I was going to classes in

(21:37):
in this, you know, and, youknow, when you know, you're not
going to call, you know, hireabout to train. But you keep
looking at them kind of like,okay, I want them to you know,
want to prove something, I wantto prove something, you know.
And then the first time it waslike, you know, you playing with

(21:59):
the little kid. It was like, youknow, and I was like it was
like, Man, this is so amazing.
You know, you just kind of likewow, you appreciate a lot and I
like wow. I'm glad to never, youknow, challenge you with outside
of this. There was one time thatwe were all sitting on the mat.

(22:22):
And Hickson was at the Academy,okay, you know, and he was
training with everybody is therewas everybody sitting around
here, and he was in the middle.
And then he would just look theperson would come in and who
train and he would stepeverybody twice. deputized
person, go sit down, come in thetrain, boom. And we're sitting
right there and looking likewow, wow. And then I told

(22:45):
Carlos, go over there, go overthere. He goes, No, no, I'm not
gonna go over there. And thenhe's actually he stopped
training. He's like, Okay, I'mdone. And I kept asking, go
COVID go with what makes anysense. He's finished. He go with
you go. And then he went,Carlos, you know, Professor, can

(23:05):
I, you know, can we start and helook, and so I was done. And he
said, Okay, I'll go with you.
They shook hands and CarlosDepp. What? And I was like, What
happened? And he came, sat downnext to God. And I said, What
happened? And he said, he got mea wrist lock. It was crazy. I

(23:31):
was like, Whoa, why did you askhim to change? That's, that's
crazy. You know? And it was fun.
It wasn't this just like that,you know, you go in you, you
train hard. You know, and butafterwards, everybody's friends.

(23:51):
And if you have a question, theykeep explaining to you. Yeah.
And it was it was fun. And, butI still back in that time, I was
just going over there like,okay, just train, go back home,
do my stuff. I was working. Youknow, like traveling. I like to
travel. So, you know, my wifeand I were like, traveling like

(24:13):
the United States going todifferent places going to
Brazil. Yeah, so it was it wasstill doing the diving thing.
Okay.

Jose Flores (24:27):
Yeah. So you're just I did that for about 15
years. All right. Yeah. Andyou're going up the ranks draw
this time?

Evaldo Lima (24:34):
Yes. So it's little by little, you know, it's
training and then I stopped.
Actually, I did stop for aboutlike, two years. Okay. And I
like to two and a half years,and then I stopped training,
because I was, you know, and Ithink I don't know if it
happened to you in martial arts,but everybody does go like, Oh,
I want to do this because I havesomething else to do it. So you

(24:56):
miss class. And like I wassaying Back in the day, it was
like, okay, your classes and soonce a week or twice a week,
let's say it's Tuesday,Thursday. I'll give an example.
At the time, if you miss theTuesday, you could not go on a
Wednesday. Oh, I understand.
Yeah, it's your days areTuesday, Thursday at 7pm. That's

(25:19):
your day. Wow. Because there'sso many people that you could
not just take people in all thetime. But yeah, so they have to
kind of like have the name isjust like a classroom. You know,
you sign up for classes and yourclasses are like colleges.
Monday, Wednesday, you got to goMonday. Well, then 10am. So

(25:40):
understanding you can Oh, youknow what? I didn't make the
class. Oh, can I make it up?
One? No, Wednesday, one onSaturday? No, no, you can't. So
then you miss a day, okay. Andthen you miss another day, then
you miss a week, then you miss amonth, and then the month become
a year. All right, understand.

(26:01):
And then the year became twoyears. And back in that time,
Carlos had gone back to Brazil.
Oh, he went back to Brazil. AndI'm in and I went to visit
Brazil. And I saw him overthere. So then he, you know, he
lets go to the school. So he wastraining, and Brazil. So we went
to the school train with him.

(26:25):
And then he still, you know,beating me up. And then
everybody over they haven'treally stopped beating me up
pulling resume because I wentwith him in the morning class.
All right. Okay. So then in theafternoon, I was stopped by to
get something. The same guysthat were there in the morning
or during the afternoon waslike, okay, is it Oh, we got to

(26:46):
come back at night because I'mgoing to teach the night class.
Okay, no prob. So I went back atnight, the same guys that were
there in the morning, wasn'tthere in the afternoon. It was
there in the evening. I waslike, No wonder you guys are so
good. That that's that's whatthey do it. Don't go to school,
don't do anything, don't work.
But those guys are verydedicated. And, and then that's

(27:07):
when he told me like, you knowwhat, you're gonna go back
training, you're gonna go backtraining. So when you're not
training, and now I'm nottraining, you know, so why not?
Have a drink for a while, youknow? And I feel, I don't know,
I feel bad going back. You know,I don't understand this. What do
you mean, we feel bad? No, youknow, can I can embarrass, I

(27:30):
don't know, you know, if they'remad at me, or, you know, this, I
know, everything. I know,because it happened to me. And I
know people feel the same way.
And he said something to me likethis. He says, uh, yo, if you go
back to the school, you know,it's gonna be like, you never

(27:50):
left. Everybody's going toembrace your back, man. You
know, especially at the GracieAcademy, you know, with with,
with everybody, the horn boys,all these guys. They're going to
embrace you like, like, whonever left. Just go back. You
know, don't worry. Trust me. AndI'm actually Okay, so I grab our

(28:12):
toe. Let's go over there. So wewent back, you know, and you
know, there was just like that.
It was like a never left. Wow,it was like they were so
welcoming, welcoming. And youknow, where have you been? Man?
Come on. We'll train you knowthis. That's it. No. And that
the moment on it was just keptgoing.

Jose Flores (28:36):
And

Evaldo Lima (28:37):
yeah, and then that's when Ke Ke was still
teaching over there. Master kkey. Oh, no, he was teaching at
the grace Academy. Alright, soSo I took a lot of class. I got
beat up a lot by him. I learneda lot from him. And then he's he

(28:57):
sent it was just a little, youknow, bedroom, and now runs the
school. Oh, yeah. The keikiAcademy and Torrance and lomita
I think he was just a kid wasjust a little tiny, white yellow
belt. You know, like, by thekid, it was like, he was very
dedicated to so he was back andso then then I start training,

(29:20):
you know? Yeah. and kept going.
Now it's a little bit more nowthe way No, I'm gonna do like
three times a week. Okay, andthat type of thing. And they
start having deal deals. Okay,you pay for this much and then
you get like unlimited training.
All right. Oh, man. That's fine.
So it was awesome. So you can goyou know, like, anytime you
want. Yeah, it was it was andthen it did stop popping up

(29:44):
everywhere. You know, but theydidn't have any Long Beach at
the time. No, no, no, no schoolshave like jujitsu long longer.
They have a lot in like OrangeCounty and torrent in torrents
tours, they have a lot, youknow, because then the shadows
are there.

Jose Flores (30:05):
Oh god

Evaldo Lima (30:06):
and yes, my shadow which is their cousins the
gracious cousins voice. So theywere there, you know, and they,
we then we start having morepeople and then that's when they
start like garages were writersyou know because they heard

(30:26):
because the grace actuallystarted on the garage. Oh, there
was a garage horn was thatteaching on the garage then a
garage that's too small theyopen a school, you know. So
everybody okay, there's a grudgeof jujitsu, you know? And I
remember sometimes at Academy,there was a group of guys over
there. They used to go and dothe, they had a T shirt made and

(30:47):
they will train on a garage andthey would say garage jujitsu.
Well, yeah, it was funny. It wasthe same time to there was a
time to have the dog brothers. Idon't know if you heard about
that. Oh, tell me about the thedog brothers. I think the dog
brothers. It was like a stickfight. Alright, but after you've

(31:10):
hit with a stick, you grab themunderstand? Yes. And it was to
do that at a park. But I it wasa tourist area. Because it was
so long ago. Because I rememberwe have a lot of the guys from
the Academy. We finished theSaturday class. Let's go there.
Oh, okay. Well, what are youguys doing? Oh, first time I

(31:31):
went, Whoa. Let's put like some,like hockey gloves. Alright, for
that? Because do we really hiteach other like with a stick
while I'm there was like theextra heating than the clinch,

(31:52):
grapple, and then they startgrappling. I don't understand.
It was like in the park. This isoutside in the park. You know?
And then everybody like bleedingand they'll come up and
laughing. So there was so therewas a lot of going on, but not
that many tournaments. You know,there was another many

(32:14):
tournaments like Joe moraira.
used to do tournaments. Allright, like a field tournament,
and it was tournaments was good.
The Michels tournament, a littletournament. And then at the
Gracie Academy, we did like inhouses

Jose Flores (32:28):
and house. Okay.
Yes, he house tournaments. Allright.

Evaldo Lima (32:33):
And then when we did just that in house, just
inside of the Academy was likeno time limit. And no points. If
it Justin tell someone that.
Yes. And then they they startdoing like the national? Because
then they have a lot ofassociations that are like at
the national tournament, then itwill 30 minutes. 30 minutes, no

(32:54):
points. And then after 30minutes, whoever scored 12
points will win. Understand,yeah, but there was no points
for takedown. It was just nopoints for knee and stomach. It
was the points was passing theguard. mount a take the back.
There was a point. That's it.

(33:18):
There was no advantage nothing.
It's just, you know, becausebesting the guard, it's
dominated position. So ourpoints your mount is a nominator
position. points. taken aback,it's dominated position, you
know, so points. So they didn'tdo your due, didn't do the
takedowns points to avoid peopletaking down come in and take it

(33:44):
down understand. Oh,

Jose Flores (33:47):
got it.

Evaldo Lima (33:48):
Because, you know, the fights on the ground. So
let's go to the ground. Youknow, men keep fighting. Yeah,
you know, that's that's how whatthe tournament's were. Yeah, and
I only did like a few of them inhouse tournament. And did the

(34:09):
Machado tournament? No. Cuz Iremember one was in actually, in
some Peter, I think the last onethat I did for the office. Yes.
And I don't know if it was thelast tournament that they did.
Because after that, a littletremens and stuff popping up
different places. Yes. Yeah.
And, and I'm, like I said, itwas still twice a week, you

(34:32):
know, training three times aweek.

Jose Flores (34:38):
How I mean, now that you go to more tournaments
now with your students, or justyou in general, is there any
difference on the mindset backin the day when you started in
tournament and now or do you seea very similar mindset, like,

Evaldo Lima (34:55):
the mindset I still like, you know, the training
There's still this I think isstill the same people are still
very dedicated the only thingthat now a lot of people can
they know about the other personthey understand that that's what
I'm yeah they can study they cancan see or because now that say

(35:18):
they they see us a certainschool like a like a Salah he
looks at the certain select asale let's say a Gracie bar from
that location who's like struckthem boom is this guy. Oh, they
go and search the instructor andthey can he likes to do this.
You know he is more like somaybe the students like to do

(35:41):
this and and you know the moretournaments you do the more like
higher rank you are the morevideos there is up there. But
then it was you get it. I wantto a tournament in. In San
Diego. area. I have no ideawhere it was. I know is that

(36:02):
area A friend of mine from SanDiego Victor. Alright. Victor
Sanchez, so very good for me. SoI used to train with Fabio
Santos. Okay. So he called meup. I said, Hey, listen, there's
a tournament over here and theyneed someone to fight. Like, do
you want to do it? I was like,Oh, sure. win tomorrow. Oh, no.

(36:26):
It's gonna be nogi Oh, okay. Youknow, so yeah, I'll go. No, no
problem. So he sent me theinformation. And then I drove to
San Diego next day. And I andthen you go over there. You
don't know anybody. The personthat I knew there was there it
was dean Lister was gonna fight.
He was the the main event. Andhe was a purple belt. Yes. So.

(36:48):
So yeah. So you, you know thatKim shamrock was there with the
lions down? So and then I wentin, and I was gonna fight this
guy. Okay, who is this guy? Idon't know who it is. Just okay.

(37:11):
Just got in. Boom. You know,when finish. Come back. Then I
told him and I told like I tooka gun. And then who I said at
times. Oh, yeah. I'm going toSan Diego tomorrow to fight you
know, like, fight. Yeah,jujitsu. It's all okay. Oh, I
thought I was gonna go to a cageand stuff. No, no, no jujitsu
and stuff for submission. Okay.

(37:32):
And um, and then I come back.
And then the Monday when I wastalking to him, he said, Well,
why what happened? So I won. Andhe said, Oh, I know Kimora. Oh,
yeah. Oh, okay. Cuz it was myfavorite movie. Oh. Can we talk
about a favorite movie? Yeah, wego through phases. And back in

(37:52):
the day. I was like, oh, man, Ilove the cameras. So

Jose Flores (38:05):
how was it coming up in the ranks or training with
Jose Rodriguez? Gracie, how wasthat for you? I mean,

Evaldo Lima (38:12):
yeah, what, when I started training with everyone,
you know, I was already a brownbelt.

Jose Flores (38:19):
Okay, so there

Evaldo Lima (38:20):
was already a brown belt on this train. Because he,
he came from he is to live inNew York. Oh, and I'm and he was
training with the handle backthen. Then he, they moved to
California. And then he started,you know, training here with
with hoists and became part ofthe hoist. That's when that's
when I start training blogs.
And, and they were like twodifferent styles. You know,

(38:42):
really, because voice is like,you train with voice. And I
don't know if I mentioned thatto you before, but it's like the
fish. You know, that is likefishing. You're the fish. Yeah.
And he is the fisherman. Okay.
So the fish always thinks theycan get the bait. I'm gonna get

(39:04):
and get up. You know, I'm gonnaget away. I'm gonna get away. So
you keep trying. You keeptrying. So boys just kind of
leans in and you're like, oh,okay, man. I'm doing good. I'm
doing good. I'm okay. Whathappened? You know? So you need
don't know what happened? Yeah,it's just gonna get some. It's
kind of like quicksand. Youknow? And I'm gonna get out. I'm
gonna go Oh, man, I'm gettingdeeper here. Now who do those

(39:29):
different training 103 was likethis? I'm gonna murder you. And
you come in just run you over.
Right? Wow. Oh, my God. Whathappened? Is is like, everything
hurts. Everything hurts. It wasnot No, it was like, wow. Like
it was. And there's that I wouldsay like Hadoop is good for a

(39:53):
memory. Because after you trainwith him, you still think about
him for about three. Four days,because everything hurts on your
body. Oh, my back hurts. Okay,yeah, I tried to do. Oh, let's
see the difference in style. Butit was just kind of like, there
was one time. This was after Ialready had a school, you know,

(40:15):
in, in here Long Beach, okay.
voice was teaching a privatelesson in the front. And then
when I was training, we'retraining in the back, or
training. And all of a sudden,like, we saw there was a voice
in the student kind of likelooking. And I said, what, you

(40:37):
know, and like, I thought youguys were fighting. Because
we're like, going so hard. Sohard. It was fun. We're laughing
because it was like, there wasno like, easy way understand.
Just kind of like, that was abattle. You have to fight for my
life every single day. Everysingle time. But that was, you

(40:58):
know. So great. Because it wasthe two different ways of seeing
what can you do somethingUnderstand? Yeah, you can be
Don't take me wrong. Like, onewas really mad. Oh, he wants to
do it. Oh, he could hurt you. Iwas like, it's just he wasn't a

(41:18):
little bit more nice about it.
You know? It was just like, justthe way he was mad. He was like,
his technique was like, soprecise. So like, boom, there
was you know, he shake your handat hertz. Come on. And that was
the good thing. And that'sbecause I will put my school
like in the end of 2003. Yeah.

(41:42):
And lobby,

Jose Flores (41:44):
demonstrate. Oh,

Evaldo Lima (41:45):
yes, yes. So because voice went back
fighting, all right, in 2000.
And also, he can't stop the UFCfighter back fighting in 2000.
We're still at Academy. And hewould get like a group of
students, you know, at the time,and he would like train, like
sparring partners. So I rememberone day, it was just sitting

(42:07):
there. And and he's like, comehere, come here, come here,
like, pick up. They don't. Andwe went to this small room. And
we start training. Is thattraining? And I was like, wow.
And then he was like, Oh, canyou come? You know? Shooting
times are in danger. Becauseit's like, you know, can you

(42:29):
come like Monday? Wednesday,Friday? 5pm? Sir, oh, yeah, I
know. So we can't train. Then hesays, Can you so you can help me
help you. Of course, you know,like, but it was, of course the
other way around, and you goover there. And like you helping
him, but you're learning somuch, so much, you know. So

(42:49):
we're training, there was a timethat I was me and two other guys
an annual sitting there on amat. And this is the small room
at the Gracie Academy downstairsin one of the private rooms. So
we're training training in horsewould go five minutes, you know,

(43:11):
with me five minutes with theother guy five minutes with the
other guy. And then he he restedfor one minute, then he will
will another five minutes, fiveminutes, five minutes, one
minute. So we'll do that forlike four times. So you
basically would train for forone hour. But on those breaks,
he only had four minute breaksit okay. So and then everybody

(43:36):
else would have what? 16 minuteglass?
And I'm because I would wait 10minutes for you guys to go. Then
I still have one minute. ThenI'll go again for five minutes.
understanding why. So youunderstand how good he was the
guy. Yeah. And you know, his gastank was you know. So I remember

(44:04):
one day we're training. And hewent five minutes with me. Then
he would five minutes with theother guy. And when he was going
to the third guy. He was goinghe just started and then whoring
open the door, the little roomand said, Oh, I'm leaving. Okay,
see you guys. And he locked thedoor. So he pulled the door back

(44:24):
and hoists way, way, way way upthe guy up and ran outside to
talk to horio Oh, you know. Andthen that guy was kind of like,
came and sit next to me and tothe other guy. And he was like,
I think it was. The other guywas john Burke. Okay, it was
john Burke. Yeah. So then hesaid, and he's like, no, like,

(44:49):
run with you. I don't know, man.
He went with you. Five minutesdidn't tap you up with you. Five
minutes didn't interrupt me onless than a minute. And we're
looking at him and like, I'vebeen saying, Do you think that
he didn't tap us out? Because hedidn't? Because he couldn't do
you just a lot that he needs totalk to you more. So that's what

(45:15):
he asked. If he was any of us,you'll be doing the same. And so
it's so you would like him tounderstand so like, the
beautiful thing though, isyou're just so you know, yeah.
So then after that was for thetraining for for actually for
sec robber. Oh, and he foughthim for an hour and 45 minutes.

(45:36):
Oh, my God. Can you imaginefighting? You sit down to watch
a movie? An hour and a half?
Your body hurts. Yeah. Imaginingyou fighting for an hour and a
half.

Jose Flores (45:51):
Oh,

Evaldo Lima (45:54):
crazy. You know, actually, I did that once you
did that? Yeah. at the school?

Jose Flores (45:59):
Oh, tell me about?

Evaldo Lima (46:00):
Yes. All my 50th birthday. 50th birthday, I
invited like 15 you know, Iinvited everybody. So like, I'll
say I'm gonna spark 50 times.
Three minutes, which everywhatever, student so then I did
that for three minutes foraverage for 50 students. So it

(46:25):
was about a two hour and a half.
Spy force. Some went very nicewith me. Some not so nice. You
know? And then, but I rememberthat night, after I got home. I
took the Wii. And I've done thatthe closer which take a shower

(46:48):
when the water hit me like, Ohmy God, my whole body was like,
like raw, like raw. Andactually, who gave me the idea
was calling. Oh, yeah. Cuz hesaid he wanted to do that. You
know, he said he wanted to dothat with his 50th birthday. He
was oh, you know, I'm gonnaspar. 50 of my students with

(47:09):
five minutes. I was like, dude,five minutes is crazy. It's a
lot that I'll do three. I didthree minutes for with 50
students, you know, not juststudents friends and some of my
friends came and then we train.

Jose Flores (47:25):
You know, that is awesome.

Evaldo Lima (47:28):
So that was the, you know, talking about the
training for the shock Robin?
Yeah. Then like, little overthat, you know, after that.
hoists kind of like start doinghis own thing. Okay. And then
from the Academy. And then Ifeel years later I might not but

(47:51):
I was just training mostly withhis garage or trainee at the at
the school in a small tinyschool over there and nano MMA,
which is in that air Moza beach.
Okay. All right. All right. Sowe go over there very tiny. So
nice place, you know, nano islike very good guy. And he was a

(48:12):
stand up coach, and coach at thetime. And in his good friend,
too. So we'll go over there. Andthen we train on at the nanos.
And I've then I opened a school,and I decided to kind of I was
doing the diving, and I wasstill kind of like, going on

(48:37):
seminars with voice. And I'mlike, just just to get more
training and training. And Iwould train with some friends
from different places, you know,different different schools,
we'll get them like goodfriends, then, you know, some of
the friends who was still divingwith me too, when they were like
to introduce Sue, so we gettogether we train. I had a

(48:59):
friend that was he opened aschool in Newport Beach. And
then I would go over there andwe will training and then I kind
of like start teaching one ortwo classes for him, which
cannot help out in on classes. Imean, it was good for me,
because then I was already kindof learning how to teach and how

(49:20):
to do other stuff. Because Iremember the first time you know
you can train and you can show amove to a friend.

Unknown (49:27):
Yeah,

Evaldo Lima (49:27):
but teach the class. That's a different story.
It's kind of like when you'reyou know how to read. Okay,
stand up and read for everybody.
You know, put on your spot, youknow, it's kind of a different
story. So this friend, you know,Giuliano, he he kind of like
helped me with that. Kind oflike they don't teach and kind

(49:51):
of like, help me how to teach toknow like, gave me a chance and
when he moved to a differentbigger school, he gave me all
his mats, you know and the coverand all this I'm gonna have
nothing to do with this. Justtake it if you want Oh, okay.
But no my truck, they get homeput in my garage and then start

(50:13):
doing the garage. And a fewmonths doing that. I I decided
to get too too small actuallygot too small I had, I think 12
students Oh, don't quote me itwas like undergrads a small it's

(50:34):
a one car garage. So, you know,it's very small. So I have to
kind of extend the, the matsoutside of the garage. You know,
big

Jose Flores (50:45):
picture. Yes.

Evaldo Lima (50:47):
So it would be like on a driveway a little bit, you
know, like, the math because itwas not done many, you know. And
then I decided to open theschool. So I found the place you
know, I was driving there was afor lease. I parked the car with
a when the guy was there. Oh, Iwas calling. I was calling them

(51:07):
I was going to call the number.
And I was looking like I openedthe door. Oh, you know? So, I
want to lease so what are yougoing to do as a martial arts
school? Okay, so then he gave meall the price and everything. So
do you want? I said, Yes, I do.
Like I took the sign down. Sookay, it's yours. Just like
that. Just like that. You know,like, Oh, okay. Nothing, man.

(51:32):
Now I gotta do it. Now I gottado it. Oh, at the same time, the
same time that happened. It wasthat I was telling this story to
one of my friends. Okay, thisisn't this all this is happening
at the same time. Okay. I justbought a house. Okay, so we just

(51:57):
kind of like still fixing thehouse, fixing the house. I had a
Brazilian market. Because I openup like this Brazilian market.
So I have the Brazilian market.
And we're training to go toJapan. So if I was going to find
in Japan, so we're training togo to Japan. And as soon as we
you know, and then I rent theplace. They were went to Japan.

(52:21):
For one I get it. I was in Japanin December in Japan. And I was
because he will do the the gateone not the pride, right? pride,
right? pride. Was it pride? Yes,yes. He was going to pride. I
received a call that my wife waspregnant.

Jose Flores (52:47):
Oh, my.

Evaldo Lima (52:48):
She called me like, Hey, I'm pregnant. I was like,
Whoa, that's everything.
Understand, everything'shappening at the same time. I
was like, Whoa, okay. So then Icome back then I kept working on
a school but I still doing thediving. And, and then when
trying to run the school try tohas this so I close the market,

(53:18):
the Brazilian market, alright, Ihadn't move Can I get I wanted
to keep it a little bit. Andthen I moved inside of the
school. So I was doing the, youknow, the the school in the
market. But it's like, it's notgonna work. I mean, this is too
much stuff, you know, and mywife was pregnant. And I was in
training and diving. Because myschedule was like this. I am. My

(53:44):
classes starts at 5pm Kidsclass. And then five to six
kids, you know, six to seven,six to 730 adults. That's that's
the time that I had. Yeah, youknow, and then choose day and
Thursday, I had an eight o'clockclass. You know, the morning and

(54:07):
then four to five, five to sixkids, you know, six to 730
adults. That's there was likethis Tuesday, Thursday, the same
Monday, Wednesday, the same andFriday, no classes and Saturday
classes because I need to gowork diving. You know, working

(54:30):
till like early in the morninglike six in the morning all the
work. Then I have to finance aNewport Beach. So I have
finished their drive all the wayback and be ready for class at
five like shower and everything.
You know, the mats clean, boom,teach the next day. I would go

(54:54):
only work for three or fourhours because I finished the
class at eight o'clock. Go Comeback. That was doing both the
stuff. So it was stuff, youknow, and, and then one friend
says, dude, you got to pick one.
You cannot do both. You got topick one. And I picked the right
one.

Jose Flores (55:14):
It's all yeah.

Evaldo Lima (55:16):
So I was, you know, I was making good money and
stuff on scuba, but he saysmoney is not the whole thing.
You know, you have to findsomething that you're passionate
about you did some analysis,let's do it. So then I, you
know, okay, I'm just gonna dojujitsu. And I remember you
know, voice did a seminar, likeright away, you know, at the

(55:37):
school, let's do a seminar. Sowe can, you know, invite an
invite all the friends andeverybody came in, so awesome.
And there was little by little,in the beginning, I had the
match just kind of certain way,you know, the lamp is improved,
and they don't know better thanI did this. And I kept going,
you know, then people come in,and then we start teaching his
private lessons, you know, at myschool, in order to move to

(56:03):
California, and then then youstart teaching some classes over
there. And then we then we'redoing start fighting, and then I
now I'm training on what to dofor the fights and going to
Japan. And then Weiss would behad a fight, so a trembling
voice for a fight, then go toJapan. So I think under the

(56:23):
first year 2004 I didn't spendChristmas or New Year's with the
family. Because we're in Japan,for quite the second year. I
didn't spend Christmas in theyear, because because Weiss
would fight most the dynamiteend of the year, December 31, he
would fight them to Japan. Yeah.
You know, so for three years,you know, come, you know, I

(56:46):
didn't spend the christeningyears with the family. But it
was understanding and yeah,like, you know what I'm doing
this for? Because there'sopportunity that, you know, I'm
glad I did. And I did with myother family, which is my
jujitsu family, yes. Because,you know, you know, it becomes
part of your part of your family

Jose Flores (57:06):
birth.

Evaldo Lima (57:07):
And also, then, in we started doing, you know, like
more training, and it was, itwas, everything was happening.
And I never, in my life, I wasnot when I stuck first, but
again, went over there andtraining, you know, with the
guys. I never thought you knowwhat, that's what I'm gonna do

(57:29):
for a living. Not it washappening, everything just, you
know, we did this Oh, happen andhappen and happen. And I was
like, Oh, you want to? Oh, youwant to do this? Oh, yeah, sure.
You know, let's do it. And thenintroduce was very good for me
because I, I had a back pain fora long time. Okay. You know, and

(57:53):
that's one of the things thatkept me out of jujitsu, because
I was scared to train Jiu Jitsuthat you're gonna aggravate my
back. Yeah. And, you know, whenCarlos and autos always said,
No, it's the other way around,

Jose Flores (58:09):
it's gonna help you

Evaldo Lima (58:10):
is going to help you, but I was so scared. And
sometimes I would look, and theywould like, bold the person to
like, like, dude, if you do thatto meal break, you know? And is
until you get used to it, youknow, you exercise you Your,
your stretch, you will do it.
And actually, they didn't helpme a lot. So because I started

(58:34):
training, and it was like, itwas very difficult. There was a
lot of things that I could notdo it at a time. And then a year
later, two years later, boom,man, I can do this. Like, wow,
that's the most amazing thingabout jujitsu. That's how it
transformed me. And, and therewas things that Okay, I'm going

(58:55):
to eat this or no, no, I'm gonnaeat this because it's bad for
you, you know? Your jujitsu.
laters not going to be evil,you're going to be slow. Going
to be true for something. And dowe know the training for the
Japan and the camps that we do acamps for? Like, you know, we
start training for three months.
I remember when we used to gofor to go to Japan and would go

(59:16):
train at Nanos, it was five inthe morning. What I said I'll be
there five in the morning. Oh,so we go there five in the
morning and then we train fromfive to eight you know, then I'm
gonna come back was really,really long beach. It was
December there was like lateNovember we start like, like end

(59:39):
of October November we startdoing that. Because then we will
leave to Japan like unops firstsecond week of December. Yeah.
Not to go doing. So there was noThen you doing the camps, you

(01:00:00):
learn how to in all it goes, yougo eat, and we all go eat
together. And the good thingabout the camps when we're going
to Japan and with the boys, theteam Oh, is this if someone's
going to go somewhere, we allgo, okay, as a team, everybody
would go, you know, breakfastthis time. Everybody goes, it's
not like we won't go and I don'tknow, we'll go. You know, I

(01:00:21):
remember like, like, a horse isgonna cut his hair. We all go to
the barber shop. Oh, the guywants to buy something. Okay, we
all go go. So it's a team. Yes.
So it was fun. It was fun. Itwas was it was like a, like I
said, it's like a family movie.
And, and then we do like, alwayshad like a day off. But the day

(01:00:43):
off, we do something different.
Let's go through some, likedifferent. And like I said, I
like to explore, you know, Ilike to just, I would go there.
So we have a time. Yes, noproblem. So I would just get out
and start walking theneighborhood over there in Japan
just to find things, you know,to see like, Man, it's so cool.

(01:01:05):
And I always find a way to Oh,like we have to get a cab to go
to the train. Okay, no, no, wecan go to the subway. Oh, how
like this, you know, because itwas fun. You know? And, and then
in Japan, it is true, you know,in a rush hour. If I'm looking
at you, if I look down, and Ilook up, I cannot see you

(01:01:26):
anymore. What? So many people,it was like, Whoa, where did he
go? So we always like grabbingeach other like, okay, you gotta
go get it, because. But it wasfun. And it was nice.

Jose Flores (01:01:46):
So, I mean, and seeing how Rodrigo and hoys Do
you ever see them training andthe you get starstruck? Like
when you're watching themtraining together? Like you're
like, oh, man, these are two bsmasters going?

Evaldo Lima (01:02:02):
I mean, you always see amazing when they're
drowning in something that youlike, because especially in you
know, you get you appreciate themore you train, the more you
know, and then you see thethings that they do it it is it
is it is amazing how they do it.
But as people they were justlike people humble. Yeah, it's
like, you know, it's like youand I talking, you know, and it

(01:02:25):
was like, man, it was, it wasamazing to see and to have done.
And on. And especially likelater on when you think about
it, like Wow, man was like,always thought to like art or is
still you know, we're stillfriends. Okay, I'm still friend
Carlos still friends. And it'shas been, what? 34 years, man.

(01:02:48):
So that's the friendships thatyou make with him on this? Yeah,
it's a thing that lasts forever.
Sometimes we talk when we have asame as as all we were happy and
we didn't know it. Yeah, cuz youdo. You do. It's. And I'm very

(01:03:10):
grateful. I'm very grateful foreverything that happened. You
know, I put my time into it. AndI dedicated and then it was
worth it. Totally worth it andwould not changed. I mean, of
course, there was times that,you know, oh, no, you know, the

(01:03:30):
Lakers are playing, you know,you know? What was the other
team? I don't even remember,like, I remember was Magic
Johnson.

Jose Flores (01:03:39):
Oh,

Evaldo Lima (01:03:41):
it was, you know, Scottie Pippen

Jose Flores (01:03:46):
was the Michael Jordan.

Evaldo Lima (01:03:49):
Larry Bird. Oh, yeah. So we watched those guys
in this. I'm not going to go tojujitsu tonight because, you
know, the Lakers are playing,you know, the, or whatever. Yes.

Unknown (01:04:01):
I want to watch it.

Evaldo Lima (01:04:02):
And then today was like, man, I don't even remember
the game anymore. But if Ihadn't gone to class, I probably
never learned something good.
Yeah, that's why, you know,like, sometimes we're training
in a purple like, I'm not goingto go because I'm gonna watch
you know, the game on TV or,like, so recorded and much
later. Yeah, you can train them.

(01:04:25):
Okay, whatever. But that's thestuff that sometimes, you know,
I regret not doing it. Yeah. Youknow, they were like, I mean, if
I could go back home change alittle things like that, instead
of watching the TV for somethingI would better be training or
will not even be trainingbecause there was a lot of
times, a lot of times that theMet time, not training, but just

(01:04:52):
sit and having a conversationwith the guys. And they tell us
like we're talking right now. Sothey have stories. So they will
tell stories like, Whoa, this isso cool. And then of course, you
know, and then we start storiesand then jujitsu is always on
our mind. And then all of asudden this happened in Okay, so
you do this and like a lot oftechniques, you learn a little

(01:05:15):
bit after the class because yousit down and spend a little bit
time. You know, I remember on onon a grace Academy there, right
after class, everybody got abroom. You know, the night
class, the last class, everybodygets a broom. And then we stop
everybody's cleaning the mats,cleaning the Mets, and then a

(01:05:39):
group will come in clean them agroup climate and vacuum cleaner
to come in mopping and cleaning.
I was like, Oh, you know? Andthen, but they will. Nobody said
hey, you go clean? No, everybodyjust get up, finish the class,
we're done. They just go in andgrab it and do it. And then I
was like, it's like, they neverasked me Hey, hold the governor
and cleaning. No, I was like,Can I clean?

Unknown (01:06:05):
Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, this

Evaldo Lima (01:06:06):
is the broom. Okay.
So then you start cleaning. Iwas like, Okay, yeah. Because
you're so grateful that you havea place to go, you know, you
have all the group, the friends,and you take care of the mat,
you take care of that stuff.
It's your house, they will saythis is your house, you got to
you got to trash and you got to,you know, you got to help out,

(01:06:29):
you know, I'm going to be That'sright. When I teach in class for
the kids right now I tell them athe way that you get an
instructor you promote, you'regoing to help out in the house.
It's not just here. You gotta bedoing good, good grades in
school? And do you put yourstuff away? Do you clean up
after you gotta do it? Becauseyou got to be grateful. It was

(01:06:51):
like, man, and then you want toclean you want it. Like in
Japan, there was one time wherewe were going to go on this gym
to train. And there was it wasthe same gym that all the
fighters from the, for the, thekey one at the time, it was a

(01:07:14):
key one.

Unknown (01:07:15):
So

Evaldo Lima (01:07:17):
the fighter who use the same gym, so the key one,
oh, this is the gym, they'regonna so so we're gonna end we
are training right after thisgroup of Japanese. You know,
there was a Japanese fighter,the the team, they will train
and let's say they time it waslike from five to six, whatever.

(01:07:40):
I mean, just given time. So weare like, from six to seven or
six to eight or something likethat. Okay, so we were after our
time it was after dinner. So oneday, we got there early, because
we cannot. So they just finishedthe class and they like, we
almost done no problem. Takeyour time. So okay, they

(01:08:03):
finished the class. Everybodygot up. Everybody went got
little tiny brooms like me, likea like a foot. You know, like
the broom is like tiny.
Everybody under nice. Likesweeping the floor. The mats.
After one group was sweeping.

(01:08:23):
The other group had a towel witha wet rag in cleaning the mat
and the other group going dryingthe men like for us to go train.
So those are like, everybody I'mtelling you from the teacher?
Yes. To the students, everybody.
It was clean. And everybody werelike,

Unknown (01:08:47):
Whoa,

Evaldo Lima (01:08:48):
I mean, it was just like we did because hoysalas do
that. You know hoists was he wasthe first one to finish the
class at night. And he wasjoking around to go over there.
Grab the broom. You would neversay you sweep the floor for me.
No. He would grab the broom. Andhe would sweep. And if you go
over there No, I do it. No, no,no, no. Something else. I'm
doing this.

Jose Flores (01:09:06):
Oh,

Evaldo Lima (01:09:08):
he will sweep them at. He was not like oh, I'm the
UFC fighter. I'm not gonna No,not at all, man. That's what I'm
saying. He was like, you know,and, and dad. so humble. They're
like, Man, you know? Why? Comeon, dude.

Jose Flores (01:09:25):
Yeah, you know?

Evaldo Lima (01:09:27):
And that's the sweater happens here and every
night. All I want to sometimeslike oh, I want to do I want to
clean the mess. Even the kids,the kids. One Let me clean any
cleaners. Okay, okay. You do ittomorrow, you know, because they
want to take care of the stuff.
It's like you want to have totake care of everything. Take
care of your, you know, thefamily, your friends, everything

(01:09:48):
that belongs. That's important.

Jose Flores (01:09:53):
It's like that saying actions speak louder than
words. You know, you pick up theroom. You're sweeping. You know
that An action not just becauseI sweep or whatnot, you know,
you don't need to tell anyonethat you're deadly. The action.
I mean, everybody sees thatyou're there. You need to tell
anyone. The fact that they stayhumble. That's what makes them
great. Yeah, there's no ego.

Evaldo Lima (01:10:14):
There's, it's a lesson is lesson so and I'm very
grateful for all this. You know,you there's the same that you do
to change my life. You hear thatjujitsu and I really did. I
really did. You know, I, my 40s,I felt way stronger and

(01:10:35):
healthier than when I was myearly 20s.

Jose Flores (01:10:39):
Wow. You know,

Evaldo Lima (01:10:40):
I was like, more confident. Um, I grew up, you
know, like, we play playingsoccer, and, you know, the
sports and all this. And we usedto fight a lot. I used to fight
a lot. And then on the street,fight my friend. Now, that's
that I was telling my my guyfriends over here, all the games

(01:11:01):
that we played in Brazil, likeevery, like, fun game kids game.
There was some type of fight atthe end. It was it was normal.
It was normal. And then when Istarted jujitsu, and I start
training, and the more I did,the less I fought. The less I

(01:11:24):
was trying to get people like,oh, you're gonna do martial
arts, and the kids are gonna befighting? No, it's the other way
around. Because people thatfight ministry, people that are
like bullies, and all that isbecause they're insecure. And
they think that, you know, theyhave to express that to the
world. That Oh, yeah, I'mbecause they have doning secure.

(01:11:48):
But, you know, the more youknow, that more confident you
are, the more relaxed you are nomore like understanding or, you
know, like, Oh, yeah, I'm betterthan you. Oh, yes, you were.
That's okay. But you find I'mnot confident. No, you're not.
Yeah, I am. No, you're not. Andthen you start the fight. But,

(01:12:10):
you know, the more confident themore the more you know, yes. The
more you It's okay. Yeah. So andthen that's what's important
like that the jujitsu the most.
And I say jujitsu, becausethat's what I love. But I would
say any martial art, oh, yeah.
As long as it gives youconfidence as long as you don't

(01:12:31):
promote the violence that youwant to go and, you know, be
better in Come. Get out of itbeat up. A if you want to be if
you want to prove that you'regood. Sign up for a tournament,
sign up for a fight, and then doit do it, you know, at the
school is not the time there'snot a place here. You want to,

(01:12:52):
of course, you know, you want togo and you want to, you know, it
was hard sometimes, you know,it's because you want to
improve, you know, because themore I teach my students, the
more they know, the harder theycome, you know, the more
difficult they make my life. Imake me better, too. I know,
because I have to learn and keepon my toes. Yeah, I still train

(01:13:18):
with the guys I know. I know.
Sometimes you take it easy onme. Some of them though, because
it's, it's been a while. Andit's been a while training, and
the guys are awesome. And I evenwhen I train with my friends and
also we get together a group offriends.

Jose Flores (01:13:35):
Yeah.

Evaldo Lima (01:13:36):
And we, we train.
And I know like sometimes we'regoing hard and then you see that
you fill this slot. Thank you. Ithink Yeah. But as but we still
we still, you know, push eachother. To be the best we can be,
as we always say is not betterthan beat better than everybody

(01:13:58):
else. You got to be better thanyourself. Be better today than
we were yesterday. And you dojust fine.

Jose Flores (01:14:05):
Yeah. I mean, I always say this because it
happened to me with you know,Tara, she I love the way she
spars because she doesn't hityou hard, but she makes it known
that you got tap. And I mean,when I started training here
with you, I mean, obviously,hopefully I wasn't You're crazy.

(01:14:27):
Why? Because I come from anothersystem. So I know, you know
control and whatnot. But overhere, I want to be that person
that they say alright, Jose, goroll with him. I want that
person to say okay, yeah, Jose,because he's gonna watch his
control because he's good. Idon't want that. Oh, Jose, he
Oh, he rolls too hard or he doesthis. And I honestly pride

(01:14:48):
myself in there that I know howto watch my control. Yeah,

Evaldo Lima (01:14:51):
but you are not the crazy white belt because you are
not a white belt at heartbecause you'd be training
another martial For so long,yeah, you know, and I know, we,
you know, we'd call in yourrazor. You guys already did some
groundwork and all that stuffbecause God has been doing this
for a long time. You know? Andwhen I say the crazy white belt

(01:15:14):
is the person that never had anytraining or no training nothing.
Oh, and they, they, you know,they go it's like, some of the
guys that watching the UFC on,on TV or drunk, I can do that. I
mean, just get up like, you lookat him like, Okay. Understand,

(01:15:35):
that's what I mean about it,because most of the people that
have no training, they thinkthey just can, they can muscle a
way out, you know, that's notthe case. But it's, that's what
I meant. Not that no, I'm notsaying that every white belt is
like that. I know. It's some

Jose Flores (01:15:55):
Oh, yeah, no, I

Evaldo Lima (01:15:56):
mean, I've come across that we're gonna come
across some of that. And thenagain, they're not that's not
they're not bad people. No, notat all. It's just that sometimes
it's just a little be, you know,over enthusiastic, like, so
enthusiastic,

Jose Flores (01:16:12):
they're nervous.
They want to make a good firstimpression. Exactly. They want
to prove themselves. So theyfeel like they had to go harder.
They had to go as you say crazy.
But they they realize later on,they realize that, you know,

Evaldo Lima (01:16:26):
some the, you know, there's some that want to test
you to, you know, they want togo in. Like, you know, I have
some students over here. They'vebeen training with me for a long
time, like Joey, okay, Joe, youknow, he came, he was all
American wrestler and all this,you know, you can feel the first

(01:16:46):
day that he comes in, then he'slike, Man, you know, I can't do
this. Though the first time hecame in, and he was like, Man,
you know, and every time hecomes in guillotine, okay, the
MLA thought he could beat me up.
Maybe someday, but not today.

(01:17:09):
They have done once, but thenagain, they're not mean they
just want to prove they're like,okay, no, I can take it. Yeah,
you know, and they do it. Butit's part of it. And the moment
that you go in, we have thosestudents come in and you, you
dominantly you know, I can tellyou, them, you, you show them

(01:17:30):
that's not about this, and thenyou calm them down. And they
relax, and they're good. Okay,yes, I did it. Okay, this is a
good step. Now he's like, youknow, helping out. A new one
comes in, and then you start allover again, and never ends.

Jose Flores (01:17:45):
Mr. olema Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
So much. Any last words beforewe leave anything you want to
say to your students oranything?

Unknown (01:17:57):
Yeah, I mean, you know,

Jose Flores (01:18:00):
our, actually, I

Evaldo Lima (01:18:00):
want to thank you for coming over here too, you
know, and, and I always saythis, you know, enjoy the
journey. Enjoy the time goes sofast, you know, and enjoy, take
care of your body, train, youknow, be smart, and be helpful,

(01:18:21):
know, the best thing the bestway to learn and get better.
It's being helpful. You know, ifyou've been helpful if you're if
you try to show everything thatyou know, and you develop better
not only in jujitsu, but this isin life. As I compared to the

(01:18:44):
it's with life, you know,everything that your your you
want, you just have to put yourlittle time on to put the work
on it, you know, and be humble,be humble and be appreciative,
you know, everything. So, just,you know, be humble and keep

(01:19:04):
working hard and you achieveevery day you want.

Jose Flores (01:19:07):
Thank you, sir. And for anyone that's listening,
that's around Long Beach andsigma here area, neutral ground,
jujitsu again in Six Sigma Hill,and the website and gb
jayjay.com with Mr. Yvonne Lima,sir, thank you so much. Again,
appreciate your time. Thank youtill next time, everybody. Okay.