Wallid Ismail

Wallid Farid Ismail^[1] (born February 23, 1968) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and promoter. Ismail holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu(BJJ) under Carlson Gracie, and is an IVC mixed martial arts world champion and BJJ Champion.^[2] In mixed martial arts, Ismail also competed for the UFC, and PRIDE, and most of wins in the sport came by way of submission. Ismail's nickname "Paraíba," is a term often applied to those in Brazil that come from outside of Rio de Janeiro. The adjective is similar to the term "redneck" in the United States.^[3]

Background

Ismail started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 1980 in his home state of Amazonas in Brazil under Ary Almeida, and then, in 1984, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and started training under his master, the late Carlson Gracie, who described Ismail as a "hairy and chubby guy," but had a desire to succeed, as he would be known for later in his career^[3] and stayed by the side of his master until the day Carlson died in 2006. Gracie had allowed Ismail to train with his camp even though Ismail had no money to afford the teaching and it was Ismail's peers at Gracie's camp that originally gave Ismail the nickname, "Paraiba."^[4] Wallid then started to compete in jiu-jitsu tournaments, becoming champion several times, and defeating four members of the famous Gracie family in competition. ^[5] When fighting against Royce Gracie, Ismail was the only one who accepted the conditions that Royce proposed for the bout, like having no point scoring and no time limit, thus making the fight only winnable by submission. The fight took four minutes and fifty three seconds, until Wallid defeated Gracie with the Relógio, the Clock Choke, a move that has been associated with Wallid ever since. After his win, Wallid said that if Royce's team wanted a rematch they would have to pay him USD 200,000.00, a value that even the Gracie had never been paid at the UFC at that time.^[6]

Ismail is always polemic, having accumulated enemies among athletes of the JJ community such as Ryan Gracie. He was badly defeated in another fight with Edson Carvalho ( black belt of jiu-jitsu and Yawara ): In a statement of judo instructor Prof. Kastriot Georges Mehdi to Kiai magazine ^[7]

"The fight started in my academy. I ordered Wallid and Edson to stop. They conceded but soon started it again. Then I sent them outside, because my academy is not the place for this type of fight. Since they would not let go of each other I had to push them outside close the doors and call the cops. And the fight out there went on for half an hour since the police was not coming quickly. Sometimes I opened the door and tried to separate them but it was like separating a dog fight. Edson did not obey me and then I asked Wallid to stop it , asking for mercy he replied "not even dead". It is important to remind you that at no moment Edson's brother helped him: Wallid and Edson fought alone. When the police arrived with reinforcements, Edson left. I took Wallid with a totally disfigured face to the restroom and had him cleaned. Afterwards he was taken to the hospital wherein he stayed for days"

Mixed martial arts

Early career

Ismail was able to become a professional fighter because of his specially dedicated training, as he had many sponsors and did not have to teach or have another job, unlike most of the other competitors in the country. Wallid was brought to the spotlight in 1991, when he faced Eugênio Tadeu, on an event aired by Rede Globo channel in national television, giving the victory to Ismail in his professional debut. Years later, he went on to defeat opponents in Brazil and Japan.

UFC and PRIDE

Wallid went on to fight at UFC 12, taking a decision loss to Kazuo Takahashi in his United States debut, the first in his career. In 1998, he defeated Johil de Oliveira by submission due to strikes, and then defeated Gary Myers via decision.

Ismail then signed with PRIDE FC, making his debut at PRIDE 4 against Japanese fighter Akira Shoji. Although he was the smaller fighter, Ismail controlled Shoji early, but later in the fight, Ismail became exhausted and Shoji finished him with strikes. Ismail later stated that jet lag from the trip to Japan was the cause for his exhaustion, not poor conditioning. Ismail returned at PRIDE 15 with a win by arm triangle over Shungo Oyama. His next fight in Pride Fighting Championships|PRIDE]] was a decision loss in a technical ground fight to Alex Stiebling at Pride 19. Ismail won the last two fights of his career in 2002 in Japan.

Post fight career

Wallid founded the Jungle Fight Championship promotion in Brazil,^[8] and is often on the corner of Paulo Thiago and Erick Silva in their UFC fights.^[9]

Mixed martial arts record

See also

• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• Jungle Fight
• New Japan Pro Wrestling
• Paulo Thiago

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Wallid Ismail from Sherdog
• Bloodyelbow.com
• Bjjheroes.com
• Wallid Ismail on UFC.com