Denis Martins: Hello Wagney, nice to talk with you for the first time. You earned a place in the next ADCC 2005 by winning the Trials here in Brazil. But everybody knows you’re living in Canada a long time, why didn’t you try to take part in the USA Trials? Fabiano: I’m not a Canadian citizen, and they only accepted Canadian citizens to compete there. Denis Martins: Tell me the about titles that you possess and do you think you got invited due to your resume for these Trials? Fabiano: I have a title belt in TKO, the Canadian MMA event, and my record is 2-0-0 in MMA. I’m 4x Brazilian JJ champion, Brasileiro de Equipes JJ champion, 3rd place in MUNDIALS JJ, 5x Rio de Janeiro JJ champion, Pan Am JJ champion, NAGA, Grapplers Quest and Arnold Submission. Denis Martins: Your brother, Leonardo Santos, took part and won the 2001 Brazilian ADCC Trials. But you’re the oldest between you. Why did you delay at trying? Fabiano: I had a lot of problems because I run an Academy in Canada and I have to train my team and keep myself in shape to fight MMA. Besides that I’ve had some personal problems which didn’t let me to compete before.Denis Martins: You displayed a solid base on your feet in the Trials, handling all fighters that you beat. Did you adapt easily to Wrestling? Fabiano: I debuted in Submission and MMA in Canada and I added Wrestling because I thought I was already good at the ground game and Wrestling is excellent to control the fighters on the feet. Denis Martins: Since when do you train Wrestling? Fabiano: Since the middle of 2002.Denis Martins: Wow, it’s a short time to have developed a good game. Don’t you think? Fabiano: Yeah, I do. But I always had a great base on the feet and my Judo, even though I never trained Judo, was always good. I thank GOD, who gave me this talent. Denis Martins: Did you train only with Canadians to fight here in Trials? How’s the Canadian’s level? Fabiano: I arrived here in Brazil 10 days prior to the event and I had some training with the Nova Uniao fighters in Brazil. I think that a lot of people underestimate Canada’s potential. I have people who trained with me and I want to mention them, Mark, Claudio Patrick, Joey and Spider. These are jiu jitsu fighters, and I want to thank also the National Wrestling team where I train and improve my Wrestling game. Denis Martins: You displayed the same strategy in the three fights. What exactly did you have in mind to win the Trials? Fabiano: To take advantage of their mistakes and like you said, it worked repeatedly. I knew that not one of them would take me down, I expected Ribeiro’s mistakes in the first fight because I know he loves to pull to the guard and I waited for it, the second fight the guy was nervous and I took advantage of his mistakes and the final against the champion of the last Brazilian Trials – Rany Yahya – I just repeated my ‘wait for the mistake game’ (laughs). Denis Martins: We know you beat all of your opponents, but who was the hardest one to be beat? Fabiano: Rany is a tough guy and we are friends and we train together sometimes. So we know each other’s game, but overall we are professional and we wanted to go for ADCC 2005. I didn’t come from Canada to give up to anybody, I was focused on beating everybody and I did it. Denis Martins: What about the first and second fights against Ribeiro and Taede Mendonca? Fabiano: I knew Ribeiro had beaten a Brazilian Team Wrestling member in the final of the first phase of the Trials, so I pretended that I’d be taken down easily, he fell into my trap and when he realized it, it was too late. Mendonca beat Fabio Mello bad in his first fight, but, like I said before, he was nervous. Denis Martins: Did you pay attention to the potential opponents who already have their places in ADCC 2005? Fabiano: No I didn’t, I should pay attention in the USA because two of my students lost there. Denis Martins: Who would you like to face there? Fabiano: I don’t worry about that. I’m going to be ready to conquer the 65.9kg category and it doesn’t matter who’s put in front of me. Denis Martins: Do you enjoy the ADCC rules? Fabiano: I like them, but since you put your name in to compete in the Trials or in the main event, and you’re chosen, you need to adapt yourself to the rules and I have adapted.Denis Martins: Last Words? Fabiano: I’ll come back here to Brazil in April to keep my technique high and I want to thank Jesus Christ, my wife (Raquel) and my partner Mr. Rapod. Thank you very much for the opportunity.
