Gleison Tibau: ‘Next Year the Title Will Be Mine’

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.