A lot of fighters use hyperbole to describe how hard it was for them growing up, but for a guy like Bibiano Fernandes, he actually did have a hard time growing up. His mother had passed away and his father was ill-equipped to deal with five children, which led for him to bail on his family, leaving Bibiano to fend for his siblings, who soon were living on the street. The street turned out to be a place that was overrun with other poor children, all begging just like them, which drove him into the jungle.
Yes, it drove him into the jungle at age seven, building a shelter out of sticks and fallen trees. Jonathan Snowden talked to Bibiano Fernandes, who is fighting on May 31st at One FC, defending his One FC Interim Bantamweight Championship against Koetsu Okazaki. Apparently Fernandes lived in the jungle for about three years before a bout with malaria forced his father to bring him back to the city, from there he was washing windows when he discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which more or less saved his life and made him an internationally acclaimed athlete.
Pretty cool, right?