By Hywel Teague

Champions rarely come from privilege, and Jonata Gomes is no exception. Following in the footsteps of those who have gone before him, he’s in search of a better future – and jiu-jitsu is his answer. 

In the heart of Rio de Janeiro there is a hill overlooking the sea covered with tiny, ramshackle houses. It soars above the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, and has the best views in the city. But it’s one of the most notorious and historically dangerous parts of Rio. 

This is the favela of Cantagalo, and around here this is the hood. Life here is tough; either you keep your head down as best you can, you join a gang, or you get the hell out. 

But it’s also a place where kids fly kites, parties go on all night, and people know all of their neighbors’ names.  And it’s a breeding ground for world class jiu-jitsu talent. The legendary Fernando Terere was born and raised here and is a local celebrity of sorts. World champions Alan Finfou and Jackson Sousa started their careers here before moving to Europe. It’s impossible to count how many tough black belts come from here. 

Antonio Carlos is one such black belt, but his dream wasn’t to become a champion. He was more focussed on providing for his family. “My son would come to me and say ‘Pai, I want a video game, I want a bike, I want a cellphone’. And I had to explain to him, your dad doesn’t have an income to buy what you’re asking.”

Jiu-jitsu was a gift that was in Antonio Carlos’s power to offer, and so he took his sons Jonata and Jansen to experience the arte suave at a local social project called ‘Amigos do Morro’, where kids train for free. “He fit in well,” says Antonio Carlos. 

Many kids pass through the project, but only those who show potential are invited to train with Checkmat co-founder Ricardo Vieira at the bottom of the hill. Jonata was one of the few who selected to join the competition team. 

“Wow, I felt so happy to be in the middle of all those beasts at the gym. It was great for me,” he says. 

Gomes flourished under Vieira and the medals have been rolling in ever since: Gold at the 2015 Brazilian championships, silver at this year’s World Championships, and many more. 

Now 19, Gomes trains every morning with the adults, and heads back to the project at nights to train alongside the kids. They look up to him, just as he looks up to the black belts on the coaching team. 

Gomes is a picture-perfect example of the Checkmat style. He’s aggressive on top and goes at a frenetic pace. “He fights well from bottom, he likes to do berimbolos and the lapel game like all the kids,” says Vieira. “But he lacks confidence in his guard. He prefers to fight on top.” 

The Checkmat bond is strong, and Gomes counts upon plenty of support from his teammates. They regularly hold raffles and whip-rounds to raise funds for him to travel and compete. They have weekly prayer meetings, and team barbecues are a regular occurrence. “In my point of view this makes us stronger,” says Jonata. “We’re really close, each one for the other, not just on the mat but off it too. And I think this is really cool, that we all have this friendship away from the gym.” 

His Checkmat teammate Jackson Sousa, 2013 black belt no-gi world champion, comes from the same favela. Now living in Sweden, Jackson has much the same story as Jonata, and he arranged for the youngster to join him for a month. There, Gomes had the opportunity to train in a new environment, learn another language and experience a culture very different to his own. Sousa is the perfect example of how jiu-jitsu can change your life. “I look up to him a lot,” says Jonata. 

For someone like Gomes – young and economically disadvantaged – he’s not just fighting for titles; he’s fighting for a better future. As he father Antonio Carlos describes: “Eventually their sons, my grandchildren, will make the same requests they did, but they’ll be able to provide what I couldn’t. I’m sad I couldn’t give them what they wanted, but at the same time I’m happy knowing that the future will be quite different!” 

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Fact file

Name: Jonata Gomes Ramos
Team: Checkmat
From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  
Rank: Purple belt 
Age: 19 years old, born 23 April 1996 
Height: 166 cm /  5’5” 
Weight: 64 kg / 142 lb

• From the same favela that produced champions such as Fernando Terere, Alan Finfou, Jackson Sousa and many more 
  
• He was introduced to jiu-jitsu by his black belt father, Antonio Carlos 
  
• His 13 year old orange belt brother Jansen also competes