In a recent Instagram post Braulio Estima tells the story of how he won Europeans 2011 just 2 days before his neck surgery. We do not want to show the footage as it is quite distressing, but can still be found on youtube. Estima was getting ready for an MMA fight in his gym. He landed straight on his head from a takedown attempt and was paralysed from the impact.
Thankfully he was able to make a recovery and was able to feel his legs after lying down. However, for a few minutes he was completely paralysed from the neck downwards and could not move any of his limbs.
Despite the feeling of being paralysed, Estima showed the true mentality of a champion and actually competed before his neck had been surgically repaired. Estima says “I would not recommend anyone to do something like that however I would like to explain my reasons behind [this]”.
The former ADCC champion goes on to explain that he did this because his friend died of cancer and was not deterred by doctors to stay away from jiu-jitsu. He mentions his friend Steve Fan was told that he would never train again, but kept training and eventually made it to purple belt before passing away.
