A young County Armagh man has turned his life around and is fast making a name for himself in the world of MMA.
Ricardo De Araujo is originally from East Timor.
Now aged 22, he has been living in the Lurgan area since 2012.
Over the years, Ricardo would be the first to admit he has made bad choices.
But he has distanced himself from what might be considered unhealthy influences and is now proving a real inspiration to family, including dad Antonio and step-mum Louise, as well as friends and many others within mixed martial arts circles.
They have watched with pride as he pushes himself day in, day out, and has his eyes set firmly on reaching his full potential.
As Louise told Armagh I: “He was getting himself on the wrong path with the wrong people and one day he just decided that he wanted to do MMA.
“He changed his diet and he went down the route of training, started boxing and had a boxing fight and won a title. That pushed him on and after that he decided he wanted to go on to MMA.
“He is doing really, really well. He has gone on to have eight wins and three defeats and has won three belts in a very short space of time.”
Ricardo has shown great drive and determination and is confident of reaching the top of his game.
He started out being shown the ropes at New Era in Craigavon, before moving on to Team Torres in Newry.
Now Ricardo is hoping to attract sponsorship to allow him to continue on his journey.
At the same time, he is keen to show others that decisions you make early in your life do not define you; rather, they are there to be learned from and to help you grow for the better and become the best version of yourself that you can be.
“He just wants to show young people that it’s possible to change your life around,” said Louise. “He’s training six days a week. He never misses training and he finishes work and he drives straight up to Newry.
“It’s all about training and he is really disciplined. He’s hoping to go pro, but he wants a couple of more fights. He needs a couple more good hard fights to go pro and then he’s going to try and do that.
“He is also hoping to get support as he wants to go to Thailand to train in December.”
Ricardo is a real role model for his younger brother too, as he would appear to be keen to follow in his footsteps.
“He is going on to help train his younger brother, Rafael, who is 14 years old,” explained Louise. “He’s training in New Era with Daire Toman at the minute.
“Ricardo just wants to get a bit more sponsorship now. It would help him pay for his medicals, his travelling, maybe sports massages, things like that.
“He only started his MMA journey three years ago and has won three big titles now so has three belts, two of them won at the Canal Court Hotel in Newry and the third in Belfast just on Saturday past.
“Ricardo just needs more support and sponsorship now to keep going and allow him to pursue his dream.”
Anyone who would like to consider sponsoring Ricardo – individuals or business – can get in touch with Louise on 077 5449 4862.
