Bianca Basilio is one of the most successful and well-known BJJ athletes today…
But she had to fight long and hard to achieve her success – which she did, in spite of poverty she experienced as a child and teenager.
She revealed how it felt growing up with little to nothing, in an interview with ONE Championship:
When you are poor, you value many things, as you do not have access to new things.
I believe this made me more focused and determined to achieve my goals and what I would like to achieve.I focused, and I knew I wouldn’t stop until I got what I wanted.
And it was with this mentality that I built my career.
Basilio went for success in Jiu-Jitsu from an early age, but that took a lot of sacrifices – as well as learning how to “stretch” what she had:
I left home on my own, but the achievement is not just mine.
It belongs to those who are part of my life, too.I learned to manage my first salary of 200 reais (US$40 in today’s exchange rate) at the age of 14, and with this amount, I was already helping friends who were by my side and who had nothing.
Today, Basilio is one of the most successful BJJ competitors in the world…
And she still wants to do better.
Not just for herself, but also for her family:
One of my biggest dreams today is to be able to give my parents their own home.
I also want to help my brothers grow in life and help transform children and teenagers through martial arts, just like it happened to me.
I’m working to achieve other things through fighting.
I was born for this, and I will achieve it.I trust in what I can do, and with God’s blessing, nothing is impossible.
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