The Clincher

Brazilian-born Wilson Reis wins a Mixed Martial Arts championship for Philly.

by Charles Cieri

MARTIAL ARTIST: Wilson Reis defeated Abel Cullum in September, winning the Bantamweight World Championship Belt in Showtime's recently disbanded Elite XC Mixed Martial Arts League. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Wilson Reis steps onto the R3 outbound from Elkins Park at 6:45 a.m. His fellow commuters, always happy to see him, today erupt. It is his first day back after winning the Bantamweight World Championship Belt in Showtime's Elite XC Mixed Martial Arts League. In the main event of the Challenger series, which aired live on Sept. 26, he defeated Abel Cullum by decision in a five-round confirmation that he was built to represent the fighting city of Philadelphia.

In the post-fight interview, Cullum's suffocated voice told the story: Through impressive savvy and pure will, he powered through every position Reis trapped him in and multiple tight submissions. But for 25 minutes, he could only escape back into Reis' smothering clinch.

At 5 feet 3 inches, Reis is shorter than Rocky Balboa, and darker. Extremely unassuming, he has a shaved head and walks like he might break into dance at any second with long strides (for a little guy), his head back and arms out wide. He has a Kanye West sense of style: a little thuggish, but not enough to intimidate the 9-to-5ers.

I catch up with Reis later that night, after he finishes teaching one class at Tri-State Martial Arts Academy in Langhorne and another at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United in Jenkintown. That one was "a good train," he says, a class full of brown and black belts.

"Then I go home for a little while, before heading downtown to Philly MMA to train. And back to BJJ United to teach another class, about 40 guys, highly advanced."

What seems like an exhausting marathon is the light schedule. When the title fight was looming, Reis added two to three hours of boxing in Upper Darby, via an hourlong connection of trains, and an additional hour-plus rolling with the family at BJJ United. Diet is the other fundamental change in Reis' pre-fight routine.

"I like real food, you know, rice, meat, beans, barbecue like Brazilian food, and junk food too, chocolate and Coke, pizza, I like it all," he says. "I walk around at 158 pounds. But bantamweight [the weight class he competes in] is 140 pounds." Which means he's gotta drop 18 pounds before he gets in the ring.

Two months before a fight, he starts training hard. He doesn't go out. He doesn't drink. "I usually eat a lot of supplements: Preload before workout and Reload [protein shakes] after workout. I do those for my two hard workouts a day and take vitamins. I try to eat as healthy as I can." He devours vegetables and fruit. His only vice is coffee.

"Two weeks before the fight I cut all my water [weight], so no salt or sugar, no fat at all. The first week my goal is to cut 10 pounds. Which is simple if you do it right. You have to be very disciplined."

The last week is the hardest. Not much food, not much water. "Usually by the day before the weigh-in I am 145 pounds. I have to cut 5 pounds in the sauna. I like the sauna for cutting weight."

After the weigh-in, his first genuine meal in months is followed by a food-induced coma. He says his rest is peaceful, anxiety-free. He has confidence, earned from a short life filled with violent competition.

Reis was born in a small town in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil, and grew up in the dangerous city of Sao Paulo. "The drug dealers and bad people that work in trafficking never mess with people in their own neighborhood," he says. "Although people do get killed being in the wrong place at the wrong time, fighting between states and gangs. So my parents only let me leave my neighborhood to go to the gym. I wasn't allowed to hang out on the street, so it was school in the morning and the gym until night."

The path to Philadelphia started in 2003, when Reis began a friendship with fighter Jared Weiner, a Philly native and the head instructor at BJJ United. At the Pan American Tournament in Santa Barbara, Calif., Weiner, representing the U.S. team, saw something special in Reis, who was fighting for Brazil.

"I was next up and waiting by the mat where Wilson was fighting," recalls Weiner. "He was crazy, high energy and extremely athletic. He was jumping all over the place like a little animal. The guy he was fighting went for a submission that is usually legal but, in this particular tournament's rules, was cause for disqualification. Wilson realized and played the guy: he halfheartedly fought off the attempt before submitting, knowing full well that would get the guy disqualified. It was brilliant on his part."

After crossing paths at another tournament in 2004, Weiner invited Reis to come train in Philadelphia. Reis accepted. "I still go to Brazil twice a year to see my family and train, but my life is here in Philadelphia with BJJ United, says Reis." As far as Weiner's story, Reis says, "I felt bad [about the disqualification] but you've got to fight smart."

The title fight went down in Santa Ynez, Calif., about 25 miles from where Weiner first saw the spark in Reis. He watched, this time as a coach.

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"When my hands get wrapped, that's when I know: one hour, I'm going to be in the cage. I start to get excited, but I do well with pressure. In training I always try to do my best but when I am competing, I just do my best. So I am always confident. ... I know MMA is dangerous and there is a lot of ways to get hurt, so I never make any plans for after the fight.

"Most [advanced] Jiu-Jitsu tournaments give you four to five matches of eight to 10 minutes each. Coming up those ranks gave me confidence in my conditioning. And when I walk in the cage and we go face to face I am very focused, pushing the Jiu-Jitsu and 'ground and pound.' I did well standing up with [Cullum] too, but I took him down a lot.

"He threw some good punches while I was catching my breath in the third round. I don't feel it in the fight, though, I was just focusing on timing out my recovery. It worked out for the fourth [round], and in the fifth, I was able to mount, take his back, attack, attack, attack, and finish strong." (Word went out on Monday that the Elite XC was folding, meaning Reis will have to find a new league in which to compete.)

Back on the R3, his fellow commuters speak on Reis' two personalities, the meek, "gentlemanly" guy they ride with and the businesslike fighter they see on TV.

Conductor Gil Gorman speaks with awe. "He is humble and quiet on the train; you would never think he is a fighter, but when you watch him, he is a true mechanic and athlete. He is comfortable in the ring — you can see it, when things are peaking, he is in his comfort zone. Willy is going to go far."

(editorial@citypaper.net)