Prizefighting was not always in Matheus Nicolau’s plans. In fact, his thoughts, like many Brazilians, once drifted to stardom on the pitch.
“My first contact with martial arts was with jiu-jitsu at age 9,” Nicolau told Sherdog.com. “My brother, Eduardo, brought me in. I trained for one year and stopped after that. My focus was on school, and my dream was to be a professional soccer player. Jiu-jitsu was just something extra.”
As time shed light on the reality of his situation, Nicolau embraced combat sports more fully. “I came back to it by age 13,” he said, “and I haven’t stopped since.