Professor Xande Ribeiro grew up in the Amazon, studied law for three years, and figures that without jiu-jitsu he would have been an environmental lawyer. Instead he came to America as a young black belt, where a new student in Ohio once looked at the 21-year-old and asked who the teacher was. He explains why winning world titles never guaranteed students, why honesty and becoming a better person came first, and how his habit of always asking why led him to teach through geometry and physics: the diamond concept, the knee-to-elbow connection, and simple structures any body can use. "I don't teach students, I teach teachers," he says.

Xande sees competition as being about who you become in the process, explains how stepping back from the professional circuit changed him, and why he now runs "whoop-ass days" twice a week. He argues for putting the martial back in martial arts, then recalls his most memorable title: the 2006 double gold at the last Worlds held in Brazil, after an injury that made him think about quitting, a leg infection that nearly cost him his leg, and a travel permit that arrived the day before his flight. He closes with a once-shy student who is now a firefighter, and why he cleans his own mats as a ceremony.

In this episode

• 0:00 Welcome
• 2:11 The environmental lawyer he might have been
• 5:27 Connection, kindness and harmony
• 11:52 Coming to America to teach
• 18:05 Always asking why
• 20:18 The diamond concept and knee-elbow connection
• 25:46 Teaching teachers, not students
• 28:57 Who you become by competing
• 33:16 Retiring from the pro circuit
• 39:46 Putting the martial back in martial arts
• 41:55 The 2006 double gold
• 46:07 The student who couldn't say his name
• 48:13 Cleaning the mats as a ceremony

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