Death toll rises in Brazil, MMA camps seek support through CombatAthleteCharities.com
Torrential downpours have wreaked havoc to Nova Friburgo, Brazil, and a pair of influential MMA training camps are turning to…
Torrential downpours have wreaked havoc to Nova Friburgo, Brazil, and a pair of influential MMA training camps are turning to the fight community to ask for assistance in battling deadly mudslides.
With hundreds already dead in the Rio de Janeiro municipality, and countless more currently missing, Florida-based camps Team Armory and American Top Team have set up a charity fund at CombatAthleteCharities.com and are asking for donations to assist in the relief efforts.
MMAjunkie.com spoke with longtime MMA manager Alex Davis, a native of Nova Friburgo who is on the ground in Brazil assisting with the efforts, and he described the devastation first-hand.
“Dear friends – MMA friends and everybody – I’m talking to you guys from Nova Friburgo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” Davis said. “It’s my hometown. I can’t even begin to explain to you what’s happened here. There are entire regions that have been wiped out. Thousands of people are without water and food. Hundreds of people, if not thousands, are buried under mudslides so deep that they will never be found. Whole families have been wiped out. It’s to the point that there may be no one left to even remind us that these people were once there.
“As I come back home after working with the relief and rescue teams and I get a glimpse of what’s in the media, I see that what’s getting out to the world in no way does justice to what’s really occurred here meteorologically and geologically. At this point in time, the world cannot see how much suffering is still in the future of these Brazilian cities and communities. Roads and bridges have all been wiped out, leaving thousands of people isolated with no water, no food, no electricity. Big parts of the region are completely isolated.
“It simply isn’t possible to dig out all the bodies buried in the mud, and the stench and illnesses will start affecting the population in the next few days. In my hometown of Nova Friburgo, there are three hospitals that serve the city, the surrounding smaller cities and the rural areas, but one has also been brought down by landslides, putting another piece of suffering in the way of the population.
“I could go on and on about the dramatic stories of loss of lives, as well as the heroism of the rescue workers as the population tries to deal with the calamity that has come on top of them. Rich and poor, cops and robbers, everybody is working together trying to cope with what has happened. It’s a disaster worse than any of us could have fathomed in our worst dreams.
“Please keep these people in your minds. Please help in whatever way may be within your means. There are thousands and thousands of people in a really, really bad situation.”
Brazilian athletes have long played a major role in the development of mixed martial arts, including the famed Gracie family, who gave birth to the UFC. With relief efforts hampered by continued rain, fatality reports are slow to develop, but the mudslides have already claimed the life of the mother of famed grappler Pablo Popovitch.
MMA manager Joe Mullings told MMAjunkie.com that American Top Team head Dan Lambert has already made a substantial contribution, as has corporate sponsor Muscle Warfare, but more help is needed.
Funds can currently be donated through Paypal, but Mullings said the newly-established organization hopes to have its 501(c) non-profit filings in place by Monday, which will open up further options for support.
“We’re expediting the process,” Mullings said. “We’re getting a lot of support from the government. Bank of America has stepped up and done some nice things for us. Probably by Monday, we’ll have it to where you can text money in with your cell phone. We’ll also have a Bank of America account set up.
“Alex is on the ground in Nova Friburgo. All the money will go directly to the city for some of the most desperately needed items, including food, medicine and shelter.”
BTT to auction gloves to raise funds for Rio flood victims.
BTT has a number of students, teachers, and friends in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro. We created a website (www.sosriobtt.com), the email sosriobtt@gmail.com and Facebook page SOS Rio to help collect donations for the flood victims. All the money brought in will go to the victims. Soon we will put a UFC glove autographed by Master Bustamante and Rousimar Toquinho on auction on Ebay/Mercado Livre with 100% of the proceeds going to the victims.
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I lost my mom, I don’t want to lose my dad too
Pablo Popovitvch
Wake me up from this nightmare! This has been the worst week of my existence . It has only been a few days that my mom and dad were laughing with me, joking around, ecstatic to be around their grandkids. These past few days me and my sisters had to endure feelings that nobody should ever go through.
A landslide in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, hit my beautiful parents house, leaving the place in devastation, the whole house crashed with both my mom and dad in it. The result was tragic, my mom died, my dad by some miracle survived.
The loss I can’t even describe in words. My mom was everything to me, my friend, my number one fan. She was always so eager to help others and specially help me and my sisters. I will miss her forever.
I know it’s normal to lose your parent one day, but not the way I lost her, the brutality of her death, she just didn’t deserve. They lived in a beautiful place that took my dad nearly 15 years to build. He literally spend all his savings to build his magic kingdom, his dream home. Now it is all gone, along with all of his belongs. All the basic necessities for someone to live; clothes, pots, pans, refrigerator, sofa, bed, sheets, house, absolutely nothing, nothing is left.
At the moment he is in critical condition in a public local hospital in Teresopolis, Brazil. My goal is to move him to a private institution that can take better care of him, if he recovers, build him a new house. The problem is I only have so much resources. I need everyone’s help on this one. We all need to become one and help. A little bit of help from one person multiplied by many creates a lot. Please help us, my dad doesn’t deserve what he lost. Losing the love of his life, and having nothing to go back to is just impossible to bare. Anything will make a difference. Thank you so much for your time and all your support.