Ricardo Liborio

On August 26th, 2019, he created the first BJJ college class to be offered by a university in the U.S. from a world champion and coach. In 2020 Liborio continued by adding a level 2 intermediate class to the establish beginner class schedule. His classes and club have reached hundreds of students.

Liborio has made an impact at the University of Central Florida (UCF) through his BJJ club structure, classes, and events. Master Liborio, in August of 2018, came to UCF and helped restructure the UCF MMA club and transformed it into a BJJ club through a new organizational system and welcoming culture. At the end of 2018, the club had 30 members. Today in 2020, the club currently has 250 members, is the largest Spots club at UCF, and has the second-highest female participation rate out of all other sports clubs.

In March of 2018, Liborio, through the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Institute (IBJJI), sponsorship of Martial Arts Nation, and affiliation with the Institute of Sports and Social Justice at UCF, hosted the first Florida collegiate Jiu-Jitsu in-state competition Resenha or "hangout" event. The event focused on getting people who usually are fans off the stands and participating in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Furthermore, essential topics of the event included learning more about the sport's mental and physical benefits, including helping with self-defense, anxiety, depression, focus, and self-confidence through a "Mat and Chat" system developed by Liborio. In total, over 350 people participated, and 85 Black Belts from across the U.S. came to the event.

In 2018 Liborio founded an after school Martial Arts program with aims for its implementation throughout the U.S. He partnered with OCPS to create the first afterschool martial arts program in Orange county Florida at Edgewater Highschool, through Martial Arts Nation, with an emphasis on BJJ. Márcio Pimentel was the lead coach of the program, and Professor Kyle Leisher is currently the head administrator of the club at Edgewater.

On August 29, 2015, Libório fought former Carlson Gracie teammate, Mario Sperry, in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship "Superfight." After 20 minutes and two overtime periods, the referees awarded the decision to Libório.

After Leaving ATT in 2015, Liborio founded Martial Arts Nation in 2018. The martial arts firm specializes in consulting, events, licensing, and branding for BJJ and other martial arts. The company's primary focus is to create sustainable programs that teach character education, leadership, and well-being with their martial arts curriculum. Additionally, the founder of MA Nation is very focused on fostering an inclusive and welcoming culture inside every MA Nation training facility.

He was nominated as "Coach of the Year" for the Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Awards in 2009.

In 2001 Ricardo was approached by American businessman and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, Dan Lambert. Dan recruited Ricardo, and together they formed a partnership, which would eventually become American Top Team.

In 1996, Libório entered the first ever "Mundials," or World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, winning a gold medal in the super heavyweight (super-pesado) division over Leo Castello Branco, a much heavier opponent. He was awarded the title of "Most Technical Black Belt" in that tournament. The next year, Libório competed in the International Masters Mundials under his middle name, Antônio Jardim, taking gold in the meio-pesado (middle-heavy) division. He gained renown as a jiu-jitsu player, leading Carlson to claim he could beat the legendary Rickson Gracie in a sport jiu-jitsu bout.

Antônio Ricardo Jardim Libório was born on July 13, 1967, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His introduction to combat sports began at the age of 4, when he began studying judo. He later took up a variety of traditional and modern martial arts, including taekwondo, Muay Thai and boxing. At 14, he began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the Carlson Gracie academy in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, which produced black belts such as Vitor Belfort, André Pederneiras, Walid Ismail, Mario Sperry and Ricardo de la Riva. Libório received his black belt from Carlson Gracie in 1993 at the age of 26.