Adriano Moraes pays tribute to the people who inspire him most

Adriano Moraes’ story is a truly inspiring one.

The Brazilian was abandoned on the streets of Brasilia, Brazil, just days after his birth, and eventually found himself in an orphanage. Fortunately, he was picked up by a woman who would go on to adopt him and become his mother.

As he grew up as a youngster, he discovered martial arts, and embarked on an adventure that culminated in him joining ONE Championship and becoming a two-time ONE Flyweight World Champion.

It’s the sort of rags-to-riches story that would inspire people from any background. But for Moraes himself, he had to take inspiration from elsewhere, and it’s no surprise to hear that his first source of inspiration was his adopted mother.

“The person who most inspired me when I was a kid is my mother, because of what she did for me – showing me unconditional love, and showing me the path to walk to make the best choices in my life,” he revealed.

With the support of a loving mother and the structure of being part of a family, ‘Mikinho’ was able to grow up in a relatively stable environment, though life was still hard. Given his early background, Moraes’ successes were far from a formality at that early stage.

When he immersed himself into the world of martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu in particular, Moraes discovered another inspirational figure to help encourage his progress as a martial artist - living legend Royce Gracie.

“Royce Gracie introduced Brazilian jiu-jitsu to martial arts, and the beauty of vale tudo in Brazil,” he explained. “Every BJJ athlete can be grateful to Royce Gracie for what he did.”

Despite being the younger, less physically imposing member of the Gracie family, Royce became the poster boy for Brazilian jiu-jitsu. 

His successes in North America brought a new spotlight on the grappling arts, and showed that a smaller man with superior skill and technique could prevail in hand-to-hand competition against a much larger, stronger opponent.

”He gave the opportunity for all of us to have a job today,” Moraes admitted. “It is an honour to be here in high level martial arts competition, and enjoy the life.”

Now, Moraes is the man standing on top of the sport and serving as an inspiration to others. He currently takes his own personal inspiration not from his elders, but from the children he meets in hospitals.

“The people that most inspire me today are the kids who are in the hospital, who are fighting to live every day because they are ill or have tough diseases,” Moraes explains. “They inspire me now that I am a world champion.”

Having beaten the odds to survive the worst possible start in life, Moraes is all too aware of the struggles facing some of the youngsters he comes into contact with.

Now, as the ONE Flyweight World Champion, he hopes to keep inspiring others as he seeks to continue his reign. His next chance to do so comes at ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD on Friday 10 November, as he takes on undefeated Filipino Danny “The King” Kingad