Diogo Reis delivered a composed and emotional performance at ONE Championship recently, earning a unanimous decision victory over Yuki Takahashi.
Speaking with Nick Atkins of ONE Championship News following the bout, Reis opened up about the turmoil surrounding his coach Melqui Galvao‘s arrest and how it forced him to make life-changing decisions in a matter of days.
“The victory was great, not just because I had a good performance. It was because I was able to overcome things in my life, in my personal life. I had to make some hard decisions, change my life in like a few weeks,” Reis said. “Where should I go, what am I going to do, because I don’t have my coach anymore, I don’t have the gym anymore.”
The situation became so overwhelming that Reis considered pulling out of the match entirely.
“Sincerely, I told Tom to cancel this match. Pulling out because a lot of things happening in one time, you have a few days to make some decisions,” he explained.
It was his manager Tom DeBlass who convinced him to press forward.
“He encouraged me, ‘No, keep going, let’s go, it’s not you, you can do it.”
Reis was transparent about how difficult the transition has been, particularly the challenge of navigating who to trust going forward.
“I have to be honest with everybody. I have to now stay aware of the people who want to come to me. I don’t know if they have good or bad intentions. It’s a thing that I have to take care of now.”
Rather than relocating to the United States to join an established gym, Reis made the decision to stay in Brazil and chart his own path.
“I could move to the USA, go to some gyms, keep focus on my career. But I decided to stay in Brazil and follow my way. Soon I’m going to open my own gym in Brazil where I live.”
The gym will operate under his own brand. “Team Baby Shark,” he confirmed, adding that he already has students preparing for upcoming competitions.
Additionally, Reis expressed interest in pursuing the bantamweight title alongside defending his flyweight title. He also noted that he would like his next match to take place in Japan, referencing ONE Samurai 2 in August as a potential target.
