Ricardo de La Riva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year of 1965. He started training because of a dispute at the beach in Rio de Janeiro. Ricardo was playing soccer at the Copacabana beach with his brothers when a group of kids asked to play with them. De La Riva and his brothers weren't keen to accept and an which prompt an argument forcing the brothers to leave the beach. When they got home and told their father what happened, the patriarch was outraged and enlisted his children in Jiu Jitsu so they could learn how to defend themselves. This happened in January 1980 and Ricardo De