 | |
| Focus | Hybrid:
|
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Brazil |
| Creator | Euclydes Hatem |
| Famous practitioners | |
| Parenthood | Catch wrestling,Judo |
| Descendant arts | Vale Tudo,Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) |
| Olympic sport | No |
Luta Livre (Portuguese:[ˈlutɐˈlivɾi], lit.freestyle wrestling[a]), known in Brazil asLuta Livre Brasileira (lit.Brazilian freestyle wrestling) orLuta Livre Submission,[1] and alsoBrazilian Submission Wrestling, is a Brazilianmartial arts andcombat sport created byEuclydes Hatem[2][3][4][5] inRio de Janeiro. Primarily a mixture ofcatch wrestling andkosen judo, there is alsoground striking with the hands, feet, knees and elbows. Notable practitioners includeMarco Ruas,Ebenezer Fontes Braga,Johil de Oliveira,Alexandre Franca Nogueira,Renato Sobral,Gesias Cavalcante,Pedro Rizzo,Darren Till andJosé Aldo.
There are two styles:esportiva ("sporting") andcombate ("ground strikes"); both areno-gi. Inesportiva competitions, grappling techniques are the only techniques allowed to subdue the opponent. Another style developed later is called "Luta Livre Vale Tudo", which is similar to the modern MMA style, which allows both standing and ground strikes and submissions.[6] Consequently, it is important to calmly strategize and execute moves with the aim of forcing the opponent to submit viaarmlock,leglock,choke ornecklock, or towin by points (i.e.takedowns, domination position).[2] Punches, kicks and other "hard" techniques are not allowed as this is considered more of a sport than actual combat.Combate, on the other hand, includes striking techniques on the ground; palm strikes and kicks are allowed, but ground fighting and submissions remain the largest elements. This is also the form used inMMA-style fights.
In Brazil, the name "Luta Livre" (lit.freestyle fighting) can be used for multiple styles of wrestling.Olympic Freestyle Wrestling is known asLuta Livre Olímpica (lit. olympic freestyle fighting), whileProfessional wrestling is calledLuta Livre Profissional or simplyLuta Livre, sometimes also referred to asTelecatch.[7]Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestling was introduced to Brazil in the early 20th century and received the name "Luta Livre Americana" (lit.Americanfreestyle fighting) to differentiate fromGreco-Roman wrestling (Portuguese:Luta Greco-Romana), as there were no forbiddenholds or moves, thus "livre" ("free").[8] Later, due to the influence ofEuclydes Hatem and other practitioners, Luta Livre started to diverge from Catch Wrestling (which was becoming predeterminedprofessional wrestling) and became its own style ofsubmission grappling, with its practitioners maintaining the moniker of "Luta Livre".[3]
To clear the confusion, in the modern day some Luta Livre schools have adopted the name of "Luta Livre Submission"[1] while others use "Luta Livre Esportiva" in order to differentiate from other similarly named fighting styles.[9]
Luta Livre's founder is credited toEuclydes "Tatu" Hatem, who was originally acatch wrestler. Euclydes Hatem went by the name of Tatu.[10] He began teaching catch wrestling techniques inRio de Janeiro in 1927 while experimenting with his own innovative techniques.[11] Tatu brought on many challenges with Brazilian jiu-jitsu, culminating in his victory over George Gracie in a Catch rules fight. The style emphasized fighting without a gi/uniform. He received popularity when he submitted to George Gracie in 1942[12] and when one of his students,Euclides Pereira, defeatedCarlson Gracie in 1968.[13] The system focused onground fighting and submissions due to their importance inVale Tudo matches. The ground fighting included the use of leg locks, which at the time were ignored by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.[4] Some famous fighters who came out of Luta Livre included William Porfirio.[14] In the 1970s, Luta Livre was strongly influenced by the father and son duo Fausto and Carlos Brunocilla. The Brunocilla were Tatu's pupils and, in turn, were responsible for graduating many Luta Livre Masters. Also, around the 1970s, the art of Luta Livre was influenced byRoberto Leitão, a practitioner of judo and wrestling.[15] Leitão also articulated the "Theory of Grappling", sometimes referred to as "Theory of Luta Livre".[16] Roberto Leitão was a university professor of Engineering[citation needed] who had devoted many years toWrestling and Judo.
Luta Livre, in its early days, was largely considered to be an art "for poor kids who could not afford a gi."[17] Due to appearances, since they didn't fight with agi. Luta Livre and BJJ were considered to be enemies. When Euclides Perreria beat Carlson Gracie in 1968,[18] the rivalry was continued for a few more decades. It was actually very popular amongst kids from the favelas, and in a way, it represented a class divide and "warfare" between social classes.[19][20] By the 1980s,Gracie Jiu-Jitsu had become very popular inBrazil, and Luta Livre representatives wanted to help popularize their art by accepting challenges from Brazilian jiu-jitsu champions inVale Tudo and Submission matches. Luta Livre continued on with many famous fights in and out of the ring. This included a fight withRickson Gracie on the beaches of Brazil.[21] This would hurt Luta Livre's reputation with Hugo Duarte losing toRickson Gracie, then getting knocked out byTank Abbott atUFC 17, andEugenio Tadeu losing toWallid Ismael due to his inability to re-enter the ring in time. Tadeu did battleRoyler Gracie to a draw in an indoor fight. Another fight betweenRenzo Gracie and Eugenio Tadeu kept the rivalry going.[1] His battle withRenzo Gracie in 1997 ended in a No Contest due to fans rioting. In 1991 Desafio hosted a Jiu-Jitsu vs Luta Livre card that had three representatives of Brazilian jiu-jitsu up against three representatives of Luta Livre, with BJJ winning all three fights.[20] One fighter,Marco Ruas, who would later become a UFC champ, had a huge rivalry withRickson Gracie.[22] A fight, though, never occurred between the two fighters.[22]
While the feud between BJJ and Luta Livre was ongoing, BJJ started to gain the upper hand by spreading its art across Brazil and the rest of the world, something Luta Livre wasn't doing due to a lack of central leadership or interest in doing so.[23] A branch of theGracie family, which established itself in the United States, did a Vale Tudo-style tournament in the form of theUltimate Fighting Championship, which saw the early events resulting in the victory of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners and raising the awareness of the art across the globe. While Luta Livre kept its popularity limited to theRio de Janeiro andManaus areas.[9] As many events similar to the UFC were created in Brazil, the United States andJapan, Luta Livre practitioners responded by signing up for those Vale Tudo and MMA events nationally and abroad.Marco Ruas was one of the first, becoming the champion ofUFC 7; however; he was billed representing "RuasVale Tudo", his own fighting style, which Luta Livre only composed a part of.[5] Other Luta Livre fighters followed suit, including Hugo Duarte, Pedro Otávio,Johil de Oliveira andEugenio Tadeu, and they found mixed results in competitions. However, the main blow was that, as the nascent sport professionalized, most of the earlier, most prestigious MMA academies (Brazilian Top Team,Chute Boxe Academy,Nova União, among others) used Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as their submission grappling style. Many Luta Livre fighters left their original camps and moved to Jiu-Jitsu camps, hoping to succeed in their fighting careers.[23] BJJ practitioners also stopped using thejiu-jitsu gi in MMA competitions (which would later be banned outright) and developed a style of BJJ without the gi, known as "No-Gi". Thus, eliminating one of the main differentials between the two martial arts, and since many Luta Livre fighters were now practicing this new style, many of No-Gi's techniques and strategies were heavily influenced by Luta Livre.[23]
Currently, there has been a lot of work to preserve Luta Livre and work towards a resurgence of the style. In 2017, theConfederação Brasileira de Luta Livre Esportiva (Brazilian Confederation of Luta Livre Esportiva) was founded in order to better organize and promote the sport.[24] While it has also carved itself a niche in Europe, especially in Germany, where Luta Livre schools are common. Luta Livra was introduced in that country by Daniel D'Dane.[25]
The Brazilian Luta Livre Federation created a curriculum and a grading system similar to theBrazilian jiu-jitsu ranking system and theBrazilian Judo ranking system, in order to develop uniform minimum standards and better rank its practitioners. Ablack belt might take up to ten years of practice. Although it's a no-gi grappling style, practitioners can wear their belts if they want.[26]
According to the Brazilian Luta Livre Federation, Rankings are divided into three categories: beginners, intermediate and advanced. Advanced students are allowed to be instructors[26]
| Beginners | |
|---|---|
| White |  |
| Yellow |  |
| Orange |  |
| Intermediate | |
| Blue |  |
| Advanced | |
| Purple |  |
| Brown |  |
| Black (1st to 9thdan) |  |
| Red-and-white (10th dan black belt) |  |
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