The Ur-Brazilian MMA Feud: BJJ vs Luta Livre and the Style They Never Saw Coming

by Kid Nate on Aug 7, 2007 3:28 PM EDT in MMA History

I found a better video from one of the events that I referenced in yesterday's history lesson so here's Fabio Gurgel vs Denilson Maia of the classic BJJ vs Luta Livre battles from the 1991 "Desafio - Jiu-Jitsu vs. Luta Livre" event:

Again note that Gurgel wins by dominating position -- Maia gets the first takedown but can't pass guard. Gurgel takes a while but he does pass guard and once he gets mount it's all over. Pretty static fight really -- the two styles had grown up together over several decades and were very incestuous.

Here's a 1992 fight featuring Marco Ruas, one of the best fighters associated with the Luta Livre camps. He was originally a Muay Thai fighter. His combination of striking and submission prowess made him a trail blazer of MMA. He was a long time rival of Rickson Gracie but sadly the two never fought. Ruas would later be a UFC champion.

The cool thing was, in 1995 at the next Desafio event, the BJJ/Luta Livre rivalry ran smack dab into another native Brazilian style -- Capoeira in the form of Mestre Hulk. The tourny was set up very much according to a stock formula, one Lutra Livre guy (Pedro Otavio), one BJJ guy (Amaury Bitetti), a couple strikers and a couple brawlers (including legendary Rickson rival Rei Zulu). Hulk refused to play into the unprepared striker stereotype and surprised them all, especially Bitetti. Here's a Brazilian TV report from the time:

And here's a highlight reel of Hulk:

Moral of the story -- strikers with enough ground skill to not get overwhelmed have an excellent chance in MMA. Plus Capoeira, while not a high percentage style, does have some wicked cool moves.

More MMA History posts in the extended entry.