Fighters who came from Luta Livre?

[Ogata]

Anderson is a D1 Wrestler in the style of the natives.

Damn!

Reminds me of Master Pashango:

 

[mraa1]

Anderson is a D1 Wrestler in the style of the natives.

literally an entire tribe of Jacare's

 

[Choco]

Always assumed Babalu was from bjj background, interesting stuff

Honestly I thought this as well. I never fathomed him as anything but BJJ fighter. He was never a stand up fighter.

Babalu began wrestling as a kid in Brazil, and was spotted by Marco Ruas and introduced to Luta. Marco brought him to Nelio Alves gym "Boxe Thai" and Babalu debuted figthing Thai at 14 (Circa 1989-1990). Back in the day Luta guys did MT with Nelio and Carlson Gracie guys boxed with Claudio Coelho.

Babalu gained notoriery in MMA as a luta standout, then turned Creonte for richer Gracie Barra.

 

[gono btw]

Ebenezer Fontes Braga was the first guy I thought of but he never competed in the UFC even though he fought plenty of UFC guys..

Spoiler

I might be off here, but wasn't Bustamante one of the
4 Lutra Livre guys who stormed Gracie’s gym and challenged them (challenged declined)? Back when Ruas and Rickson were trying to finalize an official bout?

I know who knows, @gono btw

Busta never was a LL dude, tho.

Always assumed Babalu was from bjj background, interesting stuff

That was the last MA he added to his skill set:

Evolution of his skill set [1980s-90s]:

Judo [yellow belt] > 'Thai Boxin´' [was then a mix in Rio de Janeiro: Boxe + TKD + Capoeira] > Luta Livre [Roberto Leitão] > Freestyle Wrasslin´ [Brazilian National Team / influence of Leo Moraes, Cuban Wrassler] > BJJ [Gracie Barra]

Note: 1st steps in BJJ b4 Gracie Barra > with Tata, Roberto Traven, Castelo Branco.

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/deconstructing-mma-myths-part-23-cross-trainin´-in-mma´s-dark-ages.3874607/page-4

 

[RemyR]

I might be off here, but wasn't Bustamante one of the
4 Lutra Livre guys who stormed Gracie’s gym and challenged them (challenged declined)? Back when Ruas and Rickson were trying to finalize an official bout?

I know who knows, @gono btw

Bustamonte is a pretty accomplished long time BJJ guy

also one of the most criminally underrated fighters ever seeing as he was already older when he got into MMA and usually fought well above his weight class

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Bustamonte is a pretty accomplished long time BJJ guy

also one of the most criminally underrated fighters ever seeing as he was already older when he got into MMA and usually fought well above his weight class

Ya I’m way off. In ‘91 he fought for bjj against ll.

https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-culture/jiu-jitsu-vs-luta-livre##

Getting older, too much weed in high school. I swear I’ve forgotten more mma minutia than I retain.

 

[uchubaco]

There were a LOT of Luta Livre guys who came through the ranks...some of them came from other backgrounds and others were strictly Luta Livre. Also, you have to take into consideration the thing about Black Belts in Luta Livre, there was a time a few years ago that a LOT of BJJ Black Belts were awarded Luta Livre Black Belts, so that is a thing to be taken into consideration also.

From the top of my head you have the OGs:

- Johil de Oliveira
- Hugo Duarte
- Eugenio Tadeu
- Marco Ruas (even though he left Luta Livre and started to promote his Ruas Vale Tudo)
- Ebenezer Fontes Braga
- Pedro Otavio
- Pedro Rizzo

Then the Second Generation:

- Alexandre Pequeno Nogueira
- Renato Babalu (started with Academia Budokan and left for Gracie Barra)
- Evangelista Cyborg (the same, started with Budokan and left for Chute Boxe)
- Gesias Cavalcante
- Milton Vieira
- Marcio Cromado
- Alexandre Cacareco
This generation had the particularity that A LOT of them left for bigger teams and/or represent Jiu-Jitsu

And the Modern Generation:

- Nicolas Renier
- Darren Till
- Mansour Barnaoui
- Paul Sass
- Terry Etim
- Rousimar Palhares
- Leonardo Chocolate
- etc.

Luta Livre had a lot of exponents and fighters from their camp, but sadly because of money left for others and stoped to represent Luta Livre, so that is the reason of why you have guys such as Babalu who did Luta Livre but is refered as a Jiu Jitsu guy.

Also, regarding the Black Belt thing...Murilo Bustamante is now a Black Belt, Dean Lister is also one and there are big names in BJJ who nowadays are Luta Livre Black Belts and nobody knows that.

Source: http://www.lutalivresubmission.com.br/lutadores.asp?fx=preta (There are some interesting names here tbh.)