Many BJJ practitioners believe that Luta Livre is just a No Gi version of BJJ but that can’t be further from the truth. Any BJJ grappler that has had he chance to train in a legit Luta Livre academy will have probably noticed some distinct differences in the style of grappling and techniques used.
The main similarity of Luta Livre and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is that they both come from Brazil and are heavily focused on the groud game. Their history are very different. BJJ started in the early 20th century when a Japanese Judoka named Mitsuyo Maeda came to Brazil to spread the art of Kano Jiu-Jitsu aka Judo.
Luta Livre which means “wrestling” in Portuguese is based on catch wrestling or Catch as Catch Can that came from the United Kingdom. Luta Livre’s founder from Brazil was Euclydes “Tatu” Hatem.
Luta Livre is still a fringe combat sport which isn’t nearly as poular as its ‘cousin’ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
In this interesting video, we see BJJ blue belt Josh who has trained almost exclusively No Gi roll with Luta Livre black belt Jarbem. What is truly interesting are Jarbem’s unorthodox submissions such as his ‘Jarbem lock’ which is a painful looking twisting kneebar.
Develop a Style That Almost Nobody Else On The Mats Knows How To Prepare For With Unusual Fight-Ending Moves That Really Work From Luta Livre Black Belt Jarbem Pacheco.
- Set up unorthodox attacks from positions where your opponent thinks he is safe.
- Attack legs from the bottom of half guard to sweep and finish.
- Gain a different approach to submissions that your training partners won’t see coming.
- Be the most unpredictable person on the mats.
