Marcelo Brigadeiro is one of the star pupils of Luta Livre Master Marcio “Cromado” Barbosa. Brigadeiro shares his thoughts on the resurgence and evolution of Luta Livre, the fallout from the BJJ vs. Luta Livre competitions and whether there’s still a rivalry today. Be sure to check out our article: History Of Luta Livre & Reasons For Lack Of “Mainstream” Popularity.
Source: Bloodyelbow.com
How has Luta Livre changed or evolved from the 90s?
Marcelo Brigadeiro: I think it has became much more technical and more professional. Most of the people that were in charge of spreading Luta Livre in the 90s only had the concern of showing off and please their own egos. Nowadays there are less people working on spreading Luta Livre around, but the ones that are doing it have the right goal and the right attitudes. Technically, I believe that me and others that are in charge of spreading Luta Livre (LL) around are much more concerned in developing techniques and in improving LL skills.
Was the Desafio (challenge) BJJ vs. Luta Livre event in 1991 really the main cause of LL fading from popularity while BJJ soared? Were there any other reasons for this?
Marcelo Brigadeiro: Of course not. A single event cannot be the cause of the big gap that exists between Luta Livre and BJJ`s popularity, especially because in this LL vs. BJJ events, half of the so-called “LL representatives” weren’t even from Luta Livre. We did not have enough fighters so people from Thai Boxing and Capoeira used to fight representing LL and their losses were scored as our losses.
But it was not the main reason at all. The main reason is that the BJJ representatives were much more clever and much more competent in spreading the art than we were. While they were marketing BJJ and concerned with spreading it around with business strategies, we were only worried about going to the gyms and beating the BJJ fighters up. And this difference of mentality between both arts is easy to understand if you think that, at that time, most of the BJJ representatives were rich and have been to good schools; the majority of them had been to the university, while the LL ones were from the favelas and many of them didn’t even know how to read or write properly.
Marcelo Brigadeiro
Are there any grappling techniques specific to LL? A move you would see and say “That’s pure Luta Livre”?
Marcelo Brigadeiro: Yeah, many. The guillotine, the heel hook, the arm triangle and many others are LL signature moves. BJJ fighters did not know how to use them until they started training with us.
Does LL still have a rivalry with BJJ, even if now just friendly?
Marcelo Brigadeiro: Yeah, deep inside we will always have it. Maybe not the new practitioners but everyone that took part in the LL vs. BJJ war in the 90s will always have it deep inside.
