Monday, January 12, 2009

How Soon Until the Arrival of American Luta Livre?

BloodyElbow has a fantastic article up about the art of Luta Livre at http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/1/10/710938/mma-history-xviii-the-loss . In case you've been living under a rock or only began following MMA since TUF or Kimbo on CBS, Luta Livre was essentially a poor man's jiu-jitsu in Brazil. See, buying a gi and taking jiu-jitsu lessons is expensive - more so if you're some broke kid in the favela - so why not study no-gi submission grappling at that ghetto-looking gym in the 'hood for a fraction of the cost? That's essentially what Luta Livra was, and like all those boxing gyms you see in inner-cities around the US, these places were dens of combat where dudes trained hard and ugly. So... how soon until we see an American version of Luta Livra spring up? I'm not talking about Eddie Bravo's brand of no-gi grappling either, nor am I talking about whatever no-gi jiu-jitsu classes are around. I'm talking about true, hardcore, no-frills submission wrestling. Personally, I think it's only a matter of time.

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