@
Mario
Miglio Luta Livre
@
I wanted to see
some luta livre—the gotherh Brazilian grappling art. The most
internationally successful exponent of that art is unquestionably the
King of the Streets, Marco Ruas, (whose last name literally means
"streets"). I met Marco along with his top student Pedro
Rizzo and his training partners Bas Rutten and Mark Kerr, on Korean Air
flight 002 from LA to Tokyo (on their way to Pride 2). Marco told
me he owns a gym near his home in Leme, at the north end of Praia de
Copacabana. But Marco doesnft train at his own gym. So any luta livre
gym would suffice. Gracie Barra and many other jiu-jitsu academies are
located in health clubs, but jiu-jitsu is only one of many artes
marciais that appeal to cariocas. The
Copa Clube, at Rua Xavier da Silva 23, in the center of Copacabana,
offered capoeira, kickboxing and boxe Inglês, karate, kobu-do,
taekwon-do, judo, jiu-jitsu, and muay thai (taught by champion Arturo
Mariano, but it didnft resemble the muay thai the Thais do). Classes
were offered 3-5 days a week and the fees were reasonable (50-60 reais).
With the exception of capoeira which isnft a martial art or contact
sport anyway, I could see or do all of this elsewhere. Luta livre
however, intrigued me. Luta livre is essentially a primitive form of
jiu-jitsu, or rather what jiu-jitsu would be if you subtracted the
quimono, and added basic striking, but while jiu-jitsu has flourished,
luta livre hasnft (although there are signs that it is starting to
take off a bit, with organized sport tournaments, government
sponsorship, ranks, a curriculum of sorts, attractive international
herois, and accessible training locations). The fact that luta livre
fighters almost always lose to jiu-jitsu fighters was, I suspected, only
part of the explanation.
Another part is
probably that it is not easy to find luta livre gyms, although I did
come across a couple, one in Urca (on the other side of Pão de Açucar),
and another in the Neves Gym Club at 782 Av. Copacabana, which like most
gyms had a matted room for jiu-jitsu training. But I never saw any
jiu-jitsu training, despite a sign posting the training schedule. After
a few weeks a new sign was put up, announcing luta livre classes in the
evenings. The instructor was Mario Miglio, who is described by Hugo
Duarte as being one of the stand-outs of the nova geração
of luta livre. I showed up for the class. Mario didnft. A young guy
with a brown belt, kimono bottom but no top was teaching two big
black guys how to do a baiana double-leg takedown. He invited me
to train and told me Mario would be there the next day. I came back.
Mario wasn't there. A different assistant was there, who invited me to
train and told me Mario would be there later that evening. I came back.
Mario wasnft there. His assistant said hefd be there tomorrow. I
never did meet Mario Miglio and I didnft see much luta livre.
