Up until a few years ago in Brazil, there was a fierce rivalry between the BJJ/ Vale Tudo guys and the Luta Livre lot. What if any, are the technical differences between Luta Livre (Free wrestling) and BJJ/Vale Tudo?
From what I know, luta livre = ALL no gi wrestling. BJJ = jacket wrestling vale tudo = anything goes - striking, grappling, etc.
But the Luta Livre guys do loads of striking in the Vale Tudo comps that I've seen (Mainly those Extreme Brasilian fighting tapes etc). In fact most of them were better strikers than they BJJ/ Vale Tudo guys. I'm talking here about fighting in Vale Tudo tournaments between the disparate factions within Brasilian MMAs. You know the way that Macacao was BJJ and Pele Landi was Thai/ Shootboxing or whatever. In fact some of them (LL's) were some of the best fighters i'd seen, very fluid, plus they had the best shorts, those Sky blue stripes on Black really did it for me... In technical differences, I guess i'm refering to preferences within systems, ie BJJ doesn't (Or didn't) particularly like Leg locks, although has a few.
Luta Livre rules do not allow kicks and punches, and that is the diference. Vale Tudo, the name says it all, anything is valid. In the group I trained with (Hugo Duarte, Eugenio Tadeu, Denilson) we always trained mixed stuff, say, once every 3 training sessions. So we did Tae Kwon Do kicks, kickboxing punches, Self Defense knife and Fire Arm stuff. Eugenio, Hugo and Denilson, as well as Oliveira and others, are the representatives of Luta Livre for the world via UFC and Vale Tudo, so they give this impression that the style allows kicks and punches because they kick and punch well, but in a pure Luta Livre match you will not see that. Mauricio Feijo Atlanta, GA
I never heard of Lucha Libre. Literally, it means the same in Spanish that "Luta Livre" does in Portuguese: "Free Fight"
Lucha Libre is Mexican professional wrestling, characterized by acrobatic moves and elaborate and colorful masks.
