Is Marco Ruas a BJJ Black Belt?
BToto
arts, does the ground fighting aspect come from Judo, BJJ, or both? It is
rumored that he trained with the Gracies, and is said to hold advanced
degrees in all 6 martial arts that make up Vale Tudo. His style of ground
fighting looks very similar to the BJJ style (i.e. side control, attaining
the mounted, etc.) and his submissions look like BJJ leglocks.
Richard Wu
: I was wondering, since Ruas style is comprised of 6 different martial
I doubt that Ruas has a black belt in BJJ. Royce Gracie said in a recent
issue of Black Belt magazine (I forgot the issue number) that he was not
at all impressed at Ruas' grappling ablility.
I don't even know if Ruas trained with the Gracies or not. Ruas is in
Gracie In Action #1 as the "other guy" fighting the Gracie
representative. Rorion Gracie (who narrates Gracie In Action) refers to
Ruas as "an amatuer kickboxer who has some training in Thai boxing".
Rorion later remarks "the only thing that saves this kickboxer from a
massacre is some knowledge of jiu-jitsu". The fight ends in a draw.
Joshua Thaler
: I was wondering, since Ruas style is comprised of 6 different martial
: arts, does the ground fighting aspect come from Judo, BJJ, or both? It is
: rumored that he trained with the Gracies, and is said to hold advanced
: degrees in all 6 martial arts that make up Vale Tudo. His style of ground
: fighting looks very similar to the BJJ style (i.e. side control, attaining
: the mounted, etc.) and his submissions look like BJJ leglocks.
Ruas from what I hear is from the "free style" fighter school (I
believe it is something like luta libre in portugese) who are basically
kickboxers from Brazil who got tired of gettin whupped by every purple
belt in Juijitsu that came along. So they tucked their tails between
their legs and went out and took some GJJ classes, enough to be
proficient. They train without a gi and pracice sparring with strikes
included. The term "vale tudo" just means anything goes. It is not a
formal martial art, just a collection of fighters who fight in UFC style
tournaments, typically crosstrain in other martial arts, and are life
long enemies of the Gracie camp.
I wonder if Draygin and Rick Shank would qualify?
Joshua
Rick Shank
No, I would not qualify. I do not typically crosstrain in other martial
arts and I am no enemy of the Gracie camp. I am just a person who likes
to laugh and poke fun at a Gracie drone. I have made friends with many
intelligent Gracie JJ practicianers. I am not a fighter by trade, I am
an engineer by trade. I avoid fighting and only take martial arts for
health and self defense. You will not find me trying to beat the local
tough guy at the UFC. You might someday catch me trying to kill him to
stay alive though. It won't be my choice. The likelihood that I will
get out of it alive is far greater than the likelihood of the event ever
happening at all. That's a big plus in my book.
Rick - still got a clean face after 42 years. Not trying to mess up others'
has helped greatly in this endeavor.
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Armada
according to some BJJ sources Ruas has vast informal experience in BJJ
through personal contacts. Carlson Gracie Senior was gonna take Ruas
contract, but Ruas camp says that other BJJ fighters did not want that.
BJJ sources say that Ruas did not want it. Who knows?
His trainer Roberto Leitao teaches Greco-Roman and free-style wrestling,
his son Beto Leitao will be in the next Olympics. All this free-style x
BJJ stuff is a waist of time. Since if you do it enough, there's only one
way.
Luciano