Marco Antônio de Lima Ruas (; born 23 January 1961) is a Brazilian former

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

fighter, Submission Wrestler, Kickboxer and instructor. Ruas was the UFC 7 Tournament Champion, and also competed for the World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC), PRIDE Fighting Championships and the

International Fight League The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion billed as the world's first MMA league. It was founded on January 7, 2006, and closed on July 31, 2008.

, where he head-coached the

Southern California Condors The Southern California Condors are an International Fight League team based in Orange County, California. Coached by MMA legend Marco Ruas, the Condors were one of four new teams established at the beginning of the 2007 season. The Condors have an ...

. Ruas is a pioneer of Mixed martial arts, having fought in a high-profile Vale Tudo bout in 1984, and later winning the

UFC 7 ''UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 8, 1995, at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and l ...

tournament in 1995, begin the second Brazilian UFC champion and fourth overall of the organization. Although he was billed as a representative of

Luta Livre Luta Livre (, lit. ''freestyle fighting''), known in Brazil as Luta Livre Brasileira (lit. ''Brazilian freestyle fighting'') or Luta Livre Submission, and also Brazilian Submission Wrestling, is a Brazilian martial arts and combat sport created ...

and thus a high-level submission grappler, he was an equally capable and skilled Muay Thai striker with experience in

Capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

and

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. He was able to synthesize both grappling and striking into one style, known for begin one of the first proponents of

cross-training Cross-training is athletic training in sports other than the athlete's usual sport. The goal is improving overall performance. It takes advantage of the particular effectiveness of one training method to negate the shortcomings of another. In gen ...

to compete in mixed martial arts events, and is considered one of the very first well-rounded fighters and true "mixed martial artist". This is represented by his famous quote after winning his fight in WVC 4: "If you grapple me, I punch and kick you. If you punch and kick me, I grapple you. There's no way out." Ruas transformed his style in his own

hybrid martial art Hybrid martial arts, also known as hybrid fighting systems or sometimes eclectic martial arts or freestyle martial arts, refer to mixed martial arts or fighting systems that incorporate techniques and theories from several particular martial arts ...

which he called "Ruas Vale Tudo". In some later events, his fighting style was simply billed as " Vale Tudo".

Biography

Ruas was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, Brazil in 1961. He started his career training

, and

with renowned

Mestre Camisa Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...

in Rio de Janeiro at the Santa Luzia club, downtown Rio. However, his primary martial arts eventually became

, which he trained under Roberto Leitão Sr., and Muay Thai, which he trained under Luiz Alves, a student of Nélio "Naja" Borges, the man who introduced Thai boxing to Brazil. As a black belt in Luta Livre, who faced up a legendary quarrel against the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1984, he participated of the ''Noite das Artes Marciais'' ("Night of the Martial Arts") event, fought by representatives of BJJ against representatives of Muay Thai,

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

, Kickboxing and

. Ruas represented muay Thai fighting a match against BJJ representative Fernando Pinduka, he used his Luta Livre skills to counter Pinduka's grappling and the match went to draw. After the match against Pinduka, he started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with Osvaldo Alves. Later he trained

Joe Moreira Jose Carlos Moreira (born July 3, 1961 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and a former mixed martial artist.Euclydes Hatem. Eventually, Ruas became famous among the Brazilian martial arts circle and one of the most regarded non-BJJ fighters in Brazil due his philosophy of

Cross-Training Cross-training is athletic training in sports other than the athlete's usual sport. The goal is improving overall performance. It takes advantage of the particular effectiveness of one training method to negate the shortcomings of another. In gen ...

and in synthesizing all martial arts he knew for both Vale Tudo contests and self-defense into a new

he dubbed "Ruas Vale Tudo". However, this philosophy also caused controversy among Brazilian fighters and he was labelled as a ''

Creonte Creonte is a Brazilian Portuguese pejorative term roughly meaning "traitor" that is used within Brazilian jiu-jitsu organizations to refer to a former student who is perceived to be disloyal due to starting an independent school, switching asso ...

'' by not only BJJ but also by Luta Livre fighters. In 1991 he was going to participated in ''Desafio - Jiu Jitsu vs Luta Livre'', an event fought as a challenge between fighters from the two martial arts, Ruas was cast to fight BJJ representative

Amaury Bitetti Amaury Bitetti is a Brazilian mixed martial arts former fighter and promoter holding the rank of 7th degree black and red coral belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Considered by many as one of the best BJJ competitors of all time, Bitetti is a tw ...

but cancelled his participation and Bitetti was declared winner by W.O. Instead, in 1992 he promoted his own event in Manaus where he defeated Francisco Borges with a

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keiko ...

. Eventually he attracted the attention of Brazilian manager and fight promoter

Frederico Lapenda Frederico Lapenda is a movie producer and fight promoter who is one of the founders of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Lapenda is credited, along with Ultimate Fighting Championship co-creator Art Davie, as being responsible for the glo ...

and was able to get the 34-year-old fighter into the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. Ruas debuted in the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the

event in 1995. He firstly faced Larry Cureton, who outweighed him by 40 lbs, but Ruas submitted him with a

heel hook Heel hook may refer to: * Heel hook, in grappling * A climbing technique {{disambig