Primarily a mixture of catch wrestling and kosen judo, there is also ground striking with the hands, feet, knees and elbows.

Notable practitioners include Marco Ruas, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, Johil de Oliveira, Alexandre Franca Nogueira, Renato Sobral, Gesias Cavalcante, Pedro Rizzo, Darren Till and José Aldo.

[6] Consequently, it is important to calmly strategize and execute moves with the aim to force the opponent to submit via armlock, leglock, choke or necklock, or to win by points (i.e. takedowns, domination position).

[7] Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestling was introduced to Brazil in the early 20th century and received the name "Luta Livre Americana" (lit.

American freestyle fighting) to differentiate from Greco-Roman wrestling (Portuguese: Luta Greco-Romana), as there was no forbidden holds or moves, thus "livre" ("free").

[9] Luta Livre's founder is credited to be Euclydes "Tatu" Hatem, who was originally a catch wrestler.

[11] Tatu brought on many challenges with the Brazilian jiu-jitsu and culminated with his victory over George Gracie in the Catch rules fight.

[13] In the 1970s Luta Livre was strongly influenced by father and son duo Fausto and Carlos Brunocilla.

[12] Roberto Leitão was a university professor of Engineering[citation needed] who had devoted many years to Wrestling and Judo.

Luta Livre, in its early days, was largely considered to be an art "for poor kids who could not afford a gi.

[21] A branch of the Gracie family which established themselves in the United States did a Vale Tudo-style tournament in the form of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which saw the early events resulting in the victory of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners and raising the awareness of the art across the globe.

[5] Other Luta Livre fighters followed suit, such as Hugo Duarte, Pedro Otávio, Johil de Oliveira and Eugenio Tadeu, and they found mixed result in competitions.

[24] According to the Brazilian Luta Livre Federation, Rankings are divided into three categories: beginners, intermediate and advanced.