Does Gracie Barra emphasize vale tudo, or no-holds-barred fighting?
No. Carlos never wanted to push people to go out there and fight in no-holds-barred because you can hurt yourself bad. Vale tudo fighting was very important in jiu-jitsu history, but Carlos didn’t want anyone to take vale tudo as a way of life because he didn’t take it for himself. I did one no-rules fight, but Carlos never pushed me to do it. He said, “If you want to go, that’s OK.” He always showed us the techniques for vale tudo but never pushed us to specialize in it. Then vale tudo became a big business, and a lot of our students started to ask for it. They were saying, “I want to make money from this; I want to make it my way of life.” So Carlos said: “OK, you guys are asking for it. I don’t want you to go out there and mess up your face.” He helps with all the jiu-jitsu techniques but doesn’t want to be the figurehead of the team. Now they have a wrestling coach, a muay Thai coach and a manager who takes care of the team. Do you train with and without a gi? We used to train only
