LUTA World Round-up 1/2

We thought it would be a good idea to give you regular updates of what our LUTA Ambassadors, team and friends are getting up to – so based on the LUTA World section of the website and our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/lutaclothing) - here is the first LUTA World Round-up. Make sure you check in next week for part 2!

London

European Muay Thai Champion and LUTA Ambassador Daniel Sam fought in a 4 man winner takes all K1 tournament in Luton on September 4th. In the final he dominated an experienced fighter from Azerbaijan (knocking him out in the 1st round) to take the title. His next bout is scheduled for November 19th in Romania. Check out the video here:

• Some of the young athletes at Fight for Peace academy in London are also due to fight soon. Their Muay Thai bouts will take place on October the 16th in Scala – Kings Cross (London). This follows on from an excellent performance earlier this month in Shoreditch during an interclub competition. Everyone at LUTA wishes them the best of luck.

Young Fighters from FFP with their coach LUTA Ambassador Daniel Sam

Rio de Janeiro

Fight for Peace International (the charity with whom LUTA shares 50% of its profits) released news of an event it’s young athletes participated in. www.fightforpeace.net reported: 

"On August 27th, Bento Ribeiro Dantas – Fight for Peace satellite project and area within Complexo da Maré, hosted its first boxing and martial arts championship.  The event was organised in partnership with the local Residents Association.  Several young members from both the satellite project and academy headquarters competed against competitors from clubs across Rio de Janeiro.  Five different boxing and wrestling matches took place.

Fight for Peace athletes successfully won four out of the five boxing matches and two out of the five wrestling matches.  The event was not only an opportunity for the young people to practice their technical and tactical abilities but also acted as a social opportunity, bringing people together from across Complexo da Maré – one of the aims of the Maré United project."

Milton Keynes

LUTA Ambassador Ebe Ghansah recently hosted a string of outstanding seminars by some of the world’s leading fighters including World BJJ Champion Braulio Estima. This was the last seminar that Braulio agreed to do before his recent win over BJJ icon Jacare in an ADCC superfight. Another surprise instructor was none other than LUTA’s Ambassador Manager Fergus Dullaghan who conducted a judo for BJJ seminar at the Gracie Barra Milton Keyenes Academy. 

BJJ World Champion Braulio Estima and Welsh Judo International (LUTA Fight Ambassador Manager) Fergus Dullaghan 

both recently gave seminars at Gracie Barra Milton Keynes

LUTA’s latest Ambassador, the 2008 European Champion in the absolute division is pictured giving a leg lock masterclass in the pages of this months Fighting Fit magazine. Nilton is originally from the favelas of Sao Paulo where he trained under Rocian Gracie of the famous Gracie family. Now a black belt under Roger Gracie, Nilton runs his own academies in Portugal and the UK. Nilton was instantly supportive of the LUTA link to the Fight for Peace charity as he has often worked in support of young people from similar backgrounds in the past –frequently offering them free Jiu jitsu classes. When Fighting Fit caught up with him in his school in Camden town (London) Nilton chose none other than yours truly to be his demonstration partner (It was an honour – though a slightly painful one!).

While we were chilling out after the shoot Nilton casually mentioned that he was off that afternoon to train with Roger Gracie, Braulio Estima and George St Pierre. Nilton then sent me proof in a photo of the four of them working hard in the gym via his iphone.

More information on LUTA Ambassador Nilton Garcia is available here: http://www.bjjinlondon.com/nilton.html  If you are looking for BJJ in North London, Nilton’s academy would be well worth checking out!

Europe's first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and lifestyle magazine reviews the LUTA story in the July/August edition. Featuring interviews with BJJ legends Roger Gracie, Lucio Rodrigues, Victor Estima and Carlson Gracie Jr.

Jiu Jitsu style wrote " A new favela-based fightwear company is taking the world by storm. LUTA only launched on May 18th but has already caught attention of CNN, the BBC and magazines like Forbes and Sport. It has also been endorsed by elite fighters like former world judo champion Neil Adams, European Muay Thai champion Daniel Sams, Irish Judo champion & martial arts writer Fergus Dullaghan, and Brazilian boxing champion and London 2012 potential Roberto Custodio. Gracie Barra instructor Ebe Ghansah wore a LUTA rash guard and MMA shorts during his recent Guinness World record breaking BJJ class and even actors like Idris Elba (aka Stringer Bell, from The Wire) have taken to the brand. Idris refused to take a fee for the voiceover work of LUTA's forthcoming T.V. advert and has recently even been spotted on youtube wearing a LUTA T-shirt during his kickboxing training.

So why all of the sudden excitement? It seems to be a result of LUTA's favela heritage, its high-performance 'Pro' range and most importantly its social engagement. LUTA is actively trying to reinvest both in martial arts and in poor communities around the world.

Firstly, in terms of martial arts LUTA is now running a monthly seminar series in London with some of the world's leading fighters and strength and conditioning coaches. Participation is completely free and the instructors include some of the fighters listed above. Secondly, LUTA is committed to sharing at least as much of its profits with Fight for Peace, (a global martial arts charity), as it does with its shareholders, via a 50% profit-share scheme.

The charity Fight for Peace (Luta pela Paz in Portugese) was founded in The Complexo da Mare favela in Rio de Janerio eleven years ago by Luke Dowdney MBE, a former British amateur boxer.

Recognising the talent of the young people there but also seeing how limited the opportunities were, he opened a small boxing club. With hard work and dedication this rapidly began to grow into a full-blown academy with education, youth leadership, work-access programs and support services included in the core activities of the charity. Other martial arts besides boxing (such as capoeira and submission wrestling) were gradually introduced and in 2007 Fight for Peace went global, opening its newest academy in North Woolwich, London.

In a recent interview Luke who also founded LUTA clothing, said "I've been training these amazing inspirational young people who refuse to give in and get involved in gangs or violence, regardless of the challenges they face. Some of them are fight champions now; others are at university or on their way to becoming teachers and lawyers, having learned, through boxing and martial arts, the confidence and self-respect necessary to progress. This is the Real Strength that inspires LUTA; it is the spirit of never giving up in the face of adversity, to never stop believing you can be a champion in the ring or in life, whatever the odds."

LUTA Training shorts:

LUTA’s had its first product review in Fighters Only magazine this month. The UK’s leading MMA publication selected LUTA’s Training shorts to review for its Special Brazil edition. 

And their opinion?  

Fighters Only commented, "Born in the favelas of Rio, half the proceeds go to Fight for Peace International, a charity to support future champions in areas of crime and violence, Money well Spent".

As many of you will have seen from LUTA’s Facebook page, last weekend I was in Milton Keynes with the Gracie Barra J14 team and Luta Ambassador Ebe Ghansah.

Ebe was attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest ever sports class. To do so Ebe and his team of 10 students needed to continuously train BJJ for 30 hours! He wore the LUTA Laser tech rash guard and LUTA MMA shorts for much of the attempt, declaring himself impressed with the products.

LUTA was also proud to be able to join Bucks Biz in sponsoring the event. Four hours of it symbolically became the first ever LUTA Seminar*.

(*What is a LUTA Seminar? A massively exciting new seminar series featuring the world’s best fighters, coaches and fitness experts, which will be free to attend! More details coming soon!!)

Ebe and his students had to start training at 09:30am on Sunday the 8th of May and continued non-stop until 16:45 on Monday evening. It’s difficult enough just to stay awake that long (believe me!), let alone do BJJ continuously throughout.

I was really impressed with all the guys who took part – it was an outstandingly difficult task and they deserve nothing but praise. The support they received from members of the public and other fighters from the academy was fantastic too. Gracie Barra Milton Keynes certainly seemed to live up to the GB motto: “Organised like a team, fighting like a family”.

I was also very pleased to be asked to be an official time-keeper for the event. (We like to “keep it real” here at LUTA and that means getting stuck in!).

But did they succeed?  Find out here!

Following Ebe’s success LUTA was pleased to offer him the world’s first ever LUTA gi. Custom designed by the LUTA clothing design team, the thing was so cool I was tempted to skip the country with it!  I was too sleepy though…

A write up of the event will be appearing in the next edition of Fighting Fit magazine. There is also a good report here.

http://www.meerkatsu.com/

Well done Ebe and the Gracie Barra J14 team!!!

A tired Ebe Ghansah sports his LUTA gi