Interview with Leo Negao

As time as gone by I have been training my grappling skills more and more. Which in turn has meant I have met a lot of excellent grapplers of late. One who has become a teacher to me is Leo Negao. He's one of the most well rounded open minded BJJ teachers I have ever met and he always has a smile! His positive high energy makes the hard training a lot of fun.

He is set to become a big star in MMA!

Leo was born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. He started to train at Carlson Gracie's academy in 1993 together with Murillo Bustamante, Amauri Bitteti, Mario Sperry, Vitor Belfort and others. At this time Carlson Gracie himself was the coach for Leo Negao and these aforementioned fighters.

In 1998 he moved to Sao Paulo and started to train at Alliance academy together with Fabio Gurgel, Alexandre Paiva and Romero "Jacaré" Cavalcanti.

At this time Romero "Jacaré" Cavalcanti was the Coach for this fight team.

In 2002, Leo Negao trained with Vitor Belfort and Minotauro to develop his striking techniques.

Thereafter, Léo Negao moved to Sweden and opened BJJ and MMA schools around Europe.

An experienced MMA fighter and teacher of MMA, Leo has recently launched Fight First MMA, An MMA promotions company, promoting both professional and amateur MMA fight nights around the UK and Central Europe.

He is a world champion in BJJ:

World BJJ Champion 1998
National BJJ Champion 97,98,99
Estadual Champion 97,98,99,2000
Beat Ricardo Arona. (8x Pride Champion) at the BJJ Championship in Brazil (2001)
ADCC 2nd place Brazilian Trials
1st place Roma Submission Wrestling.

MAI: You seem to know everybody in the world of BJJ, what was it like for you learning BJJ?

Leo: Learning the art of BJJ in the beginning was very hard, but once I learnt the basic positions, like the triangle, arm bar, chokes, and the escapes, it became a lot easier to understand the full game of BJJ. I was very lucky to have been coached by Carlson Gracie, and to have trained with some of the best fighters in the world.

M: How did you meet Carlson Gracie?

L: I was playing in the street with my friends in Copacabana and Carlson came up to me and said, "do you want to train Jiu-Jitsu?" I said, "What is Jiu-Jitsu?" Carlson laughed and asked me to come with him to see his club. When I arrived he asked me to spar with Murillo Bustamante. At this point I didn't have any martial arts training, I just knew how to punch, so I started punching wildly at Murillo, he just defended against my punches, then he put me down and put a rear naked choke, on me. Man, I didn't know what was happening; I thought I was going to die. When he (Murillo) released the choke and once I got my breath back and asked Carlson to train me, I was completely amazed at how successful the techniques of BJJ were against someone who was just throwing punches.

M: You like to teach Vale Tudo and the No Gi game as well as Gi BJJ. What are the main differences to you?

L: The techniques used in each (BJJ gi/no gi, VT/MMA) are largely the same. You have the same options available to you; sweep or take down, pass the guard, top mount, and then you must go to finish the match, i.e via a submission if you are in a BJJ match or via submission or ground and pound if you are in a VT/MMA match. I would say with the gi, you can use the gi to assist your defences and attacks, but this is all the gi can provide, just some minimal assistance, I believe it is a matter of the individual's preference, to fight/train with gi or no gi rather than it being a significant difference in BJJ techniques.

M: Do you think that all BJJ instructors can teach No Gi or Vale Tudo or does it take a different type of training?

L: To be able to instruct on the techniques of a fight sport I believe you have to know the techniques of the fight sport. A high standard BJJ instructor can teach BJJ either with gi or without gi, this is no problem for the BJJ instructor.

With regard to whether or not a BJJ instructor can teach VT? In my opinion, a lot of the VT/MMA game is based on submission grappling techniques, so if you are very good at grappling, you are very likely to be a successful VT/MMA instructor, but I would not say a BJJ instructor could or should replace an experienced instructor who is proficient in the techniques of Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and the like.

VT/MMA demands skills and talents in both areas of the game, stand up (striking) and ground (grappling). I believe the main reason I can teach VT/MMA is because I am not only a BJJ Black Belt, (2nd Dan), I have also been trained in Boxing and Muay Thai, with over 300 professional fights in No Holds Barred (NHB), Vale Tudo/MMA, BJJ (gi) and submission wrestling.

M: What's the difference to levels in the UK compared to Brazil now days.

L: The time I have been in the UK, I have seen some very good MMA fighters, the UK fighters are rapidly improving their game on the floor and they are very exciting to watch. Brazil has a great history of BJJ fighters and I can tell you that at the BJJ academies in Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo, there is a high quality of BJJ talent, with approximately 80% of the male population in these cities practicing BJJ.

The facilities in Brazil to train BJJ are amazing, in my hometown, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, there are 100's of very high quality BJJ/MMA academies. To give you some idea, you can walk down the street in Copacanbana and every other building is a BJJ/MMA academy, so within 5 mins of walking down the street, you will have passed at least 10-12 BJJ/MMA gyms, all running BJJ/MMA classes (non-stop) from morning until night, 7 days a week.

Pick just about any of these BJJ/MMA gyms and you will without doubt be in a class where at least 50% of those you are training with are a brown or black belt in BJJ. With facilities like this, the coaching and sparring opportunities for BJJ /MMA, I am sure you will agree, are excellent, if not a perfect environment for developing the skills of novice, semi and professional BJJ/MMA fighter.

MAI: You attended the Seni show at Birmingham NEC last May 2006, to watch your students fight, and then was approached on the day by event organisers who asked if he would be willing to fight, Cage Warriors Heavyweight Champion, and 2x Abu Dhabi World Champion, Jeff Munson (105kg) Two hours later, wearing a pair of borrowed shorts you where on the mat. There was a lot of opinions on the fight on the internet, what is yours?

L: I can't complain, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to fight against Jeff Munson, he is a very big name and I have a great deal of respect for his grappling skills, Jeff is very talented and VERY strong, I did my very best against Jeff. What more can I say, other than, I was disappointed with the judge's decisions, I thought I had won.

M: You just fought against Jeff in the 1OK grapple and YET AGAIN Jeff was unable to score any points against you, again it went to judge's decision and it was again given to Jeff, perhaps it will be third time lucky for Leo v Jeff?

L: Anything can happen on any given day so we will see what the future holds.

M: The 10K grapple event was a who's who of the best world-class grapplers. You beat Gabriel Kitobar (BJJ world champ), Alexandre 'Xandinho' Izidro, (BJJ world champ), Thiago 'Monstro' Borges (BJJ world champ) before you went 0 - 0 with Munson. That must have been a long day for you!

L: It sure was, but to be involved with such a good group of fighters was an honour.

M: Which fighter do you most respect, past or present?

L: In BJJ - Leonardo Viera, In MMA- Minotauro.

M: What is your association with Fight First MMA?

L: I am the Head Coach and Fight Director of Fight First MMA. My objectives for the company are twofold; firstly to coach and improve the grappling skills of novice, semi and pro UK MMA fighters, so there is an increased amount of fighters from the UK who are able to successfully compete in MMA competitions. Secondly, to provide more opportunities for UK MMA fighters to actually compete in MMA events. There are some really fantastic MMA, promoters out there, UFC, Cage Rage, Cage Warriors, Ultimate Cage Fighting, FX-3, Angrrr Management and so on. I am working very closely with these well known and respected UK MMA promoters, to ensure Fight First MMA provides regular (4 a year) well organised, high quality MMA fights for everyone interested and involved in UK-MMA, that is fighters, coaches and UK MMA fans alike.

M: How many shows have you put on in the UK so far and when is your next show?

L: Our First UK show was Fri 23 rd March 2007, UK vs. France "Final Destination" and our second show will be in Oct 07, Brazil v Russia 'Sabotage'

M: When are you fighting next?

L: Now I that have a UK based management team, so there are some interesting opportunities available. I can't say for sure against who and when, but it will be very soon and I am very excited about fighting at UK's MMA events, there is a real buzz about UK-MMA at the moment and I simply LOVE to fight.

M: What the most intense fight you have had?

L: Against Ricardo Arona. (8x Pride Champion) I Beat Arona at the BJJ Championship in Brazil (2001), but it was 8 mins of complete war, very, very tough.

M: You grew up in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro.......what was this like?

L: Nice, I had a lot of friends and a lot of great times, I laughed a lot. But there were times when also it was very tough, I don't like to talk about it, all I can say is some of my friends have been killed right in front of me and this is very horrific. There is a lot of poverty in the Favela and it hurts me to see young kids take the criminal way of life believing this is the best way to survive. I was lucky I was encouraged to go to school and study hard, not everyone in the favelas has the benefit of this important guidance and support, which is why I have been involved in a lot of social projects with the kids who live in the Brazilian Favelas, teaching them BJJ/MMA, doing my best to help them focus on activities that are good for both mind and body.

M: With such a prolific background in BJJ, what attracted you towards Vale Tudo?

L: I enjoy fighting in VT competitions because everything is allowed, I can use all my body to fight against my opponent, I am allowed to use any kick, any punch, all the locks and chokes, any elbows, head butts, everything!!!

M: Do you have a fighting nickname?

L: Yes, Nagao, it means 'big black'. That's become Nagao Killer - the big black killer! Ha ha....

M: What do you like to do when you are not training/coaching/fighting/running MMA shows?

L: I like to surf, (laughing out loud), no seriously I am good at surfing and I love it, I have been surfing both short and long board for 15 years!

M: Not the best whether in the UK for that right now!

L: (Laughs) not like Brazil.

M: Where do you coach at now?

L: I am the head BJJ/MMA coach at JKO Gym (Bethnal Green, London), running novice, semi and pro 7 days a week!

M: I am sure you will be sort after.

For further details on Leo Negao visit www.fightfirst.co.uk or contact Leo directly at leo@fightfirst.co.uk

Tel: (0044) (0) 7774 947 755 or (0044) (0) 7949 639 560

Alan Orr is a disciple of Robert Chu Sifu and the European representative of the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun system.

Teacher of Tui Na Chinese Massage Therapy

He is also the UK representative for Guro Mark Wiley in the Filipino martial arts and Sensei Eddy Millis of Shark Tank in NHB/Grappling.

Web:
www.alanorr.com
www.thechinesemedicineacademy.co.uk
www.warriorfunctionaltraining.com

For further information Tel: 07958 908 196 or email: info@alanorr.co.uk