Luta Livre was created in the mid 20th Century in Rio de Janeiro. A few young men from a rowing club met and decided to dedicate their time to the art of fighting. 
The so called “ground fight” was always their priority because of the submissions and its importance in Vale Tudo matches.

In the 1970’s Luta Livre was strongly influenced by tedhnical experts like Robert Leitao.  Leitao is a University professor for Engineering and has devoted many years to Judo, without Gi, and has trained in many camps.  Since he was of smaller physical stature than most athletes from the rowing club, Leitao had to prevail with flawless technique; much like Royce Gracie did about 20 years earlier in the UFC.

Luta Livre evolved from generation to generation and was brought to Germany in 1995 by Professor Daniel D’ Dane who is considered one of todays top authorities in Luta Livre. During his stay in Cologne Germany he decided to teach a handful of students. He became the Mentor and Coach of Andreas "Andyconda" Schmidt, who was by many considered his star pupil. When Daniel decided to return to his home he left it up to Andreas to further promote Luta Livre in Europe.

Andreas decided "before taking on Europe" to take what he had learned to the next level and traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil so he could study the art in the place of its origin and learn from as many Masters as possible.  In 2001, Andreas Schmidt was awarded his Black Belt. After his return to Germany, he wasted no time and founded the ELLO "European Luta Livre Organization" a precursor to the todays ILLO International LutaLivre Organisation. Andreas can be credited with designing a structured Luta Livre curriculum as it has been never seen before, together with a detailed plan how to teach and groom qualified coaches that were needed to spread Luta Livre beyond its existing boundries.

His MBA in Sports Science helped Andreas to structure the specific teaching methods and programs that make the techniques easy to learn and master.
The Andyconda Luta Livre (ALL) as a fully structured fighting system started to develop. The success of ALL is due to the specifically designed curriculum which enables the student to quickly learn the foundation of this martial art.

It was in 2006 that Andreas had his first Affiliate School and Coach in the United States and the expansion outside of Europe has officially begun and therefore the 2007 name change from ELLO to ILLO. 
Today Andreas "Andyconda" Schmidt travels the world teaching his Andyconda Luta Livre to thousands of successful competitors.
Mr. Schmidt has big plans for another major expansion of the ILLO in the second decade of the new Millenium.

Luta Livre Esportiva
Luta Livre Esportiva is the competition version of Andyconda Luta Livre (ALL). 
It is easiest to describe as "no Gi submission grappling"; which is very popular these days do to worldwide grappling tournaments such as NAGA, Grapplers Quest and the prestigious Abu Dhabi.

In Luta Livre Esportiva competitions, only grappling techniques are allowed to subdue the opponent and it is not a game of points. For this kind of competition, it is important to calmly strategize and execute your moves.  These are just a few of the skills you will learn with Andyconda Luta Livre. It is often compared to a chess match where you try to think several steps ahead of your opponent in order to submit him eventually.

Luta Livre Vale Tudo is probably the closest Martial Art to today's Mixed Martial Arts or NHB "No Holds Barred" fighting.  Our experience and research has shown that there is a much higher risk of injury if a fight stays standing up. This is due to the higher impact of punches have to your opponent as well as the risk of injury to yourself by delivering your own strikes.

We refer to Luta Livre as economical fighting rather than the wild exchange of punches and kicks. In addition to this, a smaller opponent can compensate his disadvantages on the ground. 
During our Vale Tudo/MMA sessions, we train with all the available protective gear in order to work as realistic as possible. 

Luta Livre at Thunder MMA
Since Thunder MMA is the Original Andyconda Luta Livre Academy in the United States we are very proud of our Affiliation as well as of our achievements we had since we made Luta Livre part of our "Game". We had several North American Grappling Association champions as well as a few very impressive showings in the Cage and MMA Competition. Turning out Pro MMA Fighters like Patrick "LiL Yoda" Ferm with his impressive 10-2 overall record, but also new talents like Victor Loyd and Kevin White who are still undefeated to this date. They are true Lutadores with no prior Ground experience of any kind.

Todays classes are run by members of the first hourof Luta Livre in the USA, like Jimmie Tucker who learned everything he knows from Andreas Schmidt and is currently a Apprentice Instructor in the ILLO under Andreas Schmidt. Jimmie has competed and ranked on several occasions. But it has been his keen eye for details and a exeptional talent to connect with students that made Andreas Schmidt recommend him in January 2010 as a Apprentice Instructor within the International Luta Livre Organisation for Thunder MMA.
Currently Jimmie is teaching classes per week as well as planning several trips abroad to further his experience in Luta Livre.

To his side stands Warren Blackburn a very experienced competitor and ILLO Bluebelt as well as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Bluebelt under Professor Marcello Monteiro (3rd degree Blackbelt) student of the famed Ricardo De La Riva. Warren is planning on becoming a Instructor in the ILLO in 2011 and started his initial assistant year.