Marco Ruas

Marco Antônio de Lima Ruas (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈmaʁku ˈʁuɐs]; born 23 January 1961) is a Brazilian former mixed martial arts fighter, submission wrestler, kickboxer and instructor. Ruas was the UFC 7 Tournament Champion, and also competed for the World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC), PRIDE Fighting Championships and the International Fight League, where he head-coached the Southern California Condors.

Ruas is a pioneer of Mixed martial arts, having fought in a high-profile Vale Tudo bout in 1984, and later winning the UFC 7 tournament in 1995, begin the second Brazilian UFC champion and fourth overall of the organization. Although he was billed as a representative of Luta Livre and thus a high-level submission grappler, he was an equally capable and skilled Muay Thai striker with experience in Capoeira, Boxing, and Taekwondo. He was able to synthesize both grappling and striking into one style, known for begin one of the first proponents of cross-training to compete in mixed martial arts events, and is considered one of the first well-rounded fighters and true "mixed martial artist". This is represented by his famous quote after winning his fight in WVC 4: "If you grapple me, I punch and kick you. If you punch and kick me, I grapple you. There's no way out."

Ruas transformed his style in his own hybrid martial art which he called "Ruas Vale Tudo". In some later events, his fighting style was simply billed as "Vale Tudo".