Pioneer Marco Ruas looks back on contribution to MMA, wishes he'd had more UFC fights

Few fighter aliases seem more adequate than that of “The King of Streets” Marco Ruas – and it’s not just because of the wordplay (Ruas means “streets” in Portuguese).

Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern MMA, the Brazilian legend had his fair share of violent encounters on the streets –  and beaches, and gyms, and restaurants, and bars – of Rio de Janeiro at a time when regulated “vale tudo” competition wasn’t quite as available as it is now.

Recalling his early steps to MMAjunkie Radio, Ruas (9-4) guarantees that not only was he a fixture of the street-fighting scene – he ruled it, too.

“In the streets, I’m undefeated,” Ruas said. “Nobody beat me.”

Asked to point out a specific amount of fights – around 100, maybe? – Ruas responded with a laugh.

“Oh yeah, a lot more (than 100),” Ruas said.

Although he couldn’t come up with an exact figure, it would seem to gravitate somewhere between 300 and 1,000 – or, simply put: “Yeah, a lot of fights.”

Ruas, of course, ended up taking his skills to more glamorous stages – including the octagon, where he most notably became the UFC 7 tournament champion at 34 after overcoming a severe reach disadvantage to take down the 6-foot-8 “Polar Bear,” Paul Varelans.

One of Ruas’ most effective weapons was his vicious leg kicks, a technique he’d pass on to heavyweight pupil Pedro Rizzo and later – through student and now Nova Uniao head coach Andre Pederneiras – to UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

At a time when Brazil’s “vale tudo” scene was dominated mostly by Brazilian jiu-jitsu – and, of course, by its royal Gracie family – Ruas became a fierce advocate for incorporating striking and other techniques to form the well-rounded fighting style that has come to be MMA.

After changing the landscape of the sport with his cross-training techniques, being a trailblazer is a label that Ruas will gladly accept.

“At that time, nobody believed in striking, only jiu-jitsu,” Ruas said. “In Brazil, it was hard for me to gain my space because everybody was jiu-jitsu. The media, sponsors, they said jiu-jitsu was complete, the best martial art. I said no, jiu-jitsu is only ground. No striking. I want to prove that striking is important in MMA.”

That’s why Ruas refused to acquiesce to the requests of his manager at the time, who wanted him to represent Carlson Gracie in the octagon. After creating what he considered his own style, he wanted to make sure his own brand was the one being represented.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry, but it’s not fair,’” Ruas recalled. “Because I train totally different MMA, now I defend the Gracies? People didn’t like me. I fought a long time ago some guy from Gracie, a Gracie student, (Fernando) Pinduka, now I’m defending jiu-jitsu?

“Sorry, but I’m defending my name in vale tudo. So I put the style Ruas vale tudo, now mixed martial arts. But I only put this name because I think about everything, I think about the mixed martial arts. I trained everything, a long time before everybody. I trained judo, I trained karate, I trained capoeira, luta livre, jiu-jitsu. I trained everything.”

In spite of his legend status, Ruas’ didn’t have that many octagon outings. After beating three rivals to become UFC 7’s tournament winner, he fought twice at the Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tourney – losing his second scrap to Oleg Taktarov in a decision that he contested. He would only return to the UFC almost four years later, at UFC 21, suffering a TKO loss to Maurice Smith.

Ruas says that, after the second tournament, he wanted to continue his path in the UFC and pursue super fights. His manager, however, had different plans and, after telling Ruas the promotion wasn’t willing to pay good money to have him, he lured him to fight for his own event in Brazil.

Blaming his manager for why things with the UFC went sour, Ruas wishes he’d had more opportunities in the octagon.

“I feel mad for that,” Ruas said. “I wanted to fight more fights.”

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show, available on SiriusXM Ch. 93, is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.