You might say that Cleber Luciano was born into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he started training in BJJ at the tender age of seven. He has continued to train at the same place, the famous Gracie Humaita Academy under Royler and Rolker Gracie. Luciano is a very active competitor in BJJ and has beaten many of the best competitors out there. Never satisfied by past accomplishments and always looking for a challenge, Luciano left the comfortable confines of beautiful Brazil and moved to the US, settling down in California. Many BJJ instructors have stopped competing when they moved to the US and focused their efforts on teaching, but not Luciano. Luciano has been one of the most active Brazilian competitors in the US. Looking forward to a new challenge, Luciano entered Extreme Challenge to try his hand at fighting. He beat the Shark Tank's Victor Hunsaker and met fellow BJJ practitioner, Fabiano Iha in the finals. From most accounts, Luciano control the entire match up until the end, where Iha connected with a punch, which the referee quickly stopped the fight, with much protest from Luciano. Luciano then returned to the ring soon after to fight in King of the Cage. Luciano beat the tough upstart Javier Vasquez and wrestling champ, Castillo to win the tournament. Since then, Luciano has concentrated on his school and BJJ competitions, but recently he has gotten the itch to get back into the ring. I caught up with Luciano after Relson Gracie convinced him to hold a couple of seminars while he was on vacation in Hawaii.

FCF: Let's start off with your background. When did you start training in BJJ and who was your instructor?
Cleber Luciano: I started doing Judo first, when I was six years old. I played Judo for about two years then I went to Jiu-Jitsu, when I was about seven or eight years old, and started training with Royler.

FCF: How old are you now?
CL: Now, I'm 27. I have trained for almost 22 years.

FCF: Did you train in anything else?
CL: Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, that's it. I trained in Judo for about seven or eight years together with Jiu-Jitsu, at the same time. I am a black belt in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. I am a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu with one stripe.

FCF: When you were training, was Professor Helio teaching classes?
CL: No, he would be there at the same time and watch, but not teach. Rolker and Royler Gracie taught the classes.

FCF: You are an active competitor in BJJ. What titles have you won?
CL: I am 3 time Brasileiro [Brazilian National] champion, 5 time Estadual [State Championships], Copa Pele, and Duel de Titans. In Duel de Titans, me and Leozinho [Leo Viera] fought a 30-minute fight and I beat him 2-0, like four or five years ago. I won in Claudio Franca tournaments and Rickson Gracie tournaments. I beat Carlos Machado at the Claudio Franca tournament and at Rickson's tournament, I beat Chinguina. In Cesar Gracie's tournament I beat Gil Castillo. In Machado's tournament, I beat Dartanian.

FCF: When did you move to the US?
CL: About five years ago.

FCF: What made you move here?
CL: I moved here because I fought in the Duel de Titans, a very big tournament and it was on TV. Three television stations covered it, Brazilian, American, and Japanese. So two Americans saw me and asked me to come here [to California] and open a school. That's why I came. Before that, it never passed in my mind that I wanted to leave Brazil.

FCF: What did you used to do in Brazil, as far as employment?
CL: In Brazil? Just train, that's it. I would train like two times a day.

FCF: You had sponsors that allowed you to do that?
CL: Yes, I had two or three sponsors that allowed me to train 2-3 times a day.

FCF: You have had a few NHB fights. What encouraged you to make the transition from BJJ to NHB?
CL: It was different, you have to do wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, kickbox, a lot of different things. I like it. It's not because I want to show everybody how tough I am. I just want to prove to myself that I can do that. I like it. In my heart, if I feel like I can do it, I do it. Nobody can tell me that I have to prove something. No, no. I only have to prove it to myself. It is a challenge for myself.

FCF: You fought Victor Hunsaker and Fabiano Iha in Extreme Challenge back in November 1998. When was your last fight?
CL: King of the Cage. I beat Javier Vasquez and a gold medal wrestler. I forget his name.

FCF: When was that?
CL: It was about two years ago.

FCF: Extreme Challenge was two years ago, wasn't it?
CL: Yeah, it was right after Extreme Challenge. It was like two weeks after. I fought in Extreme Challenge and then two weeks later, I fought in King of the Cage.

FCF: And you felt alright after fighting Fabiano? Didn't he knock you out?
CL: I felt alright. He didn't knock me out. It's a crazy story. He punched me and I fell down and I thought he was going to come into my guard to keep going, but the referee stopped the fight. To me, there was no reason to stop the fight. No blood, no nothing, you know what I mean. The referee stopped the fight for no reason.

FCF: How did you feel after that fight? I haven't sent the fight, but a lot of people, said that you were controlling the fight up until then?
CL: I will send the tape to you. I dominated and controlled the whole fight. I think that if the referee was to stop any fight it would be the first fight because I punched him so many times that he did not have a reaction anymore. Then the referee stopped the fight. Then when I got punched and fell down, I thought he was going to come into my guard, but the referee stopped the fight. I don't understand it.

FCF: Why haven't you fought more often?
CL: I have concentrated more on Jiu-Jitsu with and without gi. Before I came here, a guy from the WEF called me and wants to put me to fight, so I don't know. A big fight is coming up now, me and Pat Miletich [at the WEF]. It's going to be a good fight. It will be next year around March. I don't know anything else, so when I get back I am going to talk to the manager and find out.

FCF: How long does it take you to prepare for a fight?
CL: About two or three months.

FCF: You have been very successful with your own BJJ tournaments. Tell us about your last tournament and how many competitors were there?
CL: My tournaments are the biggest ones in California right now, everybody knows that. My last tournament had about 650 competitors and probably 2,000 spectators inside the gym. It is going to be bigger this year. I want to bring some black belts from Brazil and pay the black belts. I want to pay the referees. It's going to be a beautiful tournament this year. I think everybody is going to enjoy the tournament this year.

FCF: There are a lot of BJJ tournaments in California. Why do you think you have so many competitors in your tournaments?
CL: Because my tournaments are real organized. I send the information packets 2-3 months before. I call all the teachers and give them the information, when the tournament is going to happen, all the details, so people know that everything about the tournament in advance. I spend a lot of money on the tournament, so it will be a beautiful tournament. A lot of people work at the tournament and I brought Sylvio Behring to referee. I put only the best to be referees. This year, I want to put only black belts to referee the fights. It's going to be a good tournament.

FCF: When is your next tournament?
CL: April, it's going to be some time in April. I don't know the exact date.

FCF: Do you have any fighters confirmed or is there anyone that you want to bring in?
CL: I want to bring Macaco for sure. I want to bring some black belts from Sao Paulo, Macaco's school. I also want to bring some people from Fabio Gurgel's schools, Royler Gracie's school, of course. Basically from everyone's academy and match them against the US fighters. That's the idea.

FCF: I have heard that there are a lot of problems with some schools not supporting another school's tournaments. Why is this so?
CL: The problem is that some guys put one price for the registration fee and another guy puts another price. One guy charges $50, another guy charges $80, while another guy charges $100. The other problem is that they put two tournaments in the same month at almost the same time. So one school goes to one and doesn't support the other school. I think that everyone should make a calendar and spread everyone's tournament out. My tournament is in April, Jean Jacques' [Machado] can be in November, and so on. They need to spread these tournaments out so that people can afford it. A lot of people don't have money to enter all these tournaments one after the other. It's kind of expensive. All the black belts should get together and make a calendar, so guys can pick tournaments and prepare.

FCF: Some BJJ guys have had a lot of success in NHB, while others have had mixed results. What aspects make a good BJJ and NHB fighter?
CL: Well, I saw a lot of guys here in California and in Brazil too, that miss a belt. I saw a lot of black belts don't have the same skill that another black belt has. Sometimes a purple belt goes straight to black belt. They get a brown belt for two months and then they get a black belt, you know what I mean? This is the problem. A lot of guys in California are having problems now. They don't compete and they miss the time and the belt. They cannot miss any time at any belt, blue, purple, brown, and black. If you spend the time, you are going to be good. You need to spend 5 years at blue belt, 4 years at purple belt, 5 years at brown belt and then get your black belt. I think this is no good. I know a couple guys that I don't want to say any names, but they go to the tournament and they tap in less than a minute.

FCF: What kind of training methods do you use when preparing for BJJ and for NHB?
CL: I do a lot of cardio. I run, bike, and swim a lot, to make my conditioning good. I train like 2-3 times a week for grappling. I don't train a lot. Now, everything is in my mind. I only need to review the technique. My conditioning is the most important thing now. It's more important because if you miss your conditioning, it will be hard. I only need to train 2, 3, maybe 4 times a week in the moves and then do cardio. That's the way I train.

FCF: When you say that you run, bike and swim, how long do you do that for?
CL: I run for 30 minutes, bicycle for 40 minutes, swim for an hour and a half. I swim a lot. I train Jiu-Jitsu for an hour and a half. One day swim and play Jiu-Jitsu, next day run and bicycle and don't train Jiu-Jitsu, then the next day, swim and train Jiu-Jitsu. I also do what's called Fast Switch. It gives me a great conditioning, great power, great speed.

FCF: What is Fast Switch?
CL: I have all the machines that work your whole body. It works your stomach, your legs, and your arms. It is fast repetitions, with low weight. It is not a lot of weight, it is more speed and repetition. I only do this machine, I never lift weights. That's the way I train.

FCF: You have your own school now. How do you feel is the best way to teach? There are so many techniques in BJJ that some teachers teach a lot of techniques so that students are exposed to everything and some teachers teach only a handful of techniques and let their students concentrate on those moves. Which style do you feel is best?
CL: Every week I teach four or five moves. Every week I change moves, so that we train these moves a lot, one hundred or two hundred repetitions.

FCF: A four move combination?
CL: Yes, always a four move combination. I work all the angles, knee on belly, pass the guard, back…

FCF: What about sparring. How often should you spar, every class?
CL: Sparring is really important. You have to spar a lot of different guys because one guy may like to sweep a lot, while another guy likes to arm bar, other guys like to pass the guard... You need to practice with all these guys so you get better. Some guys pass the guard real well, so they need to learn how to keep the guy in your guard to make your Jiu-Jitsu better. This will make your offense and defense better. That's how we do it at my school. If someone doesn't have a good guard, I show them techniques, they practice it and spar in that position to make them better. I think this is a good way.

FCF: Do you plan on being more active in fighting and competing in BJJ?
CL: Yes, in my mind, this year, I want to fight a lot. I want to fight in Ohio [Arnold Schwarzenegger tournament that Relson Gracie is hosting]. So far I have Pat Miletich in WEF, maybe King of the Cage, hopefully Abu Dhabi. My dream is to go to Abu Dhabi.

FCF: Is there anything else you would like to add?
CL: I want to say thanks to my sponsors; Tony at Fast Switch, Saulo-boy, Bob at Jack's Surf Boards, Kikskin, they sponsor me with shirts, shorts and gis, great sponsors, and Larry at Socially Hazardous. I want to say thanks to my master, Royler Gracie and all the brothers and my family at the academy who always support me.

FCF: Thank you.
CL: Thank you.