Luiz França

Luiz França Filho was a Brazilian martial artist and one of the primary founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. França was a student of Soshihiro Satake, Geo Omori, and Mitsuyo Maeda, from whom he learned Kodokan judo (known prior to 1925 as Kano jiu-jitsu).

In 1916, França began training in judo/jiu-jitsu under Soshihiro Satake at his school in Atletico Clube Rio Negro in the city of Manaus. França would remain in Manaus for a year, before moving to the city of Belém.

In Belém, França began training under Mitsuyo Maeda at the same time as Carlos Gracie, Donato Pires, Jacinto Ferro, and many others. After his time with Maeda, França moved to São Paulo where he continued his training under Geo Omori (who would later draw against Carlos Gracie in a grappling match).

After his stay in São Paulo, França would settle in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, where he would begin teaching what he had learned to police officers, military servicemen, and especially the poor in the favelas. One of those men was a young Marine named Oswaldo Fadda, who would continue França's ideology of teaching jiu-jitsu to the poor, instead of only the middle and upper class of society.