Philippine Jiu-jitsu pioneer to government, private sector: Support combat sports

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Jiu-jitsu pioneer Franco Rulloda is urging the government and the private sector to support and invest more in combat sports.

As one of the organizers of Arte Suave Manila, a grassroots Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) tournament held in Alabang, Rulloda and his team have become trailblazers of the local BJJ community.

"Everything started with a vision of just spreading Jiu-jitsu to the community. Me and my team really believe that its something that has to be known by everyone... I was very blessed and fortunate enough to be able to form a team that I have with me," Rulloda said in an interview.

Rulloda, along with fellow BJJ practitioners Alfred Gealogo, Jason Salao and Isay Roque, founded local mixed martial arts promotion Triumvirate Fighting in 2014 and have since worked to promote MMA, especially BJJ, to local communities.

But Rulloda says that helping hands from the government and the private sector will be crucial to the further development of the sport among Filipinos.

"If more people from the private sector and our government would see that this is something Filipinos can really excel at... we would produce more champions. We would produce a lot of world champions," Rulloda said.

"That's part of the advocacy of this league (Arte Suave Manila)... Get the word out there, make people understand and realize that this is something that is very good for Filipinos," he added.

Arte Suave Manila 2019 is being held at the Commercenter in Alabang from October 19-20.