Lucas Lutkus may be a familiar face to UFC fans, as you might have seen him in the cage and backstage alongside fighters like Johnny Walker, Lívia Renata Souza, and others. Lucas has taken a unique approach, reaching out to fans directly through Reddit (in AMAs), and is also a promoter, with Future FC — where fans help pick the fights.
How did you get into MMA?
LL- “I always watched it with my father since I was a little kid. After I graduated high school I started an MMA blog since I was studying to be a journalist and started covering regional MMA, and got involved in the business.”
What got you into wanting to be a manager and how did it happen?
LL- “I was training at the time at Chute Boxe Diego Lima in Sao Paulo and one of the main fighters from the team, Marcos “Babuino” Santos had his own team and asked me to be the manager of his guys since he was always busy training and coaching and I was friends with many promoters from Brazil since I covered their shows for my blog. So I started working with his three fighters at the time, Anderson “Berinja” dos Santos, Vanessa Melo and Edson “Jaba” Lourenco. Two of those three are in the UFC nowadays, so I really was fortunate to have great talents in my hand since day one.”
How do you go about finding new fighters to sign? Are you actively watching the regional scene, maybe even watching ammy fights?
LL- “Nowadays most guys reach out to me so we can work together. I follow the regional scene in Brazil very closely, trying to watch every show possible. For international fighters, I scout through Tapology and Fight Matrix and then watch tape before reaching out to see if they already have a manager. Regarding ammy fights, I don’t watch much of it, only what gets the attention of friends that watch it more than me.”
What are some mistakes made by other managers you notice?
LL- “It’s hard to say because many guys work differently, but the #1 complaint from fighters is the lack of answering. Many fighters have trouble to even reaching out to their own managers. That is the least of the least you need to do, so I believe that you’re for sure wrong if you can’t even answer your guys.”
What are some ups and downs of being a manager?
LL- “Ups are to be able to really help change their lives and achieve their dreams. It’s amazing to see them crying from happiness after getting a big W or signing a big contract. Downs are definitely having other managers constantly harassing your fighters and talking shit about you. There are several guys who I have 0 respect for in the business because they absolutely don’t respect the fact that a fighter has a manager already.”
Let’s say you have a young fighter get an offer against an experienced fighter in a “dangerous fight? Are you more of a slow build like Michael Page or a fast push like Aaron Pico?
LL- “I am more of a slow build kind of guy, but I like to give stepping stones to my fighters as they build up to test where they are at.”
What is your opinions on fighters managing themselves? How important do you think it is for a fighter to have a manager?
LL- “To each their own, but there’s so much paperwork, politics and care to be taken with USADA, travel, visas, contracts and negotiations, sponsors that I really believe everybody would benefit having a guy to help them with it all.”
What is some advice you have for someone looking to get into the industry as a manager or someone just now starting?
LL- “Don’t give up. It’s a hard business especially when you are starting off. Find some fighters who are loyal and ethical and it will be worth it.”
What is the toughest challenge as a manager?
LL- “To be able to manage several guys and deal with their frustrations after a loss or because of lack of offers/sponsors. It’s hard to manage a lot of people.”
Who is a client/prospect you have on the team that is for the most part, unknown but you thing has a high ceiling?
LL- “Some of the more unknown guys I am really excited about are Bogdan Guskov, a 9-1 Light Heavyweight from Uzbekistan, Philippines Welterweight John Adajar (6-1) and Uruguay’s Paulo Portillo (8-2). From Brazil, there’s Johnny Walker’s younger brother Valter Barra, a 6’6 heavyweight who is 22 years old and will debut soon.”
What is a goal you still haven’t reached but still something you want?
LL- “I think the next goal is to have a UFC champ! Right now the closest name to get there is Johnny Walker.”
