Luca Anacoreta
fighter
Luca Anacoreta is an international competitor in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and has made an impressive impact on the sport.
- 4 x European IBJJF No-Gi Champion
- 2 x European Gi IBJJF Champion
- 2 x World Champion, FILA
- Masters medallist, World Championships
Luca has taken bronze at the World Jiu Jitsu Championships as an M1 master. He is a two-time European Jiu Jitsu champion. He’s also taken two silver medals as M1 Master at the European Jiu Jitsu championships and three bronze as an M2 master. Luca has also been champion in the M1 masters at the International Europe Jiu Jitsu championships.
The European No-Gi title has been his four times. Luca is also a double world champion at the FILA Grappling No-Gi and double European champion at the FILA Grappling GI tournament.
There’s have been a lot of successes, although he seems to find it easy to pick out his highlights.
“Definitely second place at the IBJJF World Championship and the IBJJF European titles.”
Vegan fighter
Luca has been vegan for most of his successes, making the change in 2015.
“…several people ask me about my vegan diet, and many have started eliminating meat and fish…”
“It took me a year to go vegan” he says. “I did it gradually, drawing inspiration from other vegan athletes.”
“Even when I travel, although it’s hard to find vegan options, I’ve never eaten animal products.”
Luca was unhappy with the idea of eating animals, and this was a big factor.
“I’ve never been a fan of meat, and above all, I’ve always been an animal lover, so at a certain point I wanted to change because it seemed like the most coherent thing to do, and I’ve never regretted it!”
Now he eats a lot of “rice, pasta, all kinds of vegetables, legumes, soy (tofu and tempeh), seitan.” This fuels his training, which is focussed on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu workouts although he also includes weights and circuit sessions to improve cardio.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has its share of vegetarians and vegans, with founder Helios Gracie studying nutrition and advocating vegetarian diets. Legend of the sport David Meyer has been vegan since the 1980s. Luca has not found resistance to his lifestyle.
“In fact, those around me have never hindered me; in fact, they’ve all supported my choice, even if they thought it was a temporary one. Today, several people ask me about my vegan diet, and many have started eliminating meat and fish. I’m happy to have influenced my decision without having to convince anyone.”
In 2026 Luca felt that he had achieved what he had set out to do – but not finished.
“Actually, I’m quite satisfied with BJJ because my dream was to open a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy and a few years ago I opened a very large gym in Rome together with my brother Fabio.
“At a competitive level, I’ve achieved several results. Today, I continue to compete, but purely out of passion, it makes me feel good, so I’ll continue as long as I’m having fun.”