Vale Tudo Videos
Vale Tudo is Portuguese for anything goes. Strictly translated, vale means "is allowed" and tudo means "everything," and the expression is used to describe competitions in unarmed combat having minimal rules. It is the more brutal, less organized version of today's mixed martial arts.
In Brazil, the term vale tudo was first associated with booth fighting done in Brazilian circuses during the 1920's. However, this circus term did not enter popular use until 1959-1960, when it was used to describe the style-versus-style bouts featured in a Rio television show called Heróis do Ringue (Ring Heroes). The matchmakers and hosts of the show included members of the Gracie family, and the participants were all legitimate practitioners of their styles.
From 1960 onwards, vale tudo would remain an underground sub-culture, with most of the fights taking place in martial arts dojos or small gymnasiums. The vale tudo sub-culture was mainly based in Rio de Janeiro, but many fights also took place in the northern region, as well as the southern region and the Bahia state, where Capoeira is prevalent.
Rorion Gracie of the famous Gracie family would eventually emigrate to the United States and introduced vale tudo to a new market when he helped to found the UFC in 1993. The enormous success of the UFC created a vale tudo explosion around the world, specifically in Japan, as well as a resurgence and newfound popularity back in Brazil.
Newer promotions have abandoned vale tudo rules in favor of the safer mixed martial arts rules that have gained athletic sanctioning in the United States, so vale tudo effectively went back to its underground roots.