Vale tudo
From Freepedia
Vale tudo is a Portuguese term meaning "anything goes" used to describe mixed martial arts competitions with minimal rules. First popularized in Brazil, vale tudo has since spread around the world, and is considered an evolution of the challenge matches and a more brutal contemporary to competitions such as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Pride Fighting Championships and Pancrase. Since the popularity of these kind of competitions began to spread (starting in the USA in 1993 with UFC) they have evolved very rapidly from competitions where brute strength and few techniques met lighter, but more versatile competitors like Rickson Gracie and his brother Royce (who dominated the arena in the early years). The rest of the world was soon to follow the trend, utilizing ground techniques and incorporating a wider technical base into their training regimes. Today these competitions are of a very high technical level.
Vale Tudo is also used to describe an actual fighting style as used in the matches. Practitioners practice techniques suitable for all of the three phases of combat in the sport. Usually competitors combine Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing and wrestling as a base, although some competitors change the arts used, for example substituting Brazilian Jiujitsu for shootfighting or Luta Livre, wrestling for judo, or Muay Thai for karate. Famous MMA fighters using Vale Tudo include Marco Ruas, Ian Freeman and Wanderlei Silva.
