Vale Tudo

Summary

To an untrained eye, a Vale Tudo fight looks just like any other Mixed Martial Arts bout – two competitors confined to a Boxing ring, trying to knock the guts out of each other with a series of punches and kicks to force the other into a surrender. Vale Tudo, after all, is a combination of various martial arts such as Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Taekwondo and Karate. To the aficionados, however, the differences are striking. First off, the fights don’t don padded gloves or protective clothing. More importantly, no rules are restricting the fighters’ moves, enabling moves such as striking of the groin or head butts which are prohibited in many other fights.

History / Origins

ETYMOLOGY

If you understand Portuguese, you would know immediately why there are no rules in a Vale Tudo match. Vale Tudo means “anything goes” in Portuguese. Bearing that in mind, it means that traditionally banned moves in other forms of Mixed Martial Arts are not forbidden at all. In 1960, a fighter, John Alberto Barreto even went as far as to break his opponent’s arm on a live TV program – “Heroes of the Ring”⁽¹⁾. While unpopular and caused discomfort among viewers, and as a result of it caused a decline in the popularity of Vale Tudo matches in the 1960s plus cancellation of live Vale Tudo channels aired on TV, no rules were broken.

BEGINNINGS

Vale Tudo is stated to have begun in Brazil, leading to its Portuguese influenced name, and can be traced back to 1914 when Mitsuyo Maeda started his own Judo and Jiu-jitsu gym to train the local Brazilian youths⁽²⁾. In 1917, Carlos Gracie enrolled in Maeda’s gym at the age of 15 and trained with Maeda until 1919. When Gracie’s family moved back to Rio de Janeiro in 1922 and opened up his family gym, they started to publicize and invite challenges using the infamous tagline “If you’d like to have your face smashed, your ass kicked and your arms broken, get in touch with Carlos at the Gracie Academy.” This incited challengers from a variety of other forms of martial arts to which Gracie’s family competed against great success. Over time, Gracie’s gym grew in popularity, incorporating moves from all these other forms of martial arts, and Vale Tudo started to gain recognition.

PRESENT DAY

After Rorion Gracie moved to the United States, Vale Tudo rode on the back of the incredibly successful Ultimate Fighting Championship which Rorion helped to form in 1993⁽³⁾. However, it remained more prominently as a sub-culture, taking place in underground gymnasiums or martial arts dojos due to the controversial lack of rules. Also, Sao Paolo implemented a prohibition against Vale Tudo in sanctioned sports in 2003. As a result, today, Vale Tudo fights still largely take place underground and remain a notorious media topic.

FOLKLORE

Like any other martial arts, there exist legends that you believe only if you choose to. It is no different for Vale Tudo. This legend, in particular, is referred to as “The Blonde Devil”, and is believed to have won 380 fights without meeting with a single defeat⁽⁴⁾, fighting every week for 6 years on a local Vale Tudo TV show. To add to that, it is rumored that The Blonde Devil also won a fight at the ripe old age of 69 against a 6”4, 240lbs opponent. Now, that’s truly the tale of a legend. The strange thing, though, is that he remains largely unknown despite his wild success.