Vale Tudo

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Vale Tudo or vale-tudo (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvali ˈtudu]; English: "anything goes", "everything allowed"), also known as No Holds Barred (NHB) in the United States, is an unarmed, full-contact fighting style or competition format characterized by having very few rules. Popular in Brazil during the 20th century, it eventually evolved into modern mixed martial arts (MMA). "Vale Tudo" was long used as a synonym for MMA in Brazil, but fell into disuse with the emergence of stricter rules and media influence for a more "civilized" name; the term now refers to an early, more rules-free stage of the modern sport. Vale Tudo initially started as an informal ruleset for fighters from different martial arts to fight each other. The Gracie family was known to organize their famous "Gracie Challenge", in which they would fight other martial artists in Vale Tudo bouts to prove the efficiency and superiority of their own Gracie jiu-jitsu. Many fighters eventually started to train specifically...

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