Vale tudo is a Portuguese term meaning "everything 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, Pride Fighting Championships and Pancrase. Since the popularity of these kind of competitions began to evolve and spread (starting in USA, 1993 with UFC) they have evolved very rapidly from competitions where brute strenght and few techniques met competitors like Rickson Gracie and his brother Royce. (which dominated the arena the early years). The rest of the world was soon to follow the trend, utilizing ground techniques and incoroprating bjj into their training regimes. Today these competitions are of a very high technical level.

External links

• European Vale Tudo