Brief History and Background of Vale Tudo

Vale Tudo (meaning = anything goes/everything allowed) is a Brazilian hybrid combat martial art. Essentially it is a mixed martial art with very little in the way of rules.

As far back as the 1920’s Vale Tudo was showcased at shows/circuses throughout Brazil, where fighters from various martial arts fought each other. However by the 1960’s due to the no holds barred approach of Vale Tudo it became very much an underground event, as it was deemed too vicious.

In the 1990’s with the introduction of mixed martial arts through the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Vale Tudo started to become popular again and several other fighting events featuring the art started to pop up. New organisations were setup, such as the World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC) and the International Vale Tudo Championship (IVC). However again due to the harsh ways of the art, by the early 2000’s most events were forced once again underground.

Although still very much aimed at pure combat, competitive Vale Tudo now has a number of rules helping it become a safer sport. Nowadays participants wear gloves and are no longer allowed to head-butt, strike the neck, throat or testicles. None competitive Vale Tudo still has very few rules to say what is and is not acceptable.

Vale Tudo Training

Being a mixed martial art, the curriculum of clubs/schools will vary quite considerably, with some concentrating on the sport side and others on street defence.

The training involved isn’t that much different than that of MMA, in that it uses moves and techniques from just about any other martial art. There’s lots of physical training, with conditioning, endurance, stamina and strength training. Fighting skills include just about anything that works for a given situation, with take downs, sweeps, lock, submissions, striking and grappling. Many of the moves would be considered unacceptable by many other martial arts, even mainstream MMA, however those very moves could be considered very useful in winning a fight.

Vale Tudo Equipment/Gear Used

Rash guard Tops (spandex/nylon/polyester T-shirt), Shorts – compression shorts, boardshorts or other fight shorts.

Other equipment may include:
Open fingered gloves
Boxing gloves
Hand/wrist wraps
Ankle supports
Gumshield
Headguard
Grappling/punch dummy
Shin guards
Speed balls (various)
Heavy bags (various)
Strike/focus pads
Gym mats
Weights
Various exercise equipment for strength and cardio/conditioning work

Movies featuring Vale Tudo

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