Vale Tudo
Brazilian fights between representatives of different martial disciplines, with rules that varied by event and region. Sources regard them as a forerunner of MMA.
Quick Facts
BrazilCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Vale Tudo
About Vale Tudo
Vale tudo is a Brazilian term for fights between representatives of different martial disciplines and a historical forerunner of MMA. Miranda (2012) states that MMA used to be called vale tudo, and Furtado, Camilo and Camilo (2018) describe the first UFC in 1993 as the transition from vale-tudo to MMA. The sources differ on the beginnings. Alonzo et al. (2008) place the first vale-tudo events in the early 1930s with Hélio Gracie, other works as early as the 1920s. Lise and Capraro in Revista Brasileira de Ciências do Esporte (2018) point out that Sada Miyako organized contests between different disciplines in Rio as early as 1908, and they call the notion of Gracie primacy an invented tradition. According to them, the term vale-tudo was not in common use then. From 1959 to 1962 the fights were broadcast on the television show Heróis do Ringue, and after it was cancelled vale tudo was banned in the state of Guanabara because of the risk to fighters' health, report Müller Júnior, Lise and Capraro (2025). Events returned in 1983, and in the 1980s and 1990s they were fuelled in Rio by the rivalry of jiu-jitsu with the alliance of muay thai and luta livre.
History
Lise and Capraro cite Gazeta de Notícias of 2 May 1909, which described a fight of the Japanese Sada Miyako with the Brazilian Cyríaco da Silva, ended by a rabo de arraia kick. The 2012 biography of Reila Gracie, they say, calls Carlos Gracie's fight with the capoeirista Samuel in the late 1920s the first public vale-tudo fight. Garcia, Lima da Silva and Votre in Movimento (2016) state that in the 1930s Rio newspapers often announced events with boxing, jiu-jitsu, capoeira, Greco-Roman wrestling and occasionally contests between disciplines. Correio da Manhã, they say, wrote in March 1930 about Manoel Rufino fighting a representative of American luta livre from an American cruiser's crew. Green (2001) states that Carlos Gracie advertised in newspapers his readiness to fight anyone.
How it differs
Garcia et al. write that jiu-jitsu had to establish itself against other martial disciplines and its main rival became luta livre, built in close cooperation with Olympic wrestling and fought in shorts. Miranda states that the UFC, because of criticism of violence, reworked its rules to move away from the idea of vale tudo. According to Furtado et al., the first UFC in 1993 still had no weight categories, gloves, mouthguard or time limit.
Technique
The rules differed by event and region. Pinheiro (2010), according to Lise and Capraro, writes that the first fights of Carlos and Hélio Gracie had no rules and no time limit. The witness João Ricardo, in Garcia et al., describes the late 1960s: three rounds, in some events no fist or head strikes, in Rio open palm, knee and elbow allowed but not the head, and in Goiás they fought with real fists. The 1984 event rules, according to Müller Júnior et al., banned closed-fist strikes, elbows, head strikes and kicks to a downed opponent, but the fighters did not follow them, says the commentator Léo Batista. The witness Sylvio Bhering recalls a roped ring, bare hands and everything allowed except a finger in the eye.
Competition
According to Garcia et al., events in Rio were organized by well-known luta livre and jiu-jitsu fighters, who challenged and fought each other even on beaches, streets and parking lots. Müller Júnior et al. state that events returned in 1983, when Governor Leonel Brizola appointed Robson Gracie head of the state sports administration SUDERJ, and the first evening in Maracanãzinho drew 15 thousand people. The event of Gracie (jiu-jitsu) against Thai boxing on 30 November 1984 had 22 thousand spectators, and Jornal do Brasil wrote of shouting, brawls, flying chairs and insults. According to Garcia et al., from the 1980s promoters searched the world for the best fighters, and from the second half of the 1990s Japan was the center of vale-tudo.
Today
At a hearing of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in October 2016, Guilherme Farhat, consultant of UFC Brasil, said that the vale-tudo era, when everything was allowed, is over and MMA has over 40 banned strikes. The chairman of the Comissão Atlética Brasileira de Artes Marciais Mistas (CABMMA), Rafael Thomas Favetti, stated there that it is neither a state body nor a federation and organizes no competitions, but ensures regulation, athletes' health, rules and anti-doping. A bill to ban broadcasting of combat fights was, per the hearing's chairman, unanimously rejected.
Did you know
Jornal do Brasil, according to Garcia et al., printed on 9 January 1960 a letter from the police chief, an air force major-brigadeiro, asking for a ban on such shows, and the matter reached the Conselho Nacional de Desportos. Green states that Hélio Gracie challenged Joe Louis and his son Royce challenged Mike Tyson, but nothing came of the challenges. Müller Júnior et al., citing Martinez (2011), write that the rivalry of muay thai and jiu-jitsu in Rio served as the basis for the creation of the UFC in 1993.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between vale tudo and MMA?
Miranda (2012) states that MMA used to be called vale tudo, and Furtado et al. (2018) see in the first UFC in 1993 a transition to MMA with rules. A UFC Brasil representative told the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in 2016 that the vale-tudo era is over.
When did vale tudo arise?
The sources differ, placing the beginnings in the 1920s and 1930s. Lise and Capraro (2018) document contests between disciplines in Rio around 1909.
Why was vale tudo banned?
According to Müller Júnior et al. (2025), the state of Guanabara banned vale tudo after the TV show Heróis do Ringue was cancelled, due to the risk to fighters' health. The last episode was marked by a serious injury.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.