Vale todo

The vale todo (Portuguese: vale tudo), or anything goes, is a form of combat originating in Brazil in the 1920, where the fighters can use any technique from martial arts or from different contact sports, since the rules allow almost everything, as well as combat on the ground. In the past, in most events of this type, gloves were not used and the only rules consisted of not putting your fingers in your eyes, mouth and not biting, although there were small variations between the different organizations.

The fights could be won by knockout (the referee stops the fight when one of the fighters does not defend himself or does not do it intelligently) or by submission, giving two or three slaps on the ground, on his body or on that of the opponent, either when a dislocation is applied to the extremities or a strangulation, although abandonment due to blows is also frequent.

This name is also used to refer to a wrestler's own fighting style (although not for that reason original), derived from the combination of various combat systems and martial arts with which each wrestler faces his rivals. Fighters must master both standing and ground fighting styles.

Currently, the "vale tudo" It has a more extensive regulation that prevents any type of serious or permanent injury, and where the use of light gloves is mandatory. Head butting, blows to the neck, throat or testicles are not allowed.

Thanks to this evolution, the popularity of this sport is growing a lot in countries like Japan, the United States, the Netherlands and Brazil itself, among others.

Vale tudo as a sport should not be confused with mixed martial arts, since they are different disciplines, both in their conception and in the rules that apply to combat. It should be taken into account that in mixed martial arts the fighters who face each other can practice one or more different martial arts each. The confusion is due to the fact that both in anything goes and in mixed martial arts the rules are almost the same, the fighters can only wear gloves on both hands to strike, and they can also hit with other limbs of the body, as well as apply surrender keys, it is also prohibited to hit the genitals, the neck, the nape of the neck and the eyes.

History

Wrestling shows called vale-tudo became popular in Brazil during the 1920s. They originated as circus entertainment, similar to catch wrestling, and were themed against wrestlers of different disciplines in combat as realistic as possible. This is what one of the first reports on these struggles, collected by Time on September 24, 1928, says:

In São Paulo, Brazil, a circus show took place last week. In the end, as the last and most brilliant attraction, there was a free fighting between a gigantic Bahian black name unknown and a small Japanese name similarly unknown. After a few minutes of struggle, the Bahian had the Japanese on his back; but the nipple rolled over himself, laughing dissimulatingly, and at the end of the struggle was triumphantly seated over the dark and heavy stomach of his adversary.

The Japanese, whose identity is believed to have been none other than Geo Omori, was a judoka, while his opponent is often cited as a capoerista, although other sources speak of him as more likely a wrestling practitioner traditional.

In these combats it was allowed to strike with the hands (open or closed), legs, elbows, knees and head, throw the opponent to the ground in any way, and apply any hold to the extremities or strangulations. The fighter had to be able to handle himself in an almost unlimited number of circumstances in an activity of enormous physical demand, which meant that anything goes fighters were considered very complete within the panorama of martial arts and contact sports.

However, this type of confrontation did not spread until 1959-1960, when these fights began to be celebrated on a television program called Heróis do Ringue ("Heroes of the Ring&# 3. 4;). Popular belief holds that this show was pulled from the grid after a wrestler broke his opponent's arm with a lock, causing bone splinters to pierce his skin and resulting in a bloody spectacle. In reality, the show changed its name and format to one of American wrestling, and was eventually replaced by professional wrestling due to its superior popularity. However, exemplifying the extreme nature of the early days of vale tudo, it must be said that the aforementioned combat occurred as explained: it took place on July 6, 1959 between João Alberto Barreto, later known as the referee of UFC 1, and José Geraldo.

From the 1960s onwards, the vale todo was reduced to a discreet subculture, with most wrestling taking place in dōjos, small gyms or public venues, often bordering on illegality. The purest form of anything goes was active in Rio de Janeiro, where an intense rivalry between Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners and luta livre took place, while other mostly capoeira-based variants were held in Bahia, where it was a popular sport.. Other more diffuse styles could be seen in the rest of the country.

Fighters of Vale Tudo, 1984

Later in 1993, a company, SEG SPORTS, organized in the US an all-around tournament, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) under the slogan "anything goes" that is, anything goes, with no weight or time limit, and with minimal rules, with the aim of demonstrating which martial art was more effective. Another novelty was the change of combat space, from the boxing ring used in Brazil to a much larger octagonal cage, which has become a symbol of the organization. However, in Japan it is still customary to hold free-for-all fights in boxing rings, and the bouts are 3 rounds of 2 minutes each.

In early UFC events, fighters had to fight multiple times on the same day to win the tournament. Several fighters from different disciplines attended there: karate, taekwondo, judo, boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, capoeira, wrestling, sambo, sumo, ninjutsu, etc.

In the first 4 UFC tournaments, a member of the Gracie family participates, Royce, who already had a lot of experience in challenges of this type in Brazil. Royce Gracie manages to defeat all his opponents, almost always heavier than him, knocking them down and making them leave with locks or strangulations. He won three of the first 4 UFC, since in UFC 3 he retired after his first fight against Kimo Leopoldo, despite having won him with an armbar, due to exhaustion. The fight was very hard and intense, and also, Kimo was much more muscular and heavier than Royce.

Other great UFC champions from that era included Dan Severn (wrestling), Oleg Taktarov (sambo), Mark Coleman (wrestling) and Marco Ruas (luta livre/Ruas Vale Tudo), among others.

Aside from the UFC, several international organizations organized all-vale events, such as the Brazil-based International Vale Tudo Championship, which held events from 1996 to 2002, being the last organization to maintain the original all-vale rules. Great MMA champions like Vanderlei Silva or Jesus Domínguez began competing in the IVC rings.

Another famous organization was the World Vale Tudo Championship, also Brazilian, which likewise used a cage and allowed fighters to choose whether or not they wanted to wear mitts. Champions like Igor Vovchanchyn regularly competed there.

Less known but of a high level was the International Absolute Fighting Championship, in Russia, where great fighters became known.

Along with these organizations there were many more, several of them of a high level.

Anything Goes Influence

The concept of anything goes has been adapted in different ways in different places. In this way, different events or tournaments arise that, taking into account the safety of the fighters, somewhat limit the actions in the ring. Thus, in some events you cannot kick the fallen rival, in others it is not allowed to use elbows to the face, hit with your knees if the opponent is on the ground, and so on.

Anything goes has definitely evolved to get out of this sport-challenge environment to fully enter the sport-show. There are currently two major events, the Ultimate Fighting Championship , which is held in the United States, and the Pride Fighting Championship , which is held in Japan, although there are more than 400 events documented across the globe. It is in this last country where anything goes enjoys greater popularity, having eclipsed other of the most popular sports modalities. These two competitions have discarded the original concept and the very term "anything goes" by that of mixed martial arts or MMA (Mixed Martial Arts or Combined Martial Arts), the sporting evolution of the show that was "anything goes", having today a serious regulation for protect the integrity of the contestants, and weight categories, as well as a time limit in rounds, making today's anything go a contact sport like any other, and which is gaining followers day by day due to to the intensity of their fighting.

Some considerations

Guantillas worth everything, also used in mixed martial arts.

Often, people associate anything goes with a fight without rules, or with clandestine gambling fights. This concept is far from reality. If you look at the full story of anything goes, there have only been two fatalities to be regretted. If this is compared with the king of contact sports, boxing, for example, there have been more than 1000 documented deaths in its little more than 100 years of history, although it is also true that boxing adds many more fights. by year.

The fact that the so-called: "protection count" or count from 1 to 10 to declare the technical knockout, but rather it is declared immediately, has managed to significantly reduce the brain damage that fighters can suffer, leaving it well below other forms of combat, such as boxing or kickboxing, where a fighter can suffer up to three knockouts or unconsciousness in a single round.

The use of light mitts (15 ounces) does not take much of the punches away from punches, and also does not allow fighters to use the mitts to better block or deflect blows, as is the case in sports that use boxing gloves (which act as little protectors). In addition, by not removing almost hits, it takes fewer blows to knock someone out, so the brain damage in the long run is much less.

Another consideration that exists is that in the vale all a fighter can surrender if in case his rival applies a surrender hold from which he cannot escape, unlike boxing in which a boxer can only surrender after throwing the towel.

Also, it must be taken into account that the number of rounds in all-rounds and their duration time limit is less than in boxing, because in all-rounds the number of rounds is 3 and the duration of each is 2 minutes, further reducing the damage. Unlike boxing, where the number of rounds can vary depending on the situation; currently the number of rounds in boxing can be 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 and the duration of these is 3 minutes for each one. Previously there were 15 rounds of 3 minutes each, and much earlier there were 20 rounds of 5 minutes each.

Difference from mixed martial arts

The two terms are often confused, however, there is a clear difference between them.

He is worth anything and mixed martial arts have some rules in common which are: use gloves on both hands to be able to punch, you can also elbow, as well as knee, kick and stomp; apply surrender holds or throw the opponent against the canvas. You cannot hit the genitals, the neck, the nape of the neck and the eyes. Victory can be by knockout, submission or points.

However, there are some differences: in vale all the number of rounds is 3 and the duration of each one is 2 minutes, while in mixed martial arts the number of rounds is also 3 but their duration is is 5 minutes each; Anything goes bouts generally take place in the same ring as boxing bouts, while mixed martial arts bouts take place in an octagonal cage. Anything goes is a standalone martial art, unlike mixed martial arts where fighters can practice more than one different martial art each. For example, one fighter may know karate and jujitsu, and the other judo and taekwondo. In anything goes, the fight cannot be stopped unless one of the fighters surrenders or is knocked out. In case one of the fighters is bleeding, the fight cannot be stopped; however, in mixed martial arts, the fight can be stopped when one of the fighters bleeds and time is stopped, but once it is restarted, both fighters have to return to the position they were in.