Vale Tudo to many people is commonly mistaken for mixed martial arts competition we see today. Vale Tudo literally means "Anything Goes" or "No Rules". As you can imagine for many very good reasons MMA competition has rules. The main reason being fighter safety. However, true Vale Tudo is completely void of such rules.
That being said, Lopez Vale Tudo is taught as primarily a self-defense system. As stated above the rules were created for very good reasons. In recognizing that real traditional Vale Tudo would be too dangerous for fighters to compete in, Lopez Vale Tudo was created to reveal the true combative self-defense nature of Vale Tudo. It is a reality based self-defense system. And like MMA has a stand up, clinch, and ground fighting approach. Basically take MMA, add the illegal techniques and you have Lopez Vale Tudo.
Lopez Vale Tudo is truly a No Holds Barred system. A criminal attacking you on the street isn't going to care about following rules so, why should you? The answer is simple, you shouldn't care about rules. Lopez Vale Tudo gladly accepts the fact that it is a Mixed Martial Arts system. However, it also accepts the need for understanding that Mixed Martial Arts can be adapted for the street. Lopez Vale Tudo is dedicated to breaking the stereotype that Vale Tudo is just a sport
and revealing the no nonesense, no rules, in your face, all out self-defense system it truly is.
Lopez Vale Tudo is an internationally recognized system of Vale Tudo and is an official Vale Tudo branch of the Uniao Vale Tudo Internacional(International Vale Tudo Union). It was created and founded by Grandmaster Sixto D. Lopez. GM Lopez has studied several martial arts including Vale Tudo and holds several black belt ranks. His rank certificates can be viewed on this page.
Although we do focus on self-defense, Lopez Vale Tudo can be easily adapted for MMA competition. Just remove the illegal techniques and it becomes MMA as we know it today. We are not against MMA competition as it is Vale Tudo, but we also want students to learn to defend themselves on the street as well. In short Lopez Vale Tudo is MMA/NHB for self-defense.
For some history on the art please visit here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Tudo
