Vale Tudo or vale-tudo, also known as No Holds Barred (NHB) in the United States, is an unarmed, full-contact combat sport with relatively few rules. It became popular in Brazil during the 20th century and would eventually evolve into modern mixed martial arts (MMA). For years, "Vale Tudo" was used as a synonym for MMA in Brazil, but the term fell into disuse due to the emergence of stricter rules and the influence of the media to have a more "civilized" name. It is now used to refer to an early, more rules-free stage of the modern sport.
Aloysius Martin Thesz, known by the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete" and a "polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers and wrestling world champions in history, and possibly the last globally accepted world champion.
Randall Duane Couture is an American mixed martial arts commentator, actor, former United States Army sergeant, former professional mixed martial artist, and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he became a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, an interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, making him a six-time UFC Champion and the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament winner. He is the first of nine fighters to hold two UFC championship titles in two different divisions. He currently serves as a commentator and analyst for the Professional Fighters League.
Brian Leslie Blair is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag team The Killer Bees in the 1980s.
James Morrison is an American retired professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, J. J. Dillon.
Patrick Jay Miletich is a retired American mixed martial artist and former sports commentator. He is known for his fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he became the first UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC 16 Welterweight Tournament Winner. Miletich is also known as a highly successful trainer and coach, having founded Miletich Fighting Systems. This camp is considered one of the most successful in MMA history and has produced several world champions. On July 6, 2014, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Dorrance Wilhelm Funk was an American professional wrestler. He is the father of wrestlers Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk, and was a promoter of the Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion.
Mark Kerr is an American former wrestler and mixed martial artist. During his MMA career, he was a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion, World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, and a PRIDE FC competitor. In collegiate wrestling, Kerr was an NCAA Division I champion. In freestyle wrestling, he won gold and silver medals at the World Cup and silver at the Pan American Games. In submission wrestling, Kerr is a four-time ADCC World Champion, winning his weightclass twice along with the absolute division and the Superfight Championship.
Karel Istaz, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch, was a Belgian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, catch wrestler, and trainer.
Renato Sobral da Cunha, also known as "Babalu", is a retired Brazilian Luta Livre submission grappler, mixed martial artist, and was the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. Sobral previously fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he posted a 6–4 record and has also competed for Bellator, RINGS, Jungle Fight, Cage Rage, Affliction, and ONE Championship. He is the Head Instructor of Babalu's Iron Gym Cerritos and has a Luta Livre black belt under Marco Ruas and also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr.
Claude Patterson is an American retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. During the early 1970s, he was blacklisted by the National Wrestling Alliance for repeated appearances with outlaw promotions, his complaints of institutional racism and attempts to form a wrestlers' labor union.
Travis Fulton was an American mixed martial artist and a professional boxer in the heavyweight division of both sports. Known as a longtime veteran in mixed martial arts, he competed in over 300 sanctioned bouts and while he was perhaps best known for competing in smaller US-based promotions, he also competed in the UFC, the USWF, the WEC, Pancrase, M-1 Global, the Chicago Red Bears of the IFL, King of the Cage, RINGS, and Oktagon MMA. He also holds the record for the most sanctioned mixed martial arts bouts, with 320 bouts; in addition to that, he also holds the most wins in mixed martial arts history (255).
Carlos Barreto is a retired Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter, BJJ coach, and Black House founder who was trained by the legendary Carlson Gracie. A veteran of both the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships, Barreto holds notable wins over Ben Rothwell, Kevin Randleman and Dan Bobish. He won the IVC Heavyweight Championship in 1999.
Shane Derrick Roller is a retired American mixed martial artist who is perhaps best known in his career for competing as a Lightweight for the UFC and WEC.
Johil de Oliveira is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial arts veteran fighter, Luta Livre practitioner who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and Brazilian-based organizations such as World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC), IVC, Jungle Fight, UVF, BVF, Bitetti Combat and International ones such as Shooto and Cage Rage. Nicknamed "Samurai do Fogo", he has been one of the major supporters of Luta Livre in Brazil and Worldwide, alongside Marco Ruas, Alexandre Franca Nogueira and Hugo Duarte.
Johnny Eduardo is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the bantamweight division. He has formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Mark Hall is an American retired mixed martial artist and Amateur Kickboxer who competed in the Light heavyweight division. Hall is most famous for his 42 second stoppage of the 390lb Sumo World Champion, Koji Kitao at UFC 9. Hall is also known for his bouts against Don Frye at UFC: Ultimate Ultimate 1996, THE U-JAPAN Super Fighting Vol.1, and UFC 10.
The George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (TNTHOF) is a professional wrestling hall of fame and museum located within the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Dan Gable Museum. The hall of fame is named after Lou Thesz, who helped create it, and his trainer George Tragos. Inductees are professional wrestlers with a strong amateur wrestling or shootfighting background who have made an impact on professional wrestling. Additionally, it issues several more awards to recognize individuals who have influenced the industry in various capacities.
Rafael Cordeiro is a Brazilian mixed martial arts (MMA) coach and founder of MMA Gym, Kings MMA. He is best known for training multiple MMA world champions.
Joseph J. Scarpello was an American wrestler who competed in the Greco-Roman and later a professional wreslter. Scarpello was also a two-time NCAA wrestling champion at Iowa. He was an alternate to the Olympics in 1948 to gold medalist Glen Brand whom Scarpello had defeated the previous year for the NCAA title.
