The World Vale Tudo Championship, or WVC, was a no holds barred

Vale tudo

Vale tudo are full-contact unarmed combat events, with a limited number of rules, that became popular in Brazil during the 20th century. Vale tudo has been considered a combat sport by some observers...

-style MMA

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 fighting promotion based in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. The promotion was founded by Brazilian promoter Frederico Lapenda

Frederico Lapenda

Frederico Lapenda is a Brazilian-born fight promoter and movie producer who is one of the pioneers of the sport of vale tudo and mixed martial arts and is widely credited, along with Ultimate Fighting Championship creator Art Davie, as being responsible for creating the worldwide MMA movement.The...

. It debuted at NK Hall Bay auditorium in Japan to a packed house, but future shows would all take place in Brazil.

The WVC helped to launch the careers of MMA stars such as Pedro Rizzo

Pedro Rizzo

Pedro Augusto Rizzo is an Brazilian mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighter. He has a professional MMA record of 19–9–0 as of July 17, 2010. He holds notable victories over former UFC Champions Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez and Ken Shamrock.-Mixed...

, Mark Kerr, Heath Herring

Heath Herring

Heath Herring is an inactive American Heavyweight professional mixed martial artist who attained popularity fighting for PRIDE FC in Japan and most recently fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...

, Igor Vovchanchyn

Igor Vovchanchyn

Igor Yaroslavovich "Ice Cold" Vovchanchyn is a retired Ukrainian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He won seven mixed martial arts tournaments, as well as acquiring a 37 fight unbeaten streak, and reaching the final of the Pride Grand Prix 2000....

, and many others. Many WVC fighters went on to fight in either the UFC or for the PRIDE promotion in Japan.

WVC super fight champions

• Francisco Bueno
• Hugo Duarte
• Martin Malkhasyan
• Stefanos Miltsakakis
• Mario Neto
  Mario Neto
  Mario Neto is a Brazilian mixed martial artist with a record of 12-5. He is now in his 15th year as a mixed martial artist with a victory over UFC veteran Seth Petruzelli...
  
  
• Nick Nutter
• Marco Ruas
  Marco Ruas
  Marco Antônio de Lima Ruas is a retired mixed martial arts fighter and instructor. Most notably, he was the UFC 7 Tournament Champion and is considered one of the earliest examples of the complete mixed martial artist, highly skilled in both striking and grappling.-Biography:Ruas is famous for...
  
  
• Pedro Rizzo
  Pedro Rizzo
  Pedro Augusto Rizzo is an Brazilian mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighter. He has a professional MMA record of 19–9–0 as of July 17, 2010. He holds notable victories over former UFC Champions Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez and Ken Shamrock.-Mixed...
  
  
• Igor Vovchanchyn
  Igor Vovchanchyn
  Igor Yaroslavovich "Ice Cold" Vovchanchyn is a retired Ukrainian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He won seven mixed martial arts tournaments, as well as acquiring a 37 fight unbeaten streak, and reaching the final of the Pride Grand Prix 2000....
  
  
• Gilbert Yvel
  Gilbert Yvel
  Gilbert Ramon Yvel is a Dutch heavyweight mixed martial artist associated with the Vos Gym training camp in the Netherlands. He has competed in the Pride Fighting Championships, Affliction Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship promotions...
  
  

WVC tournament winners

• Heavyweight: Richard Heard (WVC 1, 1996), Pedro Rizzo
  Pedro Rizzo
  Pedro Augusto Rizzo is an Brazilian mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighter. He has a professional MMA record of 19–9–0 as of July 17, 2010. He holds notable victories over former UFC Champions Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez and Ken Shamrock.-Mixed...
  
   (WVC 2, 1996), Mark Kerr (WVC 3, 1997), Igor Vovchanchyn
  Igor Vovchanchyn
  Igor Yaroslavovich "Ice Cold" Vovchanchyn is a retired Ukrainian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He won seven mixed martial arts tournaments, as well as acquiring a 37 fight unbeaten streak, and reaching the final of the Pride Grand Prix 2000....
  
   (WVC 5, 1998), Travis Fulton
  Travis Fulton
  Travis Fulton is an American mixed martial artist and a professional boxer in the heavyweight division. He has notched up over 300 vale tudo and mixed martial arts fights since 1996 and over 30 boxing matches since 1999....
  
   (WVC 6, 1998), Mikhail Avetisyan (WVC 7, 1999), Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira (WVC 8, 1999), Heath Herring
  Heath Herring
  Heath Herring is an inactive American Heavyweight professional mixed martial artist who attained popularity fighting for PRIDE FC in Japan and most recently fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
  
   (WVC 9, 1999)
• Light heavyweight: Maxim Tarasov (WVC 7, 1999), Amar Suloev
  Amar Suloev
  Amar Suloev is a Russian-Yazidi-Armenian mixed martial artist with a record of 24–7–0. He is a kickboxer/wrestler who has last fought Jacek Buczko at M-1 Challenge, where he won by a TKO...
  
  (WVC 11, 2000)
• Middleweight: Johil De Oliveira (WVC 4, 1997), Dinarte Silva (WVC 12, 2001), Moacir Oliveira (WVC 12, 2001), Darrel Gholar (WVC 13, 2001), Phillip Miller (WVC 14, 2002)
• Lightweight: Eli Soares (WVC 10, 2000)