VALE TUDO JAPAN-1994

The event featured the member of the famous Gracie family - Rickson Gracie - who came on to win the tournament as well as Vale Tudo Japan-1995 tournament. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickson_Gracie

Back in 1990s, when MMA/NHB events just took off at worldwide level and there was a pure "battle of styles" back then, as far as the fighters mainly were trained in just one fighting style back then and noone was cross- and mix-trained in other styles - mainly 3 styles stood out for their effectiveness in such kind of contests back then:

1) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) - brought up by the Gracies to the international level
2) (amateur) Wrestling (freestyle, greco-roman, american-collegiate)
3) Shootfighting (and similar modifications - shoot-wrestling, submission-fighting, submission wrestling, etc)

Back in time the success of the above mentioned styles in "no-holds-bared" contests was explained, in part, due to the grappling emphasis of the above mentioned styles. Another important reason was that, prior to such kind of events started in great numbers, most of the striking styles practitioners have neglected the grappling aspect of fighting, perhaps due to scarcity of such kind of events prior to early 1990s.

Shoot-wrestlers were especially successful in Japan -as they had a good balance and mix of both amateur wrestling good takedowns and submission holds of shoot-fighting mostly based on catch-wrestling.
While the early "no-holds-bared" scene in Russia/former Soviet Union was largely dominated by Sambo/Combat Sambo (and Wrestling).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Tudo_Japan#Vale_Tudo_Japan_1994

Vale Tudo Japan 1994, July 29, 1994, Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Urayasu, Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-9VgXP-nsQ

The Gracies had also pretty intelligent marketing strategy. Royce Gracie was sent to showcase their art in the then newly formed UFC promotion - in order to promote the style at the American market. While Rickson was sent to participate in Vale Tudo Japan-1994 and VTJ-1995 events - in order to promote Gracie Jiu-Jitsu at the very important, especially in Martial Arts world - Japanese market.

Also, one more interesting video of Rickson -

Rockson Gracie vs. Rei Zulu - independent Vale Tudo event in Brazil - January 1, 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u-lmW8gqZg
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