Man vs woman – Battle of the sexes
The Rio Heroes (No Gloves-No Rules) show brought back the Vale Tudo origins of mixed martial arts. Here they match up a male Muay Thai fighter with an unknown female BJJ student, who had never had an MMA fight.
That unknown female is Ediane Gomes, who’s now a veteran of professional MMA. But back in 2007, when she showed up to fight a local male kickboxer for the now-defunct Rio Heroes organization, she was a reformed drug addict and former Sao Paulo street kid just trying to make some money.
Gomes was going through what she would later refer to as a difficult period in her life. Before she found jiu-jitsu, Gomes said, she was a hardcore cocaine addict, living on the streets.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of other combat sports and martial arts.
Originally promoted as a competition with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors were pitted against one another with few rules.
Later, fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style whilst promoters were pressured to adopt additional rules aimed at increasing safety for competitors, to meet compliance and regulation and to promote mainstream acceptance of the sport.
The movement that led to the creation of the American and Japanese mixed martial arts scenes was rooted in two interconnected subcultures and two grappling styles, namely Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and shoot wrestling.
First were the vale tudo events in Brazil, followed by the Japanese shoot-style wrestling shows.
These are the current top 10 MMA Gyms in the world:
1. Nova União located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2. Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA located in Albuquerque, New Mexico
3. American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) located in San Jose, California.
4. Team Alpha Male located in Sacramento, California.
5. American Top Team (ATT) located in Coconut Creek, Florida.
6. Kings MMA located in Huntington Beach, California.
7. Blackzilians located in Boca Raton, Florida.
8. Serra-Longo located in Long Island, New York.
9. Glendale Fighting Club located in Glendale, California.
10. Black House (Team Nogueira) based out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
