Before mixed martial arts entered the combat-sports lexicon, no-holds-barred, vale tudo and shoot fighting were the common phrases describing what was still more spectacle than sport, more a fight than the sport of fighting.
Brazil, the U.S. and Japan were pioneering countries of mixed-fighting contests decades before the Ultimate Fighting Championship became the catalyst to MMA in 1993.
Now, as MMAjunkie.com’s Danny Acosta explains, Japan could rejoin the group following this weekend’s UFC 144 event.