Considered a sort of grappling Olympics, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championship was created by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 1998. The idea? To match all grappling arts against one another under the same rules. The 14 competitions that have been held have resulted in any number of interesting clashes, bringing together legends of jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts, sambo and wrestling in classics that went down in history. However, the third edition, held March 1-3 in 2000, stands out as the greatest of all-time. As champions were crowned in six divisions, fans were treated to historical battles like Tito Ortiz-Matt Hughes, Ricardo Arona-Jeff Monson, Mark Kerr-Josh Barnett, Jean Jaques Machado-Renzo Gracie, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira-Ricco Rodriguez, Murilo Bustamante-Mike Van Arsdale and Ricardo Liborio-Saulo Ribeiro, along with the David-versus-Goliath showdown between the aforementioned Kerr and Leonardo Vieira.
Vale Tudo Relics: Grappling with Greatness
