The World Vale Tudo Championship
The first event, WVC I, took place on August 14, 1996 in Chiba, Japan at the NK Hall Bay Auditorium in front of a capacity crowd. This was a special event as it was the first time a non-citizen of Japan promoted a local MMA event, but also included three of the first six UFC champions headlining the card (Steve Jennum (UFC 3), Oleg Taktarov (UFC 6) and Marco Ruas (UFC 7)).
WVC II, took place at the famous Maksoud Plaza Hotel in in São Paulo, Brazil and was broadcast live on SPORTV, the most popular sports channel in Brazil. WVC II featured the much-anticipated rematch between UFC 6 Champion Oleg Taktarov and UFC 7 Champion Marco Ruas (which ended in a draw after 30 minutes) and was the first time a UFC Champion fought in Brazil.
Lapenda suggested a card between his fighters Marco Ruas, Pedro Rizzo, Hugo Duarte, Bas Rutten, Fabio Gurgel would fight UFC’s Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Don Fry, Ken Shamrock, and Jerry Bolander. The UFC never replied.
WVC V introduced Ukrainian kickboxer, Igor Vovchanchyn, who would rule over the heavyweight division for years to come. Vovchanchyn won all three fights in the 8-man tournament via KO/TKO, including a brutal 14-second knockout in the final over Mark Coleman’s protégée, Nick Nutter, an NCAA All-American Wrestler from Ohio State.