rorion gracie along with his brothers rickson, royce and royler  came to the united states in the early 1980s and started holding the 'gracie challanges' - these challenges were open invitations to anyone interested in competing against the gracie brothers in 'vale tudo' (anything goes) matches.

the competitors were offered $100,000 for defeating any of the brothers in these matches - this gave the brothers an instant name in the martial arts community. rorion always envisioned bringing the 'vale tudo' matches to larger audiences, and with this in mind, he created the united fighting championship with art davie and bob meyrowitz.