The birthplace of mixed martial arts.

That's the distinguished portrayal the UFC affixed to Brazil in a press release sent out earlier this summer to trumpet Saturday night's fight card in Rio de Janeiro (9 p.m. ET, PPV).

You can quibble with the factuality of the "birthplace" label. The Ultimate Fighting Championship actually was first contested in 1993 in Denver, the which-martial-art-is-toughest? event dreamed up by a family living in southern California. But that family has deep roots in Brazil, where for decades the Gracies built their renown in underground "anything goes" fighting events known as vale tudo.

And when they showed up in Colorado on an autumn night 18 years ago and threw a skinny, baby-faced family member named Royce into the cage to take on a boxer, then a submission wrestler, then a kickboxer, it was Gracie jiu-jitsu that reigned supreme. Royce Gracie was the ultimate fighter that night, then four months later, and again less than a year after that.

So if Brazil isn't the birthplace of MMA, it's certainly where its DNA is rooted.

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