Brasil: MMA

http://vimeo.com/18754690
With the poor conditions and lack of opportunities in the Brazilian favelas, many have turned to mixed martial arts (MMA) as a means to get out.  MMA has been popularized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other televised fighting organizations. Not many people know that the UFC was actually created by a Brazilian fighter who came from a long family line of MMA fighting, called the Gracies.
In Brazil, the MMA is called vale tudo which translates to "anything goes."  The stuff you see on TV pales in comparison to the fighting in Brazil, because they are bare knuckle fights that do not care about weight or gender. Most of these fighters are from the slums and use "poverty as a discipline" (Shane Smith).  To some of these fighters, winning is the equivalent to survival, because if they lose it might mean the difference between them eating or not. Some do not even get paid for fights, they simply do it in hopes of making it to the big leagues. The favelas themselves are often involved in heavy drug sales or other illegal activities that translate into high homicide rates.  In the end, like all sports, only a few make it