History
The Birth of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (translated as The Gentle Art) began when a Japanese judoka, prizefighter, and former member of the Kodokan named Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Count Koma, emigrated to Brazil in the 1910s where a local influential businessman named Gastão Gracie helped him get established. In return for his aid, Maeda taught Jiu-Jitsu to Gastão's son Carlos who then taught the art to his brothers, including Hélio Gracie.
Hélio was always a frail child, prone to fainting spells after physical exertion. Due to Hélio's frail health, Hélio was recommended by doctors to refrain from excessive physical activity. Instead he spent his time watching his brothers (especially Carlos) teach. From the age of thirteen to sixteen, Hélio learned and memorized all the moves and instructions his brothers gave. When Hélio was 16 years old, he found the opportunity to teach a Jiu-Jitsu class, and this experience led him to develop Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. A student arrived to class on day and the instructor, Carlos, was running late and was not present. Hélio offered to begin the class with the man. When Carlos arrived offering his apologies, the student assured him it was no problem, and actually requested that he be allowed to continue learning with Hélio instead. Carlos agreed to this and Hélio began as an instructor. Hélio realized however, even though he knew the techniques theoretically, in actuality, the moves were much harder to execute. Due to his smaller size, he realized many of the jiu-jitsu moves required brute strength that his physical nature did not allow. He began adapting the moves for his particular physical attributes, and through trial and error learned to maximize leverage, thus minimizing the force that needed to be exerted to execute the move. From these experiments, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, formally Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, was created. Using these new techniques, smaller and weaker opponents gained the capability to defend themselves and even defeat much larger opponents.
The Gracie Dynasty
At the age of 17, Hélio Gracie stepped into the ring for the first time in Rio de Janeiro against a professional boxer named Antonio Portugal. Hélio won this match via arm lock in approximately 30 seconds. This fight was the first of many victories that Hélio would have against opponents from around the world.
Under the guidance of his brother Carlos, Helio went on to become a national hero in Brazil. Some of his astonishing feats include the longest fight in history: a three hours and forty-five minutes non-stop brawl with no rounds; and his fight against World Wrestling Champion Wladek Zybskus, who weighed 280 lbs. In addition, Hélio was the first westerner to dominate a Japanese Jiu-Jitsu master in a Jiu-Jitsu match: Namiki in 1932. This was the first jiu-jitsu battle of his career and also the first time he wore a Kimono during a combat fight. Hélio ended the fight mounted on Namiki.
Another amazing performance by Hélio was his brilliant fight against Kato, World Jiu-Jitsu lightweight champion. The fight ended in a draw and Hélio asked for a rematch. The second match, held at Ibirapuera Arena in São Paulo, was a very technical fight. Hélio defeated Kato with a chokehold from the guard position. His victory brought glory to Brazil and international recognition to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Upon defeating Kato, a challenge match was set between Hélio and the world open weight champion, Masahiko Kimura, probably the best fighter that Japan has ever produced. This historical match took place in 1951 and was held at Maracanã Stadium, which seats 200,000 people. Hélio was 42 years old and weighed 140 lbs. while Kimura was 34 years old and weighed 195 lbs. Kimura boldly stated that if Helio could last more than 3 minutes, he should consider himself the winner. Helio fought Kimura for 15 minutes before being caught in an arm lock. Fearful of having his brother's arm shattered, Carlos threw in the towel.
Tremendously impressed with Hélio’s technique, the Japanese masters invited Helio to come to Japan and teach. Respectfully, Helio declined. Helio also challenged boxing greats Primo Carnera and Ezzard Charles, and world champion Joe Louis, to matches to compare styles. They all declined. Throughout his career, Hélio defeated fighters from several different styles in order to prove the superiority of Jiu-Jitsu as a martial art. An example of courage and determination, Helio became a national hero in Brazil. After a lifetime of combat, he still teaches the art and has the same determination to live jiu-jitsu as his lifestyle. He is recognized world wide as the father of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Gracie Renassiance: The Ultimate Fighting Championship
Brainchild of Rorion Gracie and Art Davie, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was an eight-man single-elimination tournament with very few rules that would award $50,000 to the winner. The basic premise was to find out how different styles of martial arts would fare against each other. Art Davie placed ads in martial arts magazines and sent letters to anyone in any martial arts directory he could find to recruit competitors for the event. Among the takers were kickboxer Patrick Smith, Pancrase fighter Ken Shamrock, and Savate world champion Gerard Gordeau.
While Art Davie felt that Royce's older brother Rickson Gracie, who was stronger and more skilled than Royce, was the obvious choice as the Jiu-Jitsu representative, Rorion Gracie chose Royce to represent the family style. At 175 pounds, and with a frame much smaller than his opponents, the Gracie family felt that Royce would be the perfect fighter to demonstrate the claims that Jiu-Jitsu techniques could be employed to overcome a larger opponent.
In his first match, Royce defeated journeyman boxer Art Jimmerson. He tackled him to the ground using a baiana (double-leg takedown) and obtained the dominant "mounted" position, also pinning Jimmerson's left arm around the boxer's own neck. Mounted and with only one free arm Jimmerson quickly conceded defeat.
In the semi-finals, Royce looked to be the underdog against 220-pound Ken Shamrock, who showed excellent grappling skills in his first-round heel-hook submission win over Patrick Smith. Royce immediately rushed Shamrock, who sprawled effectively and got on top of Royce. Shamrock then grabbed Royce's ankle and sat back to attempt the same finishing hold he used to finish his first match, but Royce rolled on top of him and secured a rear choke that forced Shamrock to tap the mat in submission.
In the finals, Royce was again outweighed by 40 pounds, but defeated Savate World Champion Gerard Gordeau, taking his opponent to the ground and securing a rear choke. This victory, along with future UFC events, had a substantial impact on the public image of martial arts and fighting systems. Stand-up fighting arts lost some of their appeal to grappling arts such as wrestling, Sambo, Judo and Royce's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
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