E N T E R T H E G R A C I E C L A N
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E N T E R T H E G R A C I E C L A N
The
creator of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos Gracie is the third generation
descendent of an immigrant from Scotland. Born in 1901 to Gastão
Gracie, a Brazilian scholar and politician, Carlos was the smallest and
skinniest of five brothers but was never defeated by his younger brothers.
His younger brothers were Osvaldo, Gastão, Jorge,
and Helio (born 1913). He was raised in a wealthy family, and he became
a student of Maeda when he was 19 when Maeda settled in Brazil. Maeda had
made a name for himself in Brazil through his fighting exploits, and had
opened up a school. Allegedly, it was Carlos' father who introduced Carlos
to Maeda. Eventually, Carlos taught his brothers jiu-jitsu.
At that time in Brazil, there was no technique for fighting besides boxing and Capoeira. Only Jiu-Jitsu had grappling techniques for fighting. From Carlos on to his brothers, Oswaldo, Gastao, Jorge, and Helio, they made a name for the family by fighting in several demonstrations and street fights using Jiu-Jitsu. Carlos only took one year of lessons from Maeda. (Maeda once went back to Japan). Later on he learned from Brazilian instuctor assistants, and then combined all the techniques to create Gracie Jiu-Jitsu as a fighting technique. For information on Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil that derived from Maeda but was independent of the Gracies: FADDA Jiu-Jitsu. The site asserts that their jiu-jitsu descended from Maeda. Interesting, a japanese martial arts magazine article about Maeda referred to Maeda's style or school in Brazil as "Parasuits." (This was the phonetic japanese translation). Carlos Gracie opened up the first jiu-jitsu academy in Belem in 1925. His most famous fight was against a Japanese named "Giomori." Carlos tied with his larger opponent according to Carley Gracie. Reylson Gracie, in an interview, said that Carlos and "GeoOmori" fought twice; "once by the rules, the second time no holds barred. Both times they tied." Carlos Gracie died in 1994 at the age of 92.
As Maeda challenged other schools, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu players also challenged
other schools. Carlos spent all of his time establishing Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
and let his brothers do the fighting with other schools to improve their
technique. Notably, Helio defeated all challengers and became the strongest
fighter. (Note: Helio only had two losses: one to Kimura and one to Valdemar
Santana, Helio's own student in his later years.)
At the age of 17, Helio first stepped into the ring in Frontao against a boxer named Antonio Portugal. Helio won in 30 seconds. He also defeated a Japanese Judoka, Namiki, in 1932. This was the first jiu-jitsu/Judo match of his career and also the first time he wore a gi during a fight. Helio ended the fight with Namiki in his guard when the bell rang a only seconds before Namiki submitted.
Helio won fights against Japanese Judo players, Miyake and Kato (pronounced "Kado" in Japanese). He fought Kato twice. Their first match, at Maracana Stadium, was called a draw. In the second match, held in Ibirapuera Stadium in Sao Paulo, Helio choked Kato unconscious. This footage in on one of the Gracie In-Action video tapes. He also tied with Yatsuichi Ono. Eventully, a local (Brazilian) Japanese group decided to employ the most powerful judo player in attempt to defeat Helio.
E N T E R
K I M U R A
Masahiko
Kimura, won the all-Nippon Championship before and after the war. Kimura
is considered one of Judo's great Judokas. He created "pro" judo in 1949,
but failed in his activities and went to Hawaii, U.S. and became a prowrestler.
He started international prowrestling at his hometown but lost to "Lidosan"
at the "fight of the century." Like Maeda, he went to Europe and the US,
and found his way to Central America and went to Brazil.
In
1952, at the gym next to the largest soccer stadium in Rio, the fight began.
The rules were based on using judo gi's (No strikes). Invincible Helio
was 45 years old, 63 kilos. Kimura at 93 kilos. Kimura, with his
powerful physique, easily threw Helio. Kimura quickly commenced with the
ground game (newaza). Kimura and Helio rolled on the ground as Kimura jockeyed
for position and a submission. Helio did his best to defend against
the onslaught from one of Judo's greatest fighters. Kimura tried different
submissions to force Helio's submission. Helio refused to submit and fought
to escape Kimura's punishing attacks. Helio struggled valiantly against
his larger opponent as Kimura tried different submissions. For the first
2 minutes, it was a tie, but Helio was constantly on the losing end. After
15 minutes, Helio conceded defeat. The first defeat in Helio's life was
handed to him by Kimura. The decisive arm lock technique used by Kimura
was named the "Kimura Lock" and even now known to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
players, to praise Kimura's ability. It's been said that after the fight,
Kimura invited Helio to visit the Kodokan in Japan. Helio declined. Even
to this day, Helio speaks of great admiration of Kimura and appear proud
to have faced one of Japan's greatest Judokas, Masahiko Kimura.
The
Jiu-Jitsu Maeda taught disappeared in Japan completely, but it flourished
on the other side of the world in Brazil. The competition (fights) with
the other schools Maeda had in Europe, US, and Central and South America
was carried on in the name of vale tudo. A japanese martial arts journalist
wrote, "Perhaps one day, G r a c i e J i u - J i t s u
will come home and compete in the fighting rings in Japan." This has come
to pass as Rickson Gracie, Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Jean Jacques Machado,
and other Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters have fought in Japan.
In what is considered the longest jiujitsu match in history, Helio Gracie battled former student Valdemar Santana, a powerfully built stone cutter. Waldemar was a student of the family for twelve or thirteen years. He fought more than 20 times for the Gracie academy. He had a falling out with Helio Gracie, and they decided to settle their differences by fighting each other Vale-Tudo. According to Rorion Gracie, Helio's son, Santana had betrayed his teacher, Helio and denigrated Helio publicly in a newspaper. On May 24, 1957 at the Brazilian headquarters of the YMCA in central Rio de Janeiro, the media and the new medium of television were present to capture Helio's fight with his student Waldemar Santana. Waldemar stayed away from Helio when the match started. Eventually,
Helio took Waldemar to the ground and ended up putting Santana in his guard.
Helio took his time and occasionally unleash a barrage of strikes at Waldemar's
head hoping for Waldemar to make a mistake. One photograph shows Helio
driving his elbow at Waldemar's head from the guard. Santana played the
waiting game and also threw his own punches.
As Santana sensed Helio was becoming exhausted, Santana then took the fight to Helio. He maneuvered his massive frame on top of Helio forcing Helio to bear Santana's weight. Santana also started headbutting Helio in the cheek which forced Helio's eye to swell shut. Helio used heel kicks to Santana's kidneys to wear Santana down. Two hours had gone by as the two men struggled on the ground.
Three
hours and forty-five minutes into the fight, the two men separated and
were kneeling; both gasping for air. Santana reached his feet and kicked
at helio's head which connected. Helio went down from the blow and the
fight was finally over.3
Helio had lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes before losing the contest. This
vale tudo match was to be his last fight.
E N T E R
C A R L S O N G R A C I E
With
Valdemar Santana's victory over Helio Gracie, Carlson
Gracie, the son of Carlos Gracie entered the ring at the young age
of 17 to defend the honor of his family and the family name. He took revenge
for his family clan and defeated Valdemar, which won him the respect and
title of "King." Carlson was to meet Santana in the ring six times. He
won four times, and two matches were draws.
Carlson fought a total of eighteen Vale-Tudo fights. There was one time in Bahia (North Brazil) against Euclides Pereira, and the referees decided to give Pereira the victory. Carlson doesn't think he had lost. 4 He also fought a Brazilian champion, Passarito, who trained in Judo, Luta Livre, and Boxing. Carlson fought Passarito four times. Carlson won 3 and drew once with Passarito. 5 Carlson's
hardest acknowledged fight was against Ivan Gomes. He described Gomes as
a "monster." This extremely tough fight had three-ten minute rounds, and
would only stop if a fighter fell out of the ring. Gomes weighed in at
98 Kg (215 lbs), and Carlson was 73Kg (160 lbs). But Carlson was in really
good shape, if it wasn't for that, he stated that he would have lost. Afterwards,
Gomes became Carlson's student and became "world champion" in Carlson's
words. 6
Carlson reigned during the 1960s, and he is considered by Fabio
Gurgel as one of the four champions of the Gracie clan.
T H E L E G A C Y
"The
great vale tudo jiujitsu taught by Rolls Gracie is still alive today, Rickson
and his protege Royler are keeping it alive in the NHB ring. Jacare, Pedro
Sauer, Sergio Penha, Crolin Gracie and others have become successful teachers,
but like
Carlos
Gracie taught his brothers, and Helio distinguished himself as the champion
of the Gracie brothers through his fighting exploits. He is also acknowledged
as having a big influence on the development of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
He altered techniques his brother taught him due to his small stature and
relative weakness. He made them less reliant on strength and refined the
techniques to maximize leverage. He said he couldn't get out of certain
positions he was taught by his brother so he had to invent techniques to
allow him to escape those positions.
The
male descendents of the Gracie clan are all taught the family fighting
art and encouraged to represent the family in the "Gracie Challenge," an
ongoing invitation to accept challenge matches to prove their fighting
art's superiority. Two notable Gracie fighters are Helio's sons Royce and
Rickson. Royce helped to popularize Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (aka Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)
in the US, Japan, and around the world through his successful fights in
the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Royce, a slim six foot man, entered the ring like his father before him,
to challenge fighters from different fighting styles such as boxing, wrestling,
shootfighting, karate, muay thai kickboxing, etc. He often fought larger
opponents in a tournament setting where he fought elimination bouts. Rickson
has became the acknowledged current champion of the Gracie clan. He is
considered the best jiu-jitsu fighter alive, as well as one of the top
NHB fighters.
Carlson
Gracie has continued his family's tradition by creating sports jiu-jitsu
and a stable of NHB (no-holds barred) fighters. He is considered the father
of sports jiu-jitsu. After he retired from the ring, he embarked on promoting
sports jiu-jitsu. However, sports jiu-jitsu had its critic in Helio. He
was an outspoken critic of sport jiujitsu, and very few of his top blackbelts
competed in sport jiujitsu during the early years of the sport. Helio apparently
saw his art as a form of self-defense and not sport. Judo's founder Jigoro
Kano had similar sentiments of his creation. However Carlson was able to
attract corporate sponsors to support teams of jiu-jitsu fighters so they
could train full-time in essence as professional athletes. The corporate
sponsorship would be the impetus to persuade many of Helio's black belts
to join the sport.
However,
the jiu-jitsu camp lacked the experienced vale tudo fighters to meet the
Luta Livre challenge. It seemed that Helio's criticism was right after all.
Carlson Gracie took up the challenge for the jiu-jitsu camp. He quickly
assembled and personally trained a team consisting of Murilo Bustamante,
Fabio Gurgel (age 21) from Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti, Wallid Ismael, Marcelo
Bhering, who still to this day has a reputation as being one of the toughest
NHB fighters. Wallid Ismael was matched with Eugenio Tadeau, Gurgel
vs. Denilson Maia, Bustamante vs. Marcello Mendes, and Behring vs. Hugo
Duarte. The only fight that didnt take place was Behring vs. Duarte.
Behring was shot and killed prior to the event. The showdown was
shown on Brazilian national TV and it was a clean sweep for Gracie Jiu-jitsu.
It is shown on the "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Action 2" video tape.
These
triumphant jiu-jitsu fighters are still competing in sports jiu-jitsu and
vale tudo with the sudden world-wide interest and popularity of NHB fighting.
Fabio Gurgel has his own academy and has competed in sports jiu-jitsu and
also NHB. The irrepressible Wallid Ismael is fighting for the Carlson Gracie
team of NHB fighters as well as competing in sports jiu-jitsu. Bustamante
is also a noted sports jiu-jitsu lutador and has entered and successfully
fought in the ring. He defeated Jerry Bohlander, the American shootfighter
(Lion's Den member) by knockout. Bustamante had also drew with the massive
world-class American wrestler Tom Erickson in the now defunct MARS fighting
championship. Gurgel fought and lost to judges' decision to perhaps one
of the most dangerous NHB fighter alive, Mark Kerr, a huge world-class
American wrestler nicknamed the "specimen" for his tremendous physical
development and athletic ability. Gurgel had great heart to fight in a
tournament where in the finals, he had to meet Kerr who outweighed him
by 70 lbs.
Another
notable Gracie fighter from Carlos' side of the family is Renzo Gracie.
He truly exemplifies the Gracie ethos and has fought in the rings of the
US, Brazil, and Japan. He labels himself as the "Gracie" who can also strike
besides just using jiu-jitsu in the ring. He has defeated UFC champion
Oleg Taktarov by knockout in the one and only MARS event. Renzo also
fought the Luta Livre fighter Eugenio Tadeau.
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Copyright
© 1997 George Wang. All Rights Reserved.
CREATED:
July 3, 1996
REVISED:
November 1998
