Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [43]
The family that started it all, the Gracies (from left to right: Rilion, Relson, Rorion, Helio, Royce, and Carlson)
THE BEGINNING
When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
—George Washington Carver
They say some of the greatest successes have come when someone wasn’t afraid to look at what others had rejected and said, “Let’s try it another way.” Rorion Gracie’s mind had certainly been churning during those weekly meetings with the other martial arts leaders on the advisory panel. When I’d been there, I’d seen a roomful of well-meaning but stubborn zealots. Rorion had seen an opportunity.
Each master was as dedicated to his own art as Rorion was to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but Rorion wondered if they’d all be willing to prove it. Would their students lay it all on the line? Pride can be a powerful motivator, and Rorion knew firsthand that there was none greater than a martial artist’s. Not only was there no way they’d step down from a challenge, but Rorion bet people would probably be willing to pay to see who was the best.
Who was the best? The question buzzed around Rorion’s gym in Torrance as he began to speak about his plans for War of the Worlds, a martial arts tournament he’d host in the coming months to decide once and for all which martial art reigned supreme.
Rorion’s grand scheme wasn’t all his own creation. There had already been a man who’d fearlessly tested his art against all who’d challenged him. That man was Rorion’s father, Helio Gracie.
The Gracie family opened their first jiu-jitsu academy in 1925 in Brazil, nearly a dozen years after a Japanese foreigner named Esai Maeda, also called Conde Koma or Count Combat, had befriended Helio’s father, Gastão, a respected politician.
Gastão and his family lived in the northern state of Pará in Brazil. Gastão helped Maeda, who was part of a Japanese colony there, establish himself in Para. In gratitude, Maeda, a champion martial artist, offered to teach Japanese jiu-jitsu to the oldest son of Gastão’s family.
For the next few years, Carlos Gracie learned the self-defense art, then passed it on to his four brothers. One of those siblings was Helio, the youngest and frailest. Helio was said to get winded scaling a flight of stairs, but from the sidelines he intently watched his brothers master the moves on the mats.
One day when his brother Carlos was late for a private lesson he would be instructing, sixteen-year-old Helio offered to begin the session with the student. When Carlos finally did walk into the academy, the student asked if his brother could continue the lesson. Carlos agreed, and Helio became another instructor.
Helio was an innovator and could see beyond what others did. He realized quickly that many of the Japanese jiu-jitsu moves relied on strength, something he didn’t possess. For the next few years, Helio modified every move he’d learned to manipulate leverage and timing in his favor. The eventual result was Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, also referred to as Brazilian jiu-jitsu today.
Word of Helio’s new effective techniques spread throughout Brazil. Fighters came from far and wide to challenge him. Helio, whose small frame never surpassed more than 140 pounds, wasn’t afraid to demonstrate his system.
In 1932, Helio submitted boxer Antonio Portugal in thirty seconds with an armlock. Helio would go on to fight seventeen more times, submitting wrestlers, judokas, and sumo wrestlers alike. Sometimes Helio would issue his own challenges to the well-known practitioners of the day.
Because of Brazil’s fascination with combat sports, many of these battles were fought in stadiums filled with thousands of people. Helio didn’t win every time, and on numerous occasions the bouts were declared draws, but no opponent ever spoke ill of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu when leaving the proving ground.
Helio’s most famous match was against the much heavier judo expert Masahiko Kimura at a Rio de Janeiro stadium, where the president