Hélio Gracie

Gracie began his professional fighting career at 18 years old against boxer Antonio Portugal. The fight took place in the undercard of a "jiu-jitsu vs. boxing" event on January 16, 1932 which saw judoka Geo Omori defeating boxer Tavares Crespo. Gracie won his fight by submission in a short time,[15] probably an armlock in 40 seconds.[2] Portugal is sometimes incorrectly billed as a boxing champion.[16]

His second match would be the same year in a jiu-jitsu exhibition against Takashi Namiki in September. As Namiki had a 7 kg (15 lb) weight advantage and was a native of Japan just like the art of jiu-jitsu, he was expected to defeat Hélio. Namiki dominated the match, but Gracie wasn't defeated, leading it to a draw after several rounds.[15]

Hélio Gracie (1932). National Archives of Brazil.

Also in 1932, Gracie faced professional wrestler Fred Ebert on November 6. It was his biggest challenge up to the point, as Ebert outweighed him by 29 kg (64 lb) and was a decorated freestyle wrestler, and their match would have no time limit. Hélio was positive, claiming he would submit Ebert in a short time.[2] However, the bout lasted almost two hours, and was eventually stopped by the police at the promoters's discretion as none of the fighters was progressing or advancing position.[15] Again, this fight is sometimes registered as a vale tudo match,[2] but it was hosted under grappling only rules.[17] In an interview, Gracie claimed that he had to undergo an urgent operation the next day and that the stop was demanded by the doctor due to Hélio having a high fever caused by a swelling.[18]

In 1934, Hélio faced another jiu-jitsu practitioner named Miyaki. The latter (whose first name is unknown) was billed as a judo black belt, although he had fought only one professional fight, a loss against professional wrestler Robert Ruhmann.[16] He is usually identified as the famous judoka and catch wrestler Taro Miyake, a theory possibly initiated by Mark Hewitt in his book Catch Wrestling: A Wild and Wooly Look at the Early Days of Pro Wrestling in America (2005).[16] However, Miyake was 54 years old and weighted 90 kg (200 lb) at the time, while Miyaki's official stats were about 20 years old and 64 kg (141 lb), and photographic material seems to support them being different people.[16] In any case, Gracie passing the first 20 minutes of the match in guard position before he climbed up to mount. He then applied a gi choke which Miyaki didn't surrender to, making the Japanese fall unconscious for the victory.[15]

On July 28, Gracie faced renowned professional wrestler Wladek Zbyszko who, very much like Ebert, had a 40 kg (88 lb) weight advantage (albeit was 22 years older) and was billed as a world champion. Although the match was promoted as a "catch-as-catch-can vs. jiu-jitsu" challenge, it was fought under jiu-jitsu rules, including judogis and a 20-minute time limit.[15] It was an uneventful affair; Hélio pulled guard at the opening and they spent the rest of the match in said position, ending in a draw. Still, it was seen as a moral victory for Hélio not to have been finished by the larger Wladek. The wrestler himself praised Gracie's courage and resistance.[15]

Gracie's next opponent was his own former teacher, Orlando Americo "Dudú" da Silva, who had defeated Hélio's brother George in a catch wrestling match earlier in the year 1935. Their match was stipulated as a vale tudo bout with a 20-minute time limit on February 2.[19] During the match, the two fighters exchanged punches before Dudú, heavier by 20 kg, took Gracie down. Hélio defended from the guard, but Dudú landed heavy punishment in form of ground and pound, breaking Gracie's nose with a headbutt and making him bleed profusely. However, the wrestler ended up spending all his energy in the assault, and it allowed Hélio to counterattack gradually with short punches from the bottom. When they returned to standing by the referee, Gracie landed two side kicks of the kind called pisão in capoeira, and the tired Dudú submitted verbally shortly after.[19]

After the fight against Dudú, Gracie was challenged by 5th dan judoka Yasuichi Ono to another vale tudo fight. This was met with heat by the Gracie side, as Ono had defeated George Gracie by choke in a jiu-jitsu match. Calling Ono a "cretin" in a newspaper interview, Hélio claimed to accept the challenge and the two were stipulated to fight in April 1935, but the bout was scrapped when Hélio pulled out.[19] Eventually, Gracie accepted to fight Ono, but only under jiu-jitsu rules, without points or judges and in December.[19] He also came to the match wearing a judogi with very short sleeves in order to make gripping difficult.[19]

The affair saw Ono, though lighter than Gracie by 4 kg (9 lb), executing an exact number of 32 judo throws on Hélio through the entire match, as well as almost finishing him with a juji-gatame in the first round. However, Hélio never gave up and escaped all his holds, including one in which he dived out of the ring to avoid a choke (a legal action at the time), and even had his own modest submission attempts in the form of an armlock and a gi choke near of the ending. After 20 minutes, the bout ended in a draw.[15][19]

On June 13, 1936, Gracie fought judoka Takeo Yano, a training partner of Ono who also had dominated George Gracie the previous year in a time draw. Again, Hélio demanded a match without judges and wore a modified judogi, and his brother Carlos predicted that Yano wouldn't last a single round. Indeed, Hélio showed improvement, threatening Yano with a gi choke in the second round, but Yano threw and took down Gracie repeatedly through the three rounds of the match, which ended in a draw.[15][19] Ono challenged Hélio for a future rematch after the bout, which Hélio accepted.[19] The same month, Hélio was involved in a challenge consistent in fighting three opponents the same night, being those Geroncio Barbosa, Manuel Fernandes and Simon Munich, but Hélio pulled out before the event and was replaced by his brother George.[15]

On September 12, Gracie faced a 2 kg heavier fighter named Massagoishi. He was billed as both a sumo wrestler and judo black belt, although Takeo Yano was quoted as skeptical of the second claim.[19] Hélio submitted Massagoishi with an armlock after 13 minutes of fighting. However, the match was criticized by the press, calling it "a comedy and a farce" due to Gracie and his opponent not living up to expectations.[15] The Brazilian Federation of Pugilism actually suspended Massagoishi for his inactivity during the bout.[15]

Gracie met Yasuichi Ono for the second time on October 3, 1936, again in a match under jiu-jitsu rules and with no points of judges. Press and critics were unanimous in Hélio's improvement from their first match, although Ono again threw Hélio a number of 27 times and controlled most of the match.[15][19] Around the time, Hélio had another rematch, it being against Orlando Americo da Silva and under grappling only rules. Gracie lost the match when he was disqualified for using a forbidden hold.[15][19] Hélio had also a match against Erwin Klausner in 1937. Klausner was mainly a boxer (although he was also known as a wrestler), but the match was contested under the usual jiu-jitsu rules. Gracie won by armlock at the second round.[15][19]

In 1937, Gracie retired from competition for the first time. He did not fight again until 1950. The year of his return, Gracie challenged famous boxing champion Joe Louis to a vale tudo match in one of his visits to Brazil, but Louis declined and proposed a boxing match, which Gracie rejected.[15][19]

Hélio Gracie (1952). National Archives of Brazil.

In 1951, Gracie issued a challenge against a touring judoka and professional wrestler, Masahiko Kimura. [20] In order to fight him, Gracie faced before a lesser member of Kimura's troupe, Yukio Kato. Gracie and Kato went to a draw on September 6, 1951, with Kato immediately asking for a rematch. It took place on September 29, and it saw Hélio winning by choking out his opponent.[21] Although the win was controversial, the match against Kimura was realized, and it happened on October 22. Kimura defeated Gracie by gyaku-ude-garami at the second round in a convincing fashion. Gyaku-ude-garami then went on to be known as the Kimura lock.[22]

In 1955, Gracie was challenged by Valdemar Santana, a former student of his academy who now trained and fought under the management of Carlos Renato and Haroldo Brito. Reasons why Santana left the Gracie team are diffuse; one of them is that he was expelled for taking a professional wrestling bout, something that their fighters had forbidden, while another tells how Santana accidentally flooded Gracie's gym while doing cleaning chores.[23] Gracie accepted the challenge of a vale tudo match, even though Santana was 16 years younger and 60 lb heavier.[23]

They fought in May, both wearing a jiu-jitsu gi. The bout lasted almost four hours,[24] possibly three hours and 40 minutes.[25] Gracie defended from his guard for most of the fight, hitting elbows to the head and heel kicks to the back, while his opponent threw punches through the guard. After a long time of fighting, Gracie got eventually tired, and Santana took over with headbutts and more strikes.[25] At the end, Santana lifted Gracie up and slammed him on the mat, and then landed a soccer kick to the head of a kneeling Gracie. Gracie was knocked out and his cornermen threw the towel.[23]

Although luta livre veteran Euclydes Hatem challenged Gracie after the fight, Gracie's bout with Santana was his final match before his retirement.[26]