Grandmaster Helio Gracie Dies at 95
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s Legendary Innovator Dies on January 29, 2009
Feb 8, 2009
Helio Gracie was a frail child whose sickly constitution caused him to regularly stay home from school, but training jiu-jitsu under his older brother Carlos worked wonders for his health. By his late teens, Helio Gracie was teaching most of the jiu-jitsu classes at the Gracie Academy, and it wasn’t much later that he began defending the Gracie family name against all comers on the streets and in the ring.
Helio Gracie: The Small Giant
The physical appearance of Helio Gracie, the head instructor at the Gracie Academy, did not fit his reputation as the toughest fighter in Brazil. He only weighed 140 pounds, but his intensity and amazing technical skill made him a formidable opponent for challengers of all sizes, including Fred Ebert and Wladek Zbysko, both international wrestling champions. Helio Gracie’s incredible performances in his seventeen fights earned him legendary status in Brazil.
Helio Graice’s Most Famous Opponents:
- Kato, a Japanese fighter who outweighed Helio by close to 40 pounds. They fought twice - the first match was a draw and in the second, Helio Gracie choked Kato out after six minutes.
- Masahiko Kimura, a Japanese jiu-jitsu world champion who weighed almost 220 pounds. The fight lasted 13 minutes before Kimura caught Helio in the now-famous “Kimura” shoulder lock and Carlos Gracie threw in the towel.
- Waldemar Santana, a former top student of the Gracie Academy. Santana, 25, and Helio, then 42, fought for three hours and forty minutes - the longest uninterrupted fight in history. It ended when Santana stunned Helio with a kick and Carlos threw in the towel.
The Gracie Family - The World’s Most Famous Fighting Family
The Gracie family is feared and respected throughout the combat sports world. All of Helio Gracie’s seven sons are fighters and four of them are particularly famous.
- Royce Gracie: The early superstar of no-hold-barred fighting. He stunned the martial arts world and sparked the grappling revolution by using Gracie jiu-jitsu to submit a series of larger fighters in the first four Ultimate Fighting Championship tournaments.
- Royler Gracie: Like his father, Royler Gracie is a smaller (145 pound) fighter and a legendary competitor. His accomplishments include winning four consecutive World Jiu-Jitsu titles and three consecutive ADCC titles, often competing against opponents outweighing him by more that 100 pounds.
- Rickson Gracie: One of the most elusive and revered of the contemporary Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters, Rickson Gracie was a dominant force in the early Japan Vale Tudo and Pride events. He earned a professional record of 11-0 before leaving competition in 2000.
- Rorion Gracie: Helio Gracie’s eldest son brought Gracie jiu-jitsu to the United States, where he opened the first American Gracie Academy and took the longstanding “Gracie challenge” to a new level by starting the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Gracie Jiu-jitsu vs. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
Helio Gracie referred to the Gracie family’s version of Brazilian jiu-jitsu as “Gracie jiu-jitsu” to distinguish it from the increasingly popular sport form of BJJ. The timed rounds and point system of sport BJJ never sat well with Helio, who taught Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the Gracie Academy as a system of streetwise self-defense where survival is the goal, points don’t matter, submissions reign supreme, and a fighter is never saved by the bell.
The Gracie Diet: The Gracie Family's Key to Longevity?
During a recent interview on thefightworkspodcast.com, Rickson Gracie reminisced that Helio Gracie would often say, “sickness comes in through the mouth and age comes in through the legs”. Helio was steadfast in this belief and carefully followed the Gracie Diet, which was developed by his older brother Carlos and is based on grouping foods in ways that are most beneficial to the body. Helio always credited the Gracie Diet for the long and healthy lives enjoyed by members of the Gracie family.
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