Rickson Gracie FAQ

is there a book about Rickson, not a "how to..." but a in depth biography of any kind?
 
Definitely, absolutely. It tells the story of the Gracie family from the arrival of the first Gracie in Brazil until the modern days. Reila wrote it because she felt that Rorion did not give enough credit to Carlos, and he was being forgotten and ignored, when he was in fact Helio's lifelong mentor, teacher, and the patriarch of the family. So she wrote the biography, using money Roger had given her from his ADCC titles.

It is immense, and very precise, but it pissed off many people because she didn't hold anything back. And a lot of dirt which was previously just talked between black belt family friends came up and was confirmed or dismissed.

It is overall a very good book. Although it focuses on Carlos it talks about the childhood, youth and adulthood of all well-known family members, their problems, fights, etcetera and of course she covers Rickson.

Here it is: Amazon.com: Carlos Gra
 
knoxpk said:
IMO BJJ itself is a mixed martial art, adding sambo, wrestling as time progressed so I find that to be a wildly inaccurate statement. He can consider himself whatever he wants but BJJ is and always will be a MMA.

Aside from that this was a GREAT post and background on a true legend of the sport.
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Oh come on dude! Every martial art has borrowed from others. He is simply stating that BJJ as the art they developed is what he trains. Like someone saying they train in Sambo.:icon_neut
 
DonkeyKong said:
Rani is a black belt under 9th degree red belt master Armando Wriedt, taught directly by Helio Gracie and one of his instructors. Master Armando is now about 87 years old or so.
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I've not heard that name before. I've known and trained with Rani at Rickson's school in 2005. I thought he got his black belt from a man named "Ata
 
DonkeyKong said:
Definitely, absolutely. It tells the story of the Gracie family from the arrival of the first Gracie in Brazil until the modern days. Reila wrote it because she felt that Rorion did not give enough credit to Carlos, and he was being forgotten and ignored, when he was in fact Helio's lifelong mentor, teacher, and the patriarch of the family. So she wrote the biography, using money Roger had given her from his ADCC titles.

It is immense, and very precise, but it pissed off many people because she didn't hold anything back. And a lot of dirt which was previously just talked between black belt family friends came up and was confirmed or dismissed.

It is overall a very good book. Although it focuses on Carlos it talks about the childhood, youth and adulthood of all well-known family members, their problems, fights, etcetera and of course she covers Rickson.

Here it is: Amazon.com: Carlos Gra
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The split is also of interest to me. I train under Mike O'Donnell who got his black belt from Carlson Jr. a few years ago. Can anyone explain the split and differences between to camps or point me to somewhere that I can find something about it?
 
Between Carlson Jr. and BTT? Carlson Sr. and BTT? Or about Carlson Sr. and the Gracie family?

Which split? lol
 
Lol you havent been training long then...

EDIT: Dont you train with Eddie? How could you NOT know about the drama with the Gracies?
 
DonkeyKong said:
Relson and Rickson were both gifted, Rorion not so much. They are all good, and consistent. How can they not be, when they were raised on the mat? But even in that environment some stood out more than others. Helio could never hide the disappointment he felt due to Rorion being an average player, especially when Rorion had a rivalry with Rolls, who sorely outmatched him despite the size difference.

Even though Helio loved Rolls very much, having raised him since a baby ( Rolls was Carlos's son, and as a grown up called both Helio and Carlos "dad"), he could never fully swallow his bitterness. This exploded when Rolls died. The big commotion afterwards prompted Helio to say something he would regret instantly, he said "Why is everyone calling him a champion? He wasn't a champion. Who did he fight?"

Rolls's wife replied in furious tears "I bet you are happy because now that the sun is gone, the little stars can shine".
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Did you take this story from Reila's book?. To me is difficult to believe that Helio had bitternes because Rolls was better than Rorion and is impossible to believe that he was happy when Rolls died. C'mon, he raised him as his own son. That book is obviously bias towards the Carlos side and is trying to put down Helio's legacy. You should say that you got this story from Reila's book (if that's the case) and that hasn't been verified, instead of stating it as a fact.
 
marquitou said:
Did you take this story from Reila's book?. To me is difficult to believe that Helio had bitternes because Rolls was better than Rorion and is impossible to believe that he was happy when Rolls died. C'mon, he raised him as his own son. That book is obviously bias towards the Carlos side and is trying to put down Helio's legacy. You should say that you got this story from Reila's book (if that's the case) and that hasn't been verified, instead of stating it as a fact.
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Yes this is an exact quote taken from Reila's book. Rolls's wife's comment is also a direct quote.

Also, I tried to make it clear on the post that Helio loved Rolls very much and that this quote was an outburst of jealousy and bitterness. Yes, he was bitter about the fact that Rorion constantly lost to Rolls. The Gracies were very competitive in-family relation, and vanity is a family trait. Any recent Royce or Helio interview always show a little bit of vanity, that extra effort to make them seem great. Although it is true, it is human and it does not obfuscate their very great accomplishments for martial arts. Helio wanted Rorion to be the family champion. But despite the fact that he was a brilliant guy, and a charismatic leader, hhis skill on the mat was not nearly on the same level as that of some of the other family members. And that disappointed Helio deeply. The fact that Rolls was so much better than Rorion got to him, as I assume it would peeve any father.

The Helio quote was an unfortunate outburst, like I said, and he regretted it instantly. We can assume that him being Rolls's surrogate father, he must have been dealing with a lot of emotions at the time, like everyone else.

Reiterating: Direct quote from Reila's biography of Carlos, I believe she and Mauricio Gomes, as well as Margarida, witnessed the exchange. As for her trying to put down Helio's legacy, I doubt it. Simply because the dirt she pulled on her father was ten times more damaging, if one were looking for something to hate on.

To give you an idea... Carlos convinced his best friend and longtime business associate Oscar Santa Maria that he (Carlos) channelled a Peruvian spirit who gave him advice, and that spirit told Carlos to have a baby with his friend's wife. He convinced his friend to allow it and impregnated her.

The baby, Carlos Gracie Jr., was born in Peru. The friends kept on being friends. Reila told this, and a lot more stuff that made Gracies, from both sides of the family, shuffle in their chairs with looks of " oh no she didnt" stamped on their faces.
 
BTTinUSA said:
Interesting how theyve written about Carlos being forgotten in the shadow of Helio. When Carlson is almost never mentioned by any of "that side" of the family.

Whats your take on the "split" between the sides? Ive heard many stories as you can imagine being from a BTT academey. Id like to hear your POV.
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I will do some research and I'll come back with this. I know some guys at BTT who might clear things up for me.
 
i guess helio could have said that. He did shoot down Rickson's record. IIRC did Rolls ever have one of those big VTD fights like Helio and Carlson?
 
even though helio wanted rorion to be family champion RIckson and Relson were better than him right?
 
i thought that rolls's mother was an italian airline attendant.
 
wasnt Rolls and avid crosstrainer in wrestling and even Sambo, considering he was considered the families best fighter and then Rickson teacher who THEN became the families best fighter doesnt Rickson owe much of his reputation to crosstraining (via rolls) despite the fact that he does not feel the need to crosstrain?
 
rickson crosstrained in freestyle wrestling and judo
 
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