The legend of Helio Gracie

Trudge

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This should be a thread where we post all the great stories/legends we've read, heard or even seen about the late great Helio Gracie.
Please please please keep it positive out of respect for the man who's in part responsible for so many great things for a lot of people on this website.

cheers

trudge
 
helio gracie is fucking awesome. i am glad to have practiced bjj during his lifetime.
 
the story that cracks me up is that fight he got thrown in jail for. theres some story somewhere where he describes what happens and the tone is just hilarious, very matter of factly 'this guy was talking shit, so i went down to the tijuaca tennis club and cracked his head open'.

no doubt the guy was a total ass kicker, it's funny actually the person i see the most of him in is renzo gracie. just that badass never back down, fight anyone, anywhere, anytime attitude.
 
"It was 66 years ago that I was involved in my biggest trouble. A famous fighter in Brazil [a former luta livre champion] Manoel Rufino dos Santos. said that he was going to show the world that we Gracies were nothing. It was at the Tijuca Tennis Club of Rio that I gave my answer to him. I arrived and said "I came to answer the declaration that you made." He throw a punch and I took him to the ground, with two fractures of his head, and a broken clavicle, and blood spurting out. But it was a foolish act that I did. Today I would never repeat such a thing"
 
I first started training with a guy who said that he would've been dead, in jail, or lonely as could be if he wouldn't have found jiu-jitsu. Rodrigo Gracie came to our academy and he told him this in tears and thanked the Gracie family.

On a seperate note, I've never understood something. I thought it was both Helio and Carlos that transformed Japanese jiu-jitsu into what we all practice today. Why is it that I often hear of Helio being the creator of the sport but rarely does anybody speak simultaneously of Carlos?
 
I first started training with a guy who said that he would've been dead, in jail, or lonely as could be if he wouldn't have found jiu-jitsu. Rodrigo Gracie came to our academy and he told him this in tears and thanked the Gracie family.

On a seperate note, I've never understood something. I thought it was both Helio and Carlos that transformed Japanese jiu-jitsu into what we all practice today. Why is it that I often hear of Helio being the creator of the sport but rarely does anybody speak simultaneously of Carlos?

everybody who knows anything about BJJ knows what Carlos did for the sport
its just that helio got his face seen more in the US, and sports writers generally write about the more accesible athletes
 
I've heard of stories of people rolling with Helio. He's apparently a very gritty BJJ practiotioner (didn't want to use the term 'diirty').

He would take your fingers from whatever grip you had and twist them to break the grip (or break yoru fingers) all while having a look of wanting to destroy you as he did it.

He took shit from no one, even at 95.
 
What is this "gracie diet" that is referred to in the funeral article?
 
"It was 66 years ago that I was involved in my biggest trouble. A famous fighter in Brazil [a former luta livre champion] Manoel Rufino dos Santos. said that he was going to show the world that we Gracies were nothing. It was at the Tijuca Tennis Club of Rio that I gave my answer to him. I arrived and said "I came to answer the declaration that you made." He throw a punch and I took him to the ground, with two fractures of his head, and a broken clavicle, and blood spurting out. But it was a foolish act that I did. Today I would never repeat such a thing"

cool story!
 
"One day my brother Carlos was at the window of the academy and threw a piece of bread at a seller of chickens. It was a prank, but he got annoyed and Carlos sent me down to deal with the guy. I applied a choke and he stayed on the sidewalk unconscious. When he regained consciousness he didn't remember anything that had happened. When a person faints due to insufficient blood to the brain a collateral effect is a type of amnesia. The person remains out of it for a while "



"Considering everything it is lamentable. No one is ignorant of the fact that currently the Gracie family is divided into two parts. The first arises from Carlos Gracie, my brother, a man of great qualities, bravery, tolerance, and unshakeable morality. His only mistake was to have 21 children with five different women, producing an enormous clan of more than 150 people, today without a leader who can counsel, control, and orient. I don't understand that. In a family with many people, there are people of every type. The second part of the family is my part. with nine children, who ended up sending Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world. Now, to sell more copies (of magazines and newspapers), anything that happens to anyone with a famous last name gains distinction in the media. The editors are not concerned with whether or not they are going to be implicating innocent people who happen to have the same last name."

"I can say that I've never had sex with a woman without the purpose of reproduction. I also taught that to my sons and various grand-sons. Never were ***s When I was younger I could have had a big succession of women, I was considered a national celebrity, and all young girls were interested in me. I would give them a little kiss, a hug, go around with them but I wouldn't go too far. I always had will power.. When they wanted to get more heavy, I would quickly ask them if they wanted to have my children, because for me that was all I wanted were children. That stopped them right away"


"Why do all of your children's name begin with the letter "R"? (Rorion, 50; Relson, 48, Rickson, 42, Rolker, 36, Royler, 35, Royce, 34, Rherika, 32; Robin, 29; Ricci, 23).

HELIO: Because "R" is a strong letter. It is the most powerful letter. Which would you think is stronger, "Orion" or "Rorion"? "Rorion" of course, I think the same as my brother Carlos. His children have names that begin with "R", "C", and "K"."
 
HELIO: The jiu-jitsu magazines lately are putting naked women in together with sports. I don't approve. That is nothing to look at in a fight. No girlfriend of mine would ever pose nude. Only if I was a coward. [HELIO picks up a jiu-jitsu magazine and open to a foldout of Feitceira,] Her boyfriend must have been a coward.

PLAYBOY: Her boyfriend was Vitor Belfort.

HELIO: Sad. He is a beginner in jiu-jitsu. He only knows about fighting with rules. One time I had a talk with him on the telephone.





LOL!
 
Much love for one of the Vale Tudo pioneers.

The atmosphere he helped create/revive (along with rest of the Gracie clan) regarding martial arts is true Bushido, and you can do nothing but respect that.

He helped take fighting sports to the next level.
 
he was buried with a black belt but shouldn't they have buried him with the red belt
 
he was buried with a black belt but shouldn't they have buried him with the red belt

Actually, if Helio had any say he would probably want to be buried in a blue belt. He "liked the color."
 
Actually, if Helio had any say he would probably want to be buried in a blue belt. He "liked the color."

Yup. Founders are beyond the belt system, they can wear whatever belt they want. Kano didn't even have a belt rank.
 
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