Martial Arts Mecca

By: Sarah Aswell

The first Gracies to develop their family’s brand of the art was Gastao, a businessman, and his sons, Carlos, Gasto Jr., Osvaldo, Jorge and Helio. In 1917, the family met a Japanese man named Mitsuyo Maeda, who was touring the world in order to promote a new martial art called Judo (known in Japan as Kano Ryu Jiu-Jitsu).

Maeda’s very new fighting philosophy aimed to use leverage, wrestling techniques, and submissions in order to allow smaller or weaker fighters to overwhelm larger or stronger opponents. Carlos taught his younger brothers everything he learned and more, with the small and sickly Helio recovering and advancing to the point where many consider him to be the founder of modern Brazilian ju-jitsu.

The Gracie’s new techniques began to gain popularity and clout as the family began to participate in vale tudo (“everything goes”) combat matches with minimal rules that originated in Brazil in the 1920s. From there, the new school of fighting spread.

Brazilian ju-jitsu became popular in the United States with the emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championships – Royce Gracie (the son of Helio) won the open weight tournaments in UFC 1, UFC 2 and UFC 4, while Renzo Gracie (grandson of Carlos) beat legendary fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Maurice Smith, Pat Miletich, and Carlos Newton. Together, the two cemented the Gracie family and their brand of fighting as legitimate and effective. 

Rolls (Helio’s nephew) and Rickson (Helio’s son) Gracie also made waves in the sport, with both beginning their training very early with various members of their family. Although Rolls died in a hang-gliding accident in 1982, Rickson is rumored to be planning a return to the ring in 2008.

Presently, there are also several up-and-coming Gracie ju-jitsu practitioners is Roger Gracie Gomes (grandson of Carlos) who fights out of London and who recently won the 2005 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.