[YT]3dDQxMgFN5c[/YT] Beginnings of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu When Gracie was 16 years old, he found the opportunity to teach a Jiu-Jitsu class, and this experience led him to develop Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The Director of the Bank of Brazil, Dr. Mario arrived for class as scheduled. The instructor Carlos was running late and was not present. Hélio offered to begin the class with the man. When the tardy Carlos arrived offering his apologies, the student assured him it was no problem, and actually requested that he be allowed to continue learning with Hélio instead. Carlos agreed to this and Hélio began as an instructor. Hélio realized however, even though he knew the techniques theoretically, in actuality, the moves were much harder to execute. Due to his smaller size, he realized many of the jiu-jitsu moves required brute strength that his physical nature did not allow. He began adapting the moves for his particular physical attributes, and through trial and error learned to maximize leverage, thus minimizing the force that needed to be exerted to execute the move. From these experiments, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, formally Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, was created. Using these new techniques, smaller and weaker opponents gained the capability to defend themselves and even defeat much larger opponents. Fight career Hélio stated in an interview that he had around 15 fights. He began his fight career when he submitted professional boxer Antonio Portugal in 30 seconds in 1932. Also in 1932 he fought American professional wrestler Fred Ebert for fourteen 10 minute rounds until the event was stopped by the police. In 1934 Hélio fought professional wrestler Wladak Zbyszko, who was being billed as a "world champion", for three 10 minute rounds. That match was declared a draw. Hélio did win against Taro Miyake, a Japanese professional wrestler who worked for Ed "Strangler" Lewis in the U.S. This content is protected This content is protected Hélio lost a match to Masahiko Kimura due to an armlock Hélio also fought in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu vs. Judo matches. In 1932 he fought Japanese judoka Namiki. The fight ended in a draw, but according to the Gracies the bell rang just seconds before Namiki would have tapped out. Hélio had two fights with Japanese judoka Yasuichi Ono after Ono choked out Hélio's brother Jorge Gracie in a match. Both fights ended in a draw. Hélio fought another Japanese judoka Kato twice. The first time was at Maracanã stadium and they went to a draw. Afterwards, Hélio asked for a rematch. The rematch was held at Ibirapuera Stadium in São Paulo and Hélio won by choke. In 1955, Hélio went on to fight leading judoka Masahiko Kimura at Maracanã stadium with Kimura winning via arm lock. In 1994, Hélio admitted in an interview that he had in fact been choked unconscious earlier in the match, but had revived and continued fighting. Hélio shares the world record for longest match with his former student Valdemar Santana (also known as Adema Santa), a feat achieved when they spent 3 hours 40 minutes fighting with Hélio losing by knockout from a knee to the head. That fight was held at the YMCA in Rio de Janeiro in 1955. At the age of 44 in 1957, Hélio attempted a comeback only to be stopped again by Adema Santa due to knee strikes to the stomach. Career highlights 1932: Submitted Antonio Portugal 1932: Draw with Fred Ebert 1932: Draw with Namiki 1934: Draw with Wladak Zbyszko 193?: Submitted Taro Miyake 1950: Draw with Yasuichi Ono 1950: Draw with Yasuichi Ono 1951: Draw with Kato 1951: Submitted Kato by choke 1955: Defeated by Masahiko Kimura by bent armlock 1955: Defeated by Valdemar Santana (Adema Santa) by kick 1957: Defeated by Valdemar Santana (Adema Santa) by knees
