Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (33 page)

The pardon was not universally applauded in
Brazil. Some critics thought it sent the message that the rules don’t apply to people who have the right connections, despite the fact that there was a good deal of truth to it. But bending or skirting the rules was done discreetly and behind the scenes, not in the street with witnesses and not in such a crude lower-class way. Upper-class Brazilians were concerned with how they looked to Europeans and North Americans. They didn’t want Brazil to be regarded as a stereotypical South American banana republic. But the
indulto
[pardon] was welcome news for fight fans. Now the young “sportsman” Helio Gracie could measure forces with Miayki.

Jiu-Jitsu versus Jiu-Jitsu

The fight was back on, for Saturday June 23, 1934, at Stadium Brasil, along with three amateur and two pro boxing matches, Helio Gracie (65.2 kilos) would confront Miyaki (64.2 kilos.) in a two round (30 minutes each) jiu-jitsu match. Some thought that Myaki would be Helio’s most dangerous opponent yet and might even rival Conde Koma.
71

Diario de Noticias
was not impressed with Miyaki’s ”caliber”. He had already lost to Roberto Ruhmann, whose own abilities were suspect. Miyaki had been scheduled to fight George Gracie but would instead fight Helio Gracie. The result of this fight should not surprise anyone, the paper said [
Como Miyaki
(
já derrotado pelo turco Roberto Ruhmann, enfrentará Helio Gracie
)
deverá combater com George Gracie, o resultado deste combate não deverá surprehender a ninguem, porque todos já o conhecem
].

It isn’t clear why no one should have been surprised. George was known for his
“take no prisoners” style. Helio was known for his philosophy of “taking what the opponent gives” and avoiding risk.

The one thing that stands out is that
Diario de Noticas
, one of Brazil’s two prestige daily newspapers (hence with an incentive to be, or appear, objective and accurate), did not take Miayki very seriously.
72

Usually boxing matches were added to potentially boring jiu-jitsu programs to ensure at least a minimal level of excitement. The paper was not pleased with the selection of boxers either. Waldemar Januario ha
d been KOed constantly recently. His opponent Victor Liegard had been beaten often in Rio. The fight was not expected to be interesting. The paper’s preview was brutally honest. “The fight promises to be destitute of technique and full of grabbing. Neither fighter has the skills to deliver an impressive fight”.
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Diario de Noticias
’ prediction was correct. Helio Gracie decisively defeated Miyaki with a choke in 25 minutes of the first round.
74

Helio’s victory may have been decisive and clear, but it was not easy. Miyaki refused to concede defeat even when he was in a hopeless situation. He would rather die than tap out, he said [“
morro, mas não bato
”].
Helio praised Miyaki as the best fighter he had yet faced [“
Miyaki é o maior lutador que já enfrentei
”]. Miyaki was Helio’s third professional opponent (the Antonio Portugal match was an amateur fight). As Helio had been dominated by Takashi Namiki and neutralized by Ebert, both in 1932, his praise for Miyaki may have had a self-serving element. It made his victory seem more impressive, even if the reasoning behind it was illogical (he beat the best of his three professional opponents but was unable to beat two who were less than the best).

A photo in
A Noite
showed Helio using his guard. The caption explained “Helio Gracie uses his closed guard to prevent Miyaki from applying any effective technique” [
Helio Gracie impede com a sua guard cerrada, que Myaki appliqué qualquer golpe eficiente
]. Helio’s guard, the same guard he would later use against Kato in 1951, was neither closed nor open, but half and half, with his long bony shins applying controlling pressure.
75
It was the same style of guard work that George used in his fight with Tico Soledade in 1933 and his probably what he had in mind when he later alluded to the “unique Gracie style” of jiu-jitsu.

O Paiz
described the fight in more detail. “The fight started intensely with Miyaki attempting a choke. Helio escaped to the ropes. The referee tried to separate them but Miyaki hung on, forcing the referee to forcibly intervene. Next it was Miyaki’s turn to escape to the ropes. They returned to the center of the ring where the fight resumed as previously, that is, each trying to choke the other with his kimono. Helio spent most of the round under Miyaki, but maintained a kidney scissors position [guard], trying several times to turn Miyaki over, without success. Several times the Brazilian was in a bad situation but managed to get out with the use of his legs. After twenty minutes Helio managed to get out from under Miyaki and dominated him by sitting on him. In one of the subsequent turns and twists, Helio managed to grab Miyaki’s kimono and strangled him with it. Miyaki didn’t tap, but passed out instead”.
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The description indicates clearly that the rules of the contest permitted “rope escapes”. The
kidney scissor [
tesouras aos rins
]
referred to in the text was clearly the same is the closed guard [
guarda cerrada
] in the photo caption. “Dominating him by sitting on him,” obviously referred to a ‘mount’ position. Miyaki’s “
viravoltas
” undoubtedly referred to bridge attempts, during one of which Helio was able to slip to his back. The photo showed Helio on his back but did not indicate how Miyaki ended up on the ground with Helio on top. Possibly it was the same technique that George used to “sweep” and mount Tico Soledade, a sweep that is still used effectively in 2013.

Bianna (Virgulino) defeated Valentim Santos, and Waldemar Januario bested Liegard. It was not reported if the fights were devoid of interest.

Secrets of the Kimono

On May 15, Estanislao Zbyszko offered to fight all four of the Gracies on the same night.
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Later, Helio repaid the compliment by challenging both of the Zbyszko brothers on the same night.
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He had to settle for just one, Wladek.

After his loss to Helio, Miyaki requested a rematch. He offered to sign a contract that would pay him nothing if he lost again [
não receberia bolsa, no caso de uma derrota
]. It was scheduled for Saturday July 28,
79
but abruptly cancelled outright on July 25. Empresa Pugilistica Brasieleira felt that a different opponent would be a better draw for Helio’s fourth professional fight. The Italian Stringari, supposedly a marvelous and technical wrestler, was briefly considered but ultimately passed over in favor of Wladek Zbyszko, who in some sense was the biggest name on the Rio fight scene in the summer of 1934.
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Zbyszko was luta romana wrestler who had adopted catch when it became popular. He was not naïve about jiu-jitsu, having already fought and convincingly beaten the famous Myaki [
Taro Miyake], using a kimono, in Paris. He knew the secrets of the kimono and the risks that he would be facing [
Conhece os segredos do kimono, os risco a que estaro exposto
]. Luckily for him, because the match was catch versus jiu-jitsu
com kimono
[with kimono]. The kimono was in compensation for Helio’s 34.7 kilo weight disadvantage.
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Stanislau Zbyszko promised that his brother wouldn’t lose, he would prefer death to defeat [“
não perderá. Elle achará preferivel a morte
”]. Wladek said that he didn’t believe that Helio was better than Myaki [“
não acredito que Helio seja melhor de que Myaki
”].
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Since he had already beaten Miyake, he was confident that he could beat Helio.

Carlos Gracie, confident as always, predicted that Helio would win within 20 minutes.

Catch
com kimono
versus Jiu-jitsu

Helio had another disadvantage. His mentor and spiritual guide Carlos Gracie would not be in the ring with him. He had been suspended (not for the last time) by the Boxing Commission.
83

The fight took place at Estadio Brasil on
Saturday July 28, 1934. Wladek Zbyszko weighed 106 kilos; Helio Gracie weighed 65.3 kilos. It was a two 20-minute round luta livre match, specifically catch-as-catch-can versus jiu-jitsu, with kimono, fought strictly within jiu-jitsu rules (descriptions varied, the point was that pinning the shoulders was not recognized as a winning technique). There were also boxing matches between Waldemar Januario versus Brasilino Fino, Jack Tiger versus Lazaro Gil, and Heredia versus Diaz Canesco. The referee was Luiz Souto.
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Fans had been led by Zbyszko’s reputation and size, and Carlos and Helio’s promises of certain and devastating victory, to expect an exciting contest. They were disappointed. Helio and Zbyszko held on to each each other on the ground and did nothing [
Os dois agarradas no chão nada fizeram
] in a fight without interesting action [
luta sem lances de sensação
]. The reason was clearly shown in a photo captioned “Wladek tries but fails to break through Helio Gracie’s impenetrable guard”.
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Correio da Manhã
(the other of Brazil’s two prestige daily newspapers), provided a more detailed description of the contest. In the first round, Helio jumped to the ground, pulling Wladek on top of him [
1
st
round. Iniciado o round, Helio joga-se a lona, caido Wladek por cima
]. Throughout the round Wladek stayed on top trying to choke Helio, but to no avail. Zbyszko spent the entire round with his head glued to Helio’s chest to avoid a “
chave
” (a choke or joint lock of some sort) that would end the fight. In the second round, the fighters clinched and Wladek threw Helio to the ground with himself on top (no doubt, in Helio’s “guard”). Various “
golpes
” (chokes or joint locks) were attempted, none with any effect. Zbyszko continued the round hugging Helio’s chest, not attacking [
Zbyszko continua por cima agarrado ao pieto de Helio, não oferecendo combate
].

The fight served to clearly show three things,
Correio da Manhã
concluded. First, that Zbyszko knew nothing about jiu-jitsu [
Wladek Zbyszko não entende de jiu-jitsu
]. Second that Helio knew how to defend himself well [
Helio sabe defender-se bem
]. And third, that the public does not enjoy fights in which jiu-jitsu is used [
o publico nada gosta dos combates em que seja empregado o jiu-jitsu
].
86

A Noite
, while conceding that the fight was disappointing, awarded Helio a “moral victory” [
victoria moral
] for avoiding defeat. After the fight, Zbyszko said that he was surprised by Helio’s courage and strength [
coragem e resistencia
] and believed that Helio should be considered “a great jiu-jitsu fighter” [“
um grande lutador de jiu-jitsu
”]. (One could question whether he had enough jiu-jitsu knowledge himself to evaluate Helio). In view of his youth and enthusiasm, Helio would soon occupy a prominent place in world sports, Zbyszko decided.

Helio, for his part, said he was satisfied with the result because he once again avoided defeat [“
estou, porem, satisfeito, pois, ainda a uma vez desci do ‘ring’ com o meu titulo invicto
”].
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Subsequently, Zbyszko claimed victory because Helio had failed to fulfill his promise to beat him. Carlos and Helio claimed victory because Wladek was heavier than Helio. Helio had indeed demonstrated that his “jiu-jitsu” guard was a formidable defensive tool. But in a portent of what was to come, it resulted in a boring professional fight that ended without a winner or loser [
terminou empatada
].

Carlos had promised just the day before that “When a Gracie climbs between the ropes the public knows that it is going to see a real fight”.
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As events would later prove, the public generally preferred fake but exciting fights to real but boring fights.

Carlos and Helio stayed true to their principles. George and Oswaldo however, had other priorities. Or to put it another way, they had a clear view of the differences between real fights and professional entertainment.

There was no clamor for a Zbyszko versus Helio Gracie rematch. The public had seen enough of Helio’s defensive jiu-jitsu. George’s take-no-prisoners style was a different matter.

Jiu-Jitsu versus Catch

Jack Conley was a catch wrestler from England, and said to be one of the most skilled members of the Zbyszko troupe with surprising agility for a man of his size.
89
George signed to fight him.

Carlos disapproved. Not because Conley was a pro-wrestler but because he didn’t feel that George was training hard enough. “George doesn’t represent our academy,” Carlos said [“
George não representará a nossa academia
”].
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