Back in 2001, Helio gave an interview for Brazilian Version of Playboy. It’s probably the most interesting interview in the history of Jiu-Jitsu.

In this article, we bring you the most interesting stuff that Helio said about himself when he was young, his family origins, his sons, his way of practicing sex, and a lot more… so, enjoy!

Helio About his Adolescence Age

Helio admitted that he had a bad temper in his adolescence. He wasn’t afraid of challenging anyone into a fight and he would approach people on the street asking them if they were fags when they would look at him strangely. But, once, when one guy trashed him badly he was afraid of confronting him. Helio was afraid and wasn’t feeling ready to fight the guy. He found out that being brave and being a thug are two different things. He was teaching that stuff in his classes after that.

Helio thinks that being strong isn’t necessary for being a good fighter. He says that it’s all about leverage and technique. He backs it up with a statement of him being able to take down anyone with one finger even at his age. And in 2001 when his interview aired he was 88 years old.

The Ultimate Fighting is the Invention of Gracie Family

Helio said that The Ultimate Fight (MMA) was the invention of his son Rorion. He explains that Rorion was looking for the best and the most effective ways of fighting so he created Ultimate Fighting. He also mentioned his son Royce who was unbeaten at the time of the interview and he backs up his theory with Royce’s success.

Gracie Family Origins

Helio’s great grandfather, James Gracie, was a Scottish who moved to Brazil after a misunderstanding with the Scottish government. James’ son and Helio’s Grandfather, Pedro was a banker in Rio De Janeiro and he had 18 children including Helios father Gastao.
Gastao Gracie had 5 sons, Carlos, Oswaldo, Gastao Jr., Jorge, and Helio, and 3 daughters, Mary, Helena, and Ilka. After the death of Helio’s Grand Father, Pedro, they left Belem and came to Rio.

Helio Gracie wasn’t a student of Mitsuyo Maeda

Helio’s Brother Carlos died at the age of 94 in 1995. and he was taught by Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese teacher who was also known as Conde Koma. As Helio was the younger brother he wasn’t old enough to train when Maeda was teaching his brother Carlos. Even though Helio was considering his brother Carlos his “second father” he wasn’t taking lessons from him also. The main reason for that is because he suffered from dizziness and fainting while he was a student at the College Diocesano of Rio. Helio managed to convince his mother to let him leave the school just to start learning Jiu-Jitsu from him.

Helio’s Fights and Debut in the Ring

Helio was 17-yr-old when he fought the Brazilian Boxing Champion. He was able to win in 30 seconds by taking him on the ground, mounting, and applying an arm-lock.
One of Helio’s interesting fights was when he was 37 and challenged by a Japanese martial artist. Helio described that match as very tough for him. After the first round of 20 minutes, Helio has fainted. His brother gave him ammonia to smell so he recuperated in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Helio had a Japanese fighter and a bad position, but the belt saved him. For the next two rounds, the Japanese fighter was just running away from Helio. He didn’t win this one but that fight was something that made him famous.

Helio About his Street Fights

Helio told a story of his Brother Carlos throwing a piece of bread on a seller of chickens. It’s meant to be a prank, but the seller got annoyed so Carlos sent Helio to deal with the chicken seller. Helio went down and choked a guy unconscious saying that when the guy woke up, he didn’t remember anything that had happened.
Helio also mentioned a story about a taxi driver blocking his way so he also choked him out and left him sleeping on the sidewalk. And a story about the truck driver. Helio also put him to sleep in RIO for wanting to fight him.
But Helio is also saying that he was never a street fighter but a ring fighter.

Helio about being arrested for beating a Luta Livre Champion Manoel Ruffini Dos Santos

Helio said that Manoel Ruffini was talking around that he will prove to the world that Gracies are nothing. After Helio heard that he showed up at Tennis Club Tijuca in Rio and told to Manoel that he came to answer the declaration that Manoel made.
Manoel tried to punch Helio, but Helio took him down and “gave” him two fractures of his head and a broken clavicle. Blood was spurting around.
Helio admits that it was foolish of him and he would never do it again.
After that Helio was sentenced to 2 and a half years in detention.
He was in jail for only 2 hours until the court confirmed his sentence.

Helio about his nephew Ryan Gracie’s criminal charges

As Ryan was accused of beating up a man and stabbing someone in Rio De Janeiro in a nightclub and accused of attempted murder and was arrested and put in Jail, Helio didn’t have anything to add to that. He just said that his children have never been mixed up in any activities outside of the law.

Helio about Sex and his Sex Life

Helio said that he never had sex with a woman without the purpose of reproduction. He also taught his sons and grandsons.
He’s sure that he could’ve slept with any woman in Brazil as he was a celebrity so, all the young girls were interested in him. After some women would try to get to him really hard he would ask them if they’re willing to have his children and that would stop them.

Helio said that he learned to control his will for sex from his brother Carlos who was a spiritualist.
He also thinks that sex is just an unnecessary expenditure of energy and that the worst thing is to have sex without fulfilling nature’s purpose.

Helio also mentioned his sister who was a nun saying that he can’t understand her and call her. He thinks that a woman should have a child to complete her mission on the earth.

Helio said that he was never used condoms and he taught his sons not to also. He’s sure that his sons don’t use condoms.
He’s not afraid of AIDS for him or his sons as he’s sure they’re not having sex with anyone.
And he thinks that people who are willing to have sex with anyone are nothing more than dogs.

Helio About his Wives

He was married to his first wife for 50 years. Her name was Margarida and he had three sons with her. Rorion, Relson, and Rickson. When his first wife Margarida died he married his second wife Vera. She was 32 years younger than him. He had six more children with her. He said he does not type of a guy who loves women.

Helio about Smart and Stupid Jiu-Jitsu Students

Helio thinks that it’s easier to teach stupid students because smart students think too much before executing the technique. He thinks that smart students end up lost and can’t function while stupid students just do it. He said that he wants to give his students good reflexes.
He also said that the problem with smart students is that when they learn the technique they’ll want to do it their way and not the way he taught them, so they will do everything wrong.
Helio thinks that a baby, young girl, or idiot is going to learn techniques much faster without asking questions.
Helio explains this theory by saying that Jiu-Jitsu is something for the subconscious, not for consciousness.

Helio About women who can do more and feminine independence

Helio thinks that strong women are a product of a weak men. For him, lazy and cowardly individuals with weak personalities are the ones who like independent women. In case women actually have no choice but to be independent. He thinks that nature did not create men and women by mistake, but for each one to be a missing part of another. The men should take care of a woman and women should take care of children.

Helio about Vitor Belfort

At the time of the interview, Helio said that Vitor is a beginner in Jiu-Jitsu and that he only knows how to fight with rules.
He said that Vitor Belfort was talking bad about his son Royce and he called Vitor to set up a challenge against Royce. Vitor replied to him that he only fights for the money so the fight could never happen as that wasn’t Helio’s style.

What’s the Secret of Helio’s long life and Health

Helio said that he never had bad habits. He was never drinking or smoking or snacking between meals. He’s eating fish, cold cheese, fruits, and legumes. He eats bread only once a day. He doesn’t mix series… You can read everything about Helios Diet HERE
He also said that he never had sex more than it was necessary for reproduction because nature is not stupid.

https://bjj-world.com/carlson-gracie-interview-helio-gracie-just-telling-lies/

Mike Perry talks about him knocking out a guy who walks up to his girlfriend trying to put something on her head.

It was January First, it was 2 a.m. Thousands of people were walking by.
This guy walks up behind my girl and he was trying to put some party hat on her head. I told him to back up.
He didn’t move so, I reached out to push his shoulder and told him to watch out.
He reached over my Girlfriend and he punched me right into my mouth.
I was like, ohhh MF you’re donna die now.
I caught him with a left hook and dropped him down. He stood up and he and his friend were trying to hit me.
I was moving around and looking at both of them and I threw left hook and dropped that man down.
I watched his friend and asked him “what you wanna do” and he left, he left his boy on the ground.

Check out the rest of the story in a video below posted by TMZ:

https://bjj-world.com/video-russian-power-lifter-knocked-street-fight-passed-away-hospital/

In 2001 Helio Gracie gave an interview for the Brazilian version of Playboy. If you want to read the Interview’s most interesting parts check THIS LINK

What we find most interesting is the fact that Helio, even though the world champion, who was able to sleep with many women in Brazil, never wanted to use sex for anything else but in reproduction purpose.

Check out what he thinks about women, children and if making love is a bad thing or not.

“I have nothing but approval for love between two people who want to do it. But making love just for the sake of pleasure is an unnecessary expenditure of energy. The worst things are to make love without fulfilling nature’s purpose. In other words, making love should be the instrument of procreation. I had a sister who was a nun [Mary, 85 years old] who lived in the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, in São Paulo. That infuriated me. I would have preferred that she had been a bum. To complete her mission on earth as a woman. What does it serve to be a virgin? A woman with breasts, ovaries, who was born normally, should have children. Not to do it goes against nature.”

Helio answers the question of how many times he made love in his life:

“Look, I was a world champion who did it only a little. In my estimation, I could be with all of the women in Brazil. But I never had relations with more than 10 women. And I only did it with women who accepted the idea of having children.”

When asked about how many times he really did make love according to the fact that he has 9 sons, Helio said:

“It wasn’t like that either. There were times when I did it all night long because God didn’t cooperate. So I did it as many times as I wanted until [she] became pregnant, or when she requested it. I proved best my abstinence by the number of women I made love with. There were ten women in total in my life. That was my merit. I had 30 girlfriends, but I didn’t give a kiss here a kiss there.”

You can find much more Helio’s thoughts and views on sex and life on this LINK

Source: global-training-report

Helio Gracie PLAYBOY Interview – The Most Interesting Details

https://bjj-world.com/carlson-gracie-interview-helio-gracie-just-telling-lies/

Carlson Gracie – The Most Controversial Interview in Jiu Jitsu ever

Is it ok to hurt your training partners during a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu session? When are you responsible for your training partner’s injury? The question for this video related to this question in a way.

Our friend was recently training with one of his teammates during BJJ practice. And during this practice he attempted several different submissions and attempts to finish the match.

Eventually he snagged an armbar and slowly pulled forward. After securing the position and his partner still not tapping. He began to apply pressure slowly until his rolling partner cried out in pain.

He let go and afterwards felt terrible. He asked his coach if he had messed up or if there was something to keep in mind. His coach told him that Brazilian Jiujitsu is a tough sport and accidents happen.

So, Jason is basically searching to get another perspective on the event that came from his submission.

In this video I share two stories that have accidents involved in them. 1 was where I accidentally injured one of my training partners after a situation where I became upset. While I never intended to hurt him. I did so as a fault of my own negative emotions.

I also share a story where my nose was broken due to accident during a BJJ training session once. This time it was an accident which was not fueled with any sort of negative emotions. If you’re in a similar situation. I hope the video is helpful!

Marlon Sandro is a 2nd degree BJJ Black Belt, MMA fighter and the veteran of the featherweight division of Bellator MMA.

According to combate.com, on Thursday night Marlson Sandro and his Fiancee Tayssa Madeira were returning from the football match of Flamengo.
Soon after a verbal altercation between the couple Marlon Sandro choked out his fiancee Tayssa Madeira and left her unconscious on the street. After she woke up, he started kicking and punching her. Tayssa Madeira, somehow, managed to escape and she went directly to police station describing what happened. She reported the case, hoping Marlon will be arrested, but with no success.

This assault happened on the streets of Catete, South Zone of Rio de Janeiro.

Tayssa’s friend posted a pictures of beaten Tayssa hoping that Marlon will be arrested

Tayssa Madeira’s friend Lila Portasio posted pictures of Tayssa beaten by Marlon Sandro on her Instagram profile and she wrote:

“…you reading this post may find it shocking to be reading this post. You may be wondering how someone has the courage to expose themselves that way. If you thought that way, reflect. The correct question is: how can one have the COURAGE OF DOING THIS WITH A HUMAN BEING ??? Even when monsters such as @marlon_gladiator will go unpunished in cases of violence like these in the square San Salvador, Laranjeiras, Rio de Janeiro. What right does this monster think he has to beat his girlfriend or anyone else? Is it because he has learned MMA and is a fighter who is in the right to solve everything in the beating? For these are not the teachings of the struggle. What argument or fact justifies this? None. Nothing justifies aggression. NOTHING WILL NEVER JUSTIFY MEXER WITH THE INTEGRITY, BE PHYSICAL, MENTAL OR MORAL OF ANY HUMAN BEING. That justice can be done. No #empanelman will pass us by! Share this post because this guy needs to be arrested”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcuS9KHAsu0/

Marlon Sandro Kicked from Nova Uniao Team

Soon after the rumor of an incident spread, Andre Pederneiras, leader of the Nova Uniao team to which Sandro is affiliated, announced that Marlon Sandro is kicked from the team after a long time of being a member.

Andre Pederneiras confirmed to MMAJunkie that he wasn’t able to reach Marlon Sandro, but that he’s been removed from the team in light of the seriousness of the accusations.

Tayssa Madeira’s statement on the case for MMAJunkie.com

Tayssa talked to MMAJunkie and she said that she never wanted the exposure and that social Media campaign was started by her friends. She also said she wasn’t the one who asked for Sandro to be kicked out of the team and that she didn’t want to press charges against Marlon Sandro.

“I love his children, so I care greatly about them,” Madeira said.
“I died on the inside,” Madeira added. “I have nothing else to say.”

Marlon Sandro MMA Career

Marlon Sandro is a 40-year-old Bellator veteran who also competed in Shooto Brazil, Sengoku and Pancrase events. He’s also the cornerman of many UFC fighters including Jose Aldo. He ended his MMA carrer on Road FC event with a loss to Mu Gyeom Choi via desicion.

Rickson Gracie’s BB Sentenced to Prison For Sexual Harassment of 15-yr-old Girl Still Trains with Rickson

Admit it or not sexual harassment during Jiu-Jitsu training, discrimination of female practitioners as competitors and unwelcoming training environments for women are only some of the problems women in BJJ face every day. There are more and more sexual harassment examples in a world of Jiu-Jitsu and it’s time to talk about it loud.

Recently, a female BJJ practitioner described her experience with her instructor and the way he behaves with her. She posted it on reddit asking the BJJ community for an outside perspective, whether her instructor’s behavior is ok or not.

“I’m really not sure what to do in this situation, or if it warrants anything at all. I’m almost positive I’m overreacting but could use an outside perspective.

My professor has long been pretty vocal that I am his favorite student. He says it at least once a week. I usually go 5-6 times a week, and he always makes eye contact with JUST me when he’s instructing. He checks up on me over text whenever I don’t go to class, and always checks up when I get a little hurt. This is more individualized attention than he normally gives students, although I will say it’s not like he’s glued to me all the time. All of this sounds pretty normal, right?

He constantly refers to me as “his girl”. And asks me “you know you’re my girl, right?” whenever we joke around in class. He pretty consistently talks about me to other people in the class (“she’s strong, right?” “she’s getting good, right?” “she’s tough as hell”) whenever I’m in earshot – I’m not sure about out of earshot. I took a few weeks off, and when I texted him to tell him I’d be back in class this week, he texted back “That’s good, we missed you, my (ethnicity) queen”. Since I’ve gotten back to class, he promises to roll with me every day so I can learn better and has amped up his texts to me juuuuust a bit. A little while ago, under the pretense of a conversation asking how my mild injury was, he asked me if I was resting and what I was doing tonight.

Is this weird?? It all seems super innocuous written out, but I’m sure that I definitely get more attention from him in class. I’d like to think it’s because I’m a pretty positive person and always show up to class and give it my all, but I’d love an outside perspective on what might be going on here.”

What do you think? Is this Instructor out of line and is it time for this girl to leave her gym as fast as possible?

Have you ever witnessed a similar behavior by your instructor?

Guy Accused for Sexism in BJJ Class and “brushed” by his Instructor

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Without the dedicated practitioners who spend countless hours perfecting their sport, martial arts would cease to evolve.  It is this constant evolution that attracts new blood and keeps existing practitioners engaged.  This philosophy should also extend to competitions.

However, according to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu traditionalists like European (Rickson Gracie) Black Belt Patrick Bittan, the evolution of the tournaments is taking away from the true meaning of why this martial art was developed in the first place.  Bittan describes the founding principles of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu as, “Real self defense with a focus on submission.”  In fact, Helio Gracie’s grandson Kron Gracie is one of the sports top-ranked fighters who seems to share the same sentiment as Bittan.  “I was very confused for a long time with IBJJF and my results and doubting myself and doubting my abilities because I was losing over advantages,” proclaimed Kron Gracie.  

His father Rickson Gracie feels the same way and has gone on record to say that he has very little interest in watching International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) style “sport” matches.   He even questions the motivation of the “medal chasers” in Jiu-Jitsu, indicating that 90% of those competitors and their instructors are sacrificing “real life self defense” in return for podium publicity and fame.  Rickson states that, “The rules today go against what I believe, so in my view it’s a must that we change the rules and stop the stalling. If we stop the stalling in the competition there will be a huge change because people are used to it being more dynamic and looking for either escape or control, so it’s a different approach. I really promote competition, but the rules are really crooked right now.”

And Rickson is not the only fighter who feels this way.  According to professional light-heavyweight MMA fighter Robert Smith, “There’s a growing number of frustrated people out there.  You could end up paying a steep registration fee to get one or possibly zero other competitors in your divisions, and the stalling in these tournaments is not realistic to the fight game.”  Smith believes that the organizers of the smaller independent tournaments have the answer. These are BJJ4Change micro-tournaments, Check-Mate tournaments , and the Siam Sub-Series in Thailand  whose organizer Alex Schild believes, “it’s just the beginning” for these submission only style of events that are picking up steam.

But, people are still attending the IBJJF tournaments and often refer to them as the gold standard when it comes to jiu-jitsu rule sets. According to this article by TP Grant:

“There was a time that jiu-jitsu competitions were a mess of improvised regulations. The IBJJF helped create a template rule-set that was universally recognized. The problem now is that the grappling scene has continued to grow and the rules have not grown to reflect that.   Especially those limiting submissions such as leg locks that are becoming a bigger and bigger part of the modern submission game.”  This may be another reason why the rules may need adjusting.  The collaboration between Nova Gyms and Illinois Brown Belt Dan Hart of Wanderlust Grappling stepped outside the box by promoting a submission-only blue belt micro-tournament which embraced a faster style of fighting with “limited rules” as well as leg attacks to Blue Belts only in July with great success.   BJJ4Change, a subsidiary of the film company Never Ending Light Productions, was on hand to record every fight.

When allowing the type of leg attacks usually barred from standard BJJ competitions, the added risks are self-evident, especially in the Blue Belt category. Organized correctly and with expert referees, competitors say, “The who dare wins,” rule applies.  “The risks in a sub only tourney are high,” says Chris Wojcik.  “But the rewards are even higher.”’ Chris of Serafin BJJ of Illinois won the 170 lbs and under GI & NOGI brackets and came away with a cash sum of $1000 for his efforts from that event.

Still, experienced BJJ tournament regulars like Chris Maciejewski of Carlson Gracie’s team still aren’t sold on these micro-events.  Maciejewski, does however, believe that IBJJF events still provide a more prestigious platform and looks better on a fighter’s resume.  This may be the same thought process of 90% of competitive tournament-goers today which explains why promotions like Metamoris, Five Grappling, and other venues have had trouble getting off the ground financially.  Patrick Bittan however, is reaching out to the global BJJ community to promote modifications to the current rules of the sport and the effectiveness of it.  He is trying to align schools and coaches worldwide to train fighters in a way that promotes engagement in the fight, constant pressures, pushing the pace, and progress to better positions in the fights while at the same time focusing on submission only.   Bittan’s ideas make sense and even Kron Gracie might agree to participate in Patrick Bittan’s and BJJ4Change’s tournament format,“ You know I’m doing what I really believe to do (fight for the sub) and no matter what the point system is or what the rules are I believe in the submission.  I believe in going in for the kill but that’s not always something that I have been able to do because of the times, the rules, and because of the way people fight me.”

Patrick Bittan recently hosted a jiu-jitsu mastermind conference in Paris with some of the BJJ4Change European board of trustees in order to promote this approach.  

After the trip Patrick announced the 2018 agenda which will kick off with a BJJ tournament, seminar, and mastermind conference in Hawaii in which Patrick has partnered with Luis Heredia (Rickson Gracie Black Belt) and BJJ4Change  to showcase an action packed tournament that will be filmed and documented by BJJ4Change.  Until then, BJJ4Change will continue to host a number of micro-tournaments throughout the midwest over the next 6 months as pre-qualifiers for larger “invite only” submission only events that will also be featured in their Netflix film on BJJ.  At the end of the day, “We are ALL Jiu Jitsu” says Patrick Bittan.  Still, we need to focus on the sport as a whole and hope that coaches will reach out to BJJ4Change and join the conferences in order to bring the sport together rather than cause more divisiveness.

Written by: Meghan Catherine

Rickson Gracie: 9 out of 10 Black Belts Are Practicing Anti Jiu Jitsu

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Rickson Gracie: Modern BJJ Black Belts Remind Me of Karate Practitioners Clueless of Jiu-Jitsu

Wallid Ismail is not very well known name among Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. But, it’s a mistake as Wallid is a world famous Black Belt from Carlson Gracie Academy in Brazil. At the time when he was competing in Brazil and around the world, he was known for his aggressiveness, toughness and a very proficient clock choke.

In the early 90’s he was able to defeat Ralph Gracie by points and after that, he defeated Renzo by points too, and then he went on challenging the Gracie family members.

Wallid Ismail’s Challenge

Wallid Ismail proclaimed that he will defeat any Gracie in any style. Gi, no GI, Vale Tudo or any other type of fighting. He was trying to prove that he is a world-class competitor who fears no one. As Wallid was very loud at that time challenging Gracies, they had no other option but to accept a challenge.

Eventually, Royce Gracie accepted a challenge to fight Wallid Ismail, but with special rules. It will be Jiu-Jitsu fight in a GI with no points and no time limit.

The match between Wallid Ismail and Royce Gracie took place in Brazil, in December 1998.

Wallid Ismail vs Royce Gracie

The match started very aggressively from Wallid’s side. As usual, Wallid was an aggressor while Royce was mostly on defense playing guard after Wallid took him down. As Wallid was close to passing Royce’ guard, Royce turned into the turtle and it turned out to be a bad decision. While holding Royce in the place, Wallid was able to lock the clock choke. After Royce was trying to escape without success, he didn’t want to tap and he rendered unconscious.

It was a huge victory for Wallid Ismail, his Carlson Gracie Academy and especially for his coach Carlson Gracie as he was in a fight the other Gracies for most of the time. You can read about Carlson’s opinion on Helio and other Gracies HERE. Even now Carlson has no good words for famous Gracies including Helio and Royce.

Wallid Ismail had very successful MMA career competing at Pride, but his win over Royce Gracie in Brazil will still remain his greatest Victory and the fight Wallins is most proud of. Choking the Royce Gracie, who was already world famous MMA and UFC fighter was a big deal at that time. So, watch the video below and enjoy Wallid Ismail vs Royce Gracie Challenge match.

Check out the Carlson Gracie Interview where he speaks about Helio and the match between Wallid and Royce

https://bjj-world.com/carlson-gracie-interview-helio-gracie-just-telling-lies/

Carlson Gracie – The Most Controversial Interview in Jiu Jitsu ever

Professor Ryron Gracie makes a strong case for what he believes is the number one reason that make students quit Jiu-Jitsu.

He explains that after reaching blue belt some students set expectations that are unable to meet in training, therefore their Jiu-Jitsu school that once was a place for a fun activity becomes a stressful environment. He also comments on the role of the instructors and offer advice for students who are on the verge of quitting Jiu-Jitsu.

Rickson Gracie Explains What Blue Belt Really Means in Jiu-Jitsu

25 Reasons Why You Don’t Progress in Jiu-Jitsu As Fast As You Can