Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (45 page)

Peres had one siginificant advantage over Oninho. He didn’t have to beat him to win the 3,000$
purse. He just had to avoid being beaten.
65

The evening of fights, unlike too many others in the past, was a resounding success. The fans were satisfied with the fights, all of which were characterized by activity and aggression [
movimentação e combativida
]. The fans were especially satisfied with the Oninho versus Peres fight. The two fighters fell out of the ring no fewer than 10 times. Peres managed to avoid tapping out or losing his senses during the 8-round contest. As stipulated in the contract, he was thereby declared the winner.

It was one of the many fight results that were somewhat other than what they seemed. Peres won the fight, but he did not beat Oninho. Oninho in turn did not beat Peres. However, he lost the fight. He would have other chances to even the score.

The result of Yassuiti Ono versus Oliveiri however wasn’t ambiguous. Ono dominated Oliveira easily [
impoz com facilidade a sua supremacia
]. In the second round, Ono choked Oliveira out, thereby winning the 8,000$ prize money. Finally, Braz Gomes defeated Mazuke brilliantly.
66

T
arzan

On October 27 Oninho fought three unidentified men at Circo Breman in Pinheiros and defeated them all. He was then challenged by the giant Luis “Tarzan” Fazio.
67
A match was set up for the following Saturday October 29, also at Circo Breman.
68
Results were not reported. Tarzan was a “strongman” pro wrestler with few or no skills, so it is more than possible that he lost. If so, it did not discourage him. He was back in the ring against George Gracie not long after.

Luta de Jiu-Jitsu

On October 19, 1938, Yano’s mastery of jiu-jitsu proved inadequate for dealing with the cowboy strength of catch wrestler Jack Russell in a “luta de jiu-jitsu” at Stadium Benedicto Valadares in Bello Horizonte. Five thousand fans watched. Yano and Russell both fell out of the ring at the end of round 4, but kept fighting. Ten civil guards intervened. Russell attacked all of them but was finally subdued. Russell won at the end of round 5 when he threw Yano out of the ring, leaving him too weak [
desfalecido
] to continue.
69

No doubt Yano would seek to avenge his loss at the hands of the cowboy Yankee. He wouldn’t have to wait long.

Judgment Day

George Gracie and Renato Gardini ha
d originally been scheduled to meet in 1934 (September 15). The fight was postponed. They finally met Saturday October 22, 1938 at Stadium Benedicto Valladare in Bello Horizante.

About 4,000 fans witnessed the
five-round fight (of 10-minutes each). It was an exciting fight with many technical exchanges. Each man took the upper hand, only to lose it moments later. Both were thrown out of the ring numerous times. In the third round, George he applied a “lock” to Gardini’s right arm.
The referee declared him to be the winner.
70

Gardini rejected the referee’s decision, alleging that he hadn’t “tapped out” [
não ter dado signal de desistencia
]. The commission upheld the referee’s decision.
71

T
urning the Tables

Yano got his chance to turn the tables on the cowboy Yankee in an “
encontro do jiu-jitsu
” Wednesday November 9, at the stadium of the Feira de Amostras in Bello Horizonte. He had help. Russell promised to beat not just Yano, but George Gracie too, both on the same night, within a one-hour period, divided into six rounds.

George was up first. Despite throwing Russell various times with
balões
[shoulder throws], the fight ended in a draw. Perhaps Russell was tired by his match with George, because Yano choked him out in the first round, leaving him unconscious on the floor for almost two minutes.
72

Death of Dudú

Two giants of the fight world departed in 1938. Geo Omori died in March. In November it was his old foe Dudú’s time.

Dudú died on
November 4, 1938, at the age of 32, after a long illness. He had been bed-ridden for three months in Santa Casa de Misericordia (a charitably funded hospital in Rio dedicated to care for the poorest of the poor). In his obituary it was mentioned that his career took a nose-dive after his vale tudo debacle against young Helio Gracie, but he made a satisfactory come-back, up until his disqualification loss to Pedro Brasil in a national luta livre title match. Subsequently he traveled around the “interior” and fought a few times in Minas Gerais and São Paulo. His life spiraled downward [
depois de uma serie de privacões
] to the point where he finally eneded up in the Santa Casa. He was a friend of children and in a cruel irony of destiny, his greatest defeat was at the hands of a child [
a sua mais frahgorosa derrota deante de uma criança
] named Helio Gracie.
73

Enter Eduardinho Gracie

In 1938 a future giant made his appearance in the press, a full page with three large pictures. He had been training jiu-jitsu for all of his seven years. His name was Eduardo Gracie. He already had competition experience under his belt, and with the techniques that his father, Carlos Gracie, had patiently taught him, he managed to defeat the other little kids, some of whom were older and bigger than him [
este golpe seu pae Carlos Gracie ensinou-o pacientemente, Graças a elle Eduardo consegue derrotar outros meninos, maiores do que elle
]. He applied his techniques with the serenity of a veteran [
Eduardo Gracie applica seus golpes com a serenidade de um veterano dos rings
].

Two pictures show him executing standing “
ude-garami
” shoulder locks. One picture depicts him lifting an “adversary” upside down, possibly to drop him on his back or head. The caption explains that “jiu-jitsu is the art of agility; force is not necessary” [
O jiu-jitsu é a luta de agilidade. Não é preciso ter forca
]. This may not have been the most apt picture to illustrate the lack of necessity of strength, but the first two served the purpose adequately.

Carlos explained that Eduardinho combined the calmness of George with the amazing agility of Helio “It’s necessary, isn’t it Eduardo?” Carlos asked him. The boy smiled and pounded his chest in a Tarzan gesture. “It is,” he said. “I’m also going to be a champion”
.
74

Eduardinho later became better known as Carlson.

.
Chapter 18 Notes

Chapter 19

1939

At the end of January the Icarhy Praia Club presented a mixed program of ring sports to call attention to its n
ew gymnasium. Fights were two amateur catch matches, one amateur jiu-jitsu match and one match between professionals, Rio champion Carlos Pereira (73 kilos) of the Gracie academy versus Maia (67 kilos), who was the coach of the Brazilian marines [
technico do corpo do fuzileiros navaes
]. There were also three boxing matches, the final featuring Ervin Klausner (92 kilos), retired from boxing and working as coach of the Rio special police [
technico da Policia Especial do estado do Rio de Janeiro
] versus Spanish champ Anadon (88 kilos).
1
Klausner was versatile, or at least, was game for any form of combat sport that paid. He had fought luta livre with Geo Omori, and jiu-jitsu with Helio Gracie. Now, he seemed most comfortable in his base art of boxing. He still laced up the gloves from time time, even if only for an exhibition at a local sports club.

G
iant and Giant-Killer

George Gracie had already bested Oninho twice. The first time was difficult and the second time was controversial. There was something problematic about the fact that Oninho was so small. George was the “giant killer,” but against Oninho, George was the giant. He did manage to descisively beat Oninho in the first match, but got manhandled in the process. If jiu-jitsu is the art by which the weak can defeat the strong, how to interpret the outcomes of the two Oninho matches? The stronger man won, but only with great effort and after demonstrating that he was unable to defend himself against the smaller man’s throws. What message did that send to potential students? George had a healthy ego. Maybe it bothered him psychologically. Or maybe it was just about the money. George may have wanted to settle it for once and for all. In any case, he challenged Oninho to a third match. Oninho was a warrior. He accepted. Oninho was described as being undefeated [
até então invicto
] despite having twice lost to George and at least once to Benedicto Peres, at least according to the terms of the contract.
2
That was odd, but not unusual.

The fight was held at the Cine Theatro in
São Paulo Saturday February 4, 1939.

The main event was augmented with luta livre and jiu-jitsu matches. Luiz Tarzan Fazio (94 kilos) would face Benedicto “M
ascarado Antonio” (92 kilos) in luta livre. Ser Nizaki (70 kilos) would confront Abter “Tigre” Pinto (93 kilos), and Braz Gomes (65 kilos) would encounter Victor Lacerva (68 kilos). The jiu-jitsu matches were five 5-minute rounds. In the main event George, weighing 70 kilos, would square off with Oninho, at 56 kilos. Their match was for ten 5-minute rounds with 2-minute breaks between rounds.
3

In the preliminary events, Tarzan won by disqualification in the
second round. Ser Nizaki and Walter (Abter Tigre) Pinto drew. Braz Gomes, representing the Ono Academy, had a confusing time preparing for his fight because his opponent kept changing.

On February 2, he was scheduled to fight Vincente Martins, from the Arthur Riquetti academy of jiu-jitsu. On February 3, his opponent was changed to Victor Lacerva. Vincente Martins and Victor Lacerva both weighed 68 kilos. They might have been the same person. Nevertheless, the opponent Braz Gomes faced on Febru
ary 4, was Jorge Cavalheiro, also from the Riquetit [sic] academy. Whether they were different people or the same, it apparently didn’t matter to Braz Gomes. He choked his opponent, whoever he was, out in the fifth round.

The result of the George Gracie versus Oninho fight was not described in detail but the outcome told a familiar story. George won their first encounter in 1937. It took him 52 minutes to catch the small Japanese boy. George also won the second meeting, also in 1937, but as the result of a gift from the officials, many people believ
ed.

In their third confrontation George made it clear that he was the boss, but again, he didn’t establish the sort of superiority that his supporters expected from him. George finally caught Oninho with a choke, but he needed over 55 minutes of ring time to do it.
4

Winner Take All

On Saturday February 4, Yassuiti Ono was in São Carlos, about 230 kilometers from São Paulo to give some demonstrations. As there were many practitioners and fans of jiu-jitsu, luta livre, and boxing [
numeros adeptos do ‘jiu-jitsu’, luta livre e box
] in São Carlos, Ono offered to fight anyone who wanted to test their own or his abilities. He offered “
bolsa ao vencedor
” [winner take all].

If more than one person wanted to have a go at it, Ono said he would fight two or even three on the same night. He brought along
Braz Gomes, who was one of his many students, to assist.
5 
Braz had been learning Ono’s style of jiu-jitsu for about one year at that point and began competing in professional shows (as an amateur) almost from the day he first put on a kimono. Braz became known as Braz I to distinguish himself from Braz Gomes II, who also competed. Both were among the approximately 75 Brazilians who studied with Ono in 1938 alone. There were another 75 Japanese in his classes.
6

Multiple Opponents

George had fought three men back to back before, with mixed results. He had offered to fight all three of his opponents again, when he had the chance. He hadn’t had the chance to fight the same three opponents (Geroncio Barbosa, Antonio Roque, and Jose Amorim). He wanted to fight three men again, but would have to be content with three different men.

In 1936, two of his opponents were strongmen or pro
wrestlers or both, and one may have once been a Gracie student (another was a former amateur boxer). This time, in 1939, the line-up included a strongman pro wrestler, Luiz Tarzan Fazio. There was also an experienced grappler, Alberto Suleiman, who, judging from his record, was a luta livre fighter with primarily pro wrestling experience. His opponents had been people like Dudú and Antonio Mossoró. He had also competed in jiu-jitsu matches, but without notable succcss. The third of George’s opponents was an authentic jiu-jitsu representative. He was Arthur Riquetto Filho. Riquetto was a jiu-jitsu teacher, with an academy and many students in São Paulo. He had learned his art directly from the great Geo Omori, and at one time had been the São Paulo jiu-jitsu champion. Clearly he was not just some guy off the street that a promoter had handed a kimono and black belt to put on for a publicity shot.
7

The plan was for George to fight Riquetto in a jiu-jitsu match. If he beat Riquetto he would then face Luiz Fazio “Tarzan” in a luta livre match. If he also beat Tarzan, he would then confront Alberto Suleiman in another luta livre match. All matches were three 10-minute rounds with 2
-minute breaks. The matches were scheduled for Saturday March 11, 1939 at Theatro São Paulo. There were also three boxing matches and a five 5-minute round jiu-jitsu contest between Benedicto Peres and Alfredo Riquetto. Ticket prices ranged from 5$ for general admission to 50$ for
camarotes
[box seats].
8

Be
Born, Suffer, Die

On May 10, Roberto Ruhmann challenged Takeo Yano and both Ono brothers. He was supremely confident, offering to fight all three on the same night, in “luta livre valendo tudo”
. An Arab never refuses a fight”, he said, and he was ready to fight anyone anywhere anytime, including the world champion. He lived by three words, “be born, suffer, and die” [“
nascer, soffrer, morrer
”]. Obviously, he wasn’t too worried about armlocks and chokes.
9

Ruhmann’s fighting skills might have been questionable but as a “strongman” he was in constant demand. Being challenged by Ruhmann was an excellent way to get one’s name in the news.

A match between Takeo Yano and Yassuiti Ono in Bello Horizonte at Estadio Benedicto Valladares on June 17, 1939 was announced.
10
If it had happened it probably would have been superb exhibition of throwing.
However, it didn’t because on June 17, Yano was in a ring with Charles Ulsemer.

Ulsemer

Yano met French wrestler Charles Ulsemer in a grappling match in Bello Horizonte on Saturday June 17. Reports differed on whether it was a jiu-jitsu or luta livre match.
11
In any case, Yano tapped out in the fifth round to a choke [
estrangulamento
]. Later reports mentioned that Yano had not been able to throw Ulsemer even once.
12
If true, that would suggest either that the match had been a luta livre (without kimono) or that it had been staged. Staged fights were not unusual at the time and had become almost the norm since May 1934. By 1939 some of even the most die-hard jiu-jitsu men were eagerly participating. The Yano versus Ulsemer fight on June 17 might have been such a fight.

Yassuiti Ono also fought Ulsemer around the same time although specifics are lacking. According to one report in July of 1939,
13
Ulsemer recently defeated both Ono and Yano.

However, a later report indicated that Ulsemer managed a draw against Ono.
14
It is conceivable that they met twice or even more, as most jiu-jitsu fighters met most of their opponents multiple times, due primarily to the limited supply of opponents.

If the above mentioned reports were accurate, Ulsemer apparently knew enough jiu-jitsu to hold his own against the two best jiu-jitsu fighters in Brasil in 1939, assuming that the matches actually took place and were legitimate. However, according to informed insiders, they probably were not.

Power meets Technique

George and Ruhmann had split their previous two matches. George seemed to have the edge in jiu-jitsu, while Ruhmann’s tremendous physical power made him an unstoppable force of nature in luta livre.

A third match was scheduled for July 8, 1939 at the gymnasium of the Associação Athletica São Paulo on av. Tiradente, at Ponta Grande. It would be a luta livre match of ten 5-minute rounds (with 2-minute breaks). They both promised that it would be a hard fight [
luta renhida
]. The referee was Arthur Riquetto.

Among the other matches, Braz Gomes was scheduled to meet Matafiko Merimossa in a five 5
-minute round jiu-jitsu match, which would be refereed by Gomes’ teacher Yassuiti Ono.

George had recently been suspended. During the down-time, he trained and taught at the Academia Delauney at
avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio.
15

The reason for George’s suspension is unknown but might have been related to irregularities surrounding the March 11 program pitting him against Arthur Riquetto, Tarzan Fazio, and Alberto Suleiman, which may in turn explain why no results were reported or subsequently mentioned.

In the Ruhmann return match, George made an error in not demanding a “no pinning” rule. George lost by being pinned. This was discussed as being “prejudicial” to jiu-jitsu representatives, who often would go to their backs to escapes chokes. Why George agreed to a pinning rule is unknown. It was odd given that he lost the second fight by shoulder pin. Perhaps there was no other way to make a Ruhmann victory believeable.
16

Believeably or not, Ruhmann won the fight. The reason for permitting shoulder pinning in jiu-jitsu versus luta livre matches was often to motivate a follow-up match without the rule.
It also allowed undefeated fighters to remain technically undefeated within at least one style of fight. Being undefeated was not as good as being a champion but it was close. Both were highly subjective, in any event.

King Solomon

On July 10, Yano faced the German wrestler Fritz Weber at Estadio Benedicto Valladares, in Bello Horizonte. The referee was Oswaldo Gracie. The fight was remarkable for the fact that there were two winners and two losers.
17

The fight must have been fairly even during the first four rounds, because no one lost or won. In any case, neither man dominated to the point of victory. Things took an unexpected and unprecedented turn from that point however. In the
third minute of the fifth round, Weber applied a headlock [
gravata
]. At the same time, Yano went for a footlock [
chave de pé
]. They simultaneously applied pressure for two minutes. Finally Weber couldn’t stand the pain anymore and tapped out. But when Oswaldo Gracie went to raise Yano’s hand in victory, he discovered that the jiu-jitsu representative was unconscious.

The fans were stupefied and waited in suspense for Oswaldo Gracie to make his pronouncement.
Oswaldo decided to annul the fight, and declared that both men lost, Yano by knock-out and Weber by give up. For the first time in ring history, two fighters won at the same time that they were defeated by each other.
18

Like King Solomon [
rei Salomão
], Oswaldo awarded half of the victory to each man. Officially, the fight was a draw.
19

It is not common, but it has occasionally happened that two boxers land punches at the same time and both are knocked out. Whether the Yano-Weber simultaneous half-victory, half-defeat was genuine or not will have to be argued by the experts.