Hélio Gracie passes away

The co-founder of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Hélio Gracie, passed away in his sleep yesterday at age 95. Hélio Gracie was one of the most important figures in Martial Arts history. Hélio adapted Judo techniques to suit his smaller frame (he weights roughly 150lbs) as he found a lot of the moves in Judo required strength to execute. He replaced the strength required by leverage allowing for smaller men to be able to survive in a fight against a larger, more powerful man. Gracie Jiu Jitsu, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as it’s now commonly referred to, is an essential part of MMA and in this day and age of cross trained fighters not having BJJ is almost suicide.
Hélio had numerous fights during his career, testing his style against a number of different fighting styles from Bxers to Judokas. His most famous fight came against Japanese Judoka Masahiko Kimura, who defeated Hélio by Kimura lock (the Gracies refer to this submission as the Kimura out of respect for Kimura) in 13 minutes. The fight was stopped by Hélio;s brother Carlos after Hélio’s arm was broken by the submission. Hélio wanted a fight with then Heavyweight Boxing Champion Joe Louis to prove his style against the most mainstream of all at the time, but could never get ‘the Brown Bomber’ in the ring with him.
Hélio’s sons have made Brazilian Jiu Jitsu famous with Rorion’s creation of the UFC and Royce’s victories at UFC 1, 2 and 4. His other sons Rickson (undefeated MMA star of the 90s) and Royler (three time Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Champion) have both accomplished a lot as well. While it is a sad day for the Martial Arts World, 95 is a long life for someone who fought as long as he did and Hélio said in a recent interview with GRACIEMAG “I’ve already told my sons that when I die I want there to be a party. No drinking, no debauchery.”
RIP Hélio Gracie!