Thursday, February 19, 2009

Helio Gracie 1913 - 2009

Helio Gracie, who founded Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with his older brother, died recently. The influence that he had on martial arts can't be overstated. He lived into his 90s and still practiced constantly. In his book Jiu Jitsu University, legendary 6x world champion Saulo Ribeiro tells about how he rolled against Helio, but couldn't defeat the old man because Helio's defense was so strong. His defenses were so well honed that Saulo couldn't find an opening to attack and submit him.

He was small in stature, but well known in his youth for taking all challengers and routinely defeating opponents much larger than him. Here is a tribute video that was done for him.

No comments: