Rickson Gracie

Rickson Gracie (; born November 21, 1958) is a Brazilian 9th-degree red belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and a retired mixed martial artist. He is a member of the Gracie family: the third oldest son of Hélio Gracie, brother to Rorion and Relson Gracie, and half-brother to Rolker, Royce, Robin and Royler Gracie. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was widely considered to be the best fighter of the Gracie clan, and one of the toughest in the world. In November 2014 he became an inductee of the Legends of MMA Hall of Fame, alongside Big John McCarthy, Pat Miletich, and Fedor Emelianenko. In July 2017, he was promoted to red belt, the highest ranking in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but denied the rank as he had not yet met IBJJF time in rank requirements, keeping the belt for when he does.

Biography

Rickson Gracie, son of Helio Gracie, received his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 18.

Matches against Rei Zulu

At 21, Gracie was pitted in a high-profile fight in Brasilia against famous Brazilian professional wrestler and fighter Casemiro "Rei Zulu" Nascimento Martins (father of Zuluzinho). Rei Zulu was not a qualified martial artist, having only a background in a supposedly indigenous wrestling style named ''tarracá'', but he weighed 230 pounds (104 kg) and had experience in the vale tudo circuit, being supposedly 270–0 at the time.Fred Melo Paiva, ''Rei Zulu: "Isso de Carate, Kung-Fu, essa coisa de Jiu-Jitsu, eu arrebento é na porrada"'', Trip magazine, April 1999 Despite his disadvantages, Gracie won the match at the third round by submitting Zulu with a rear naked choke, gaining immediate national recognition.

In 1984, Zulu requested a rematch in Rio de Janeiro, which became a controversial affair. According to Zulu, the Gracie family demanded the rules to be changed just one hour before the event, banning closed-fisted strikes, direct punches to the face, and kicks to a downed opponent. During the match, held in the Maracanazinho before an audience of 20,000 spectators, Zulu himself fouled by trying to eye-gouge Gracie, while Gracie himself gave Zulu a low blow later into the fight. Gracie also claimed Zulu was oiled up with vaseline in order to impede his grip. In any case, Rickson won again, submitting his opponent with another choke in the second round.

In November of the same year, Zulu defeated kickboxing champion Sérgio "Rock" Batarelli in another fight, which was the condition to host another match against Rickson, but it never happened.Fellipe Awi, ''Filho teu não foge à luta'', 2012, Editora Intrinseca

Challenges to luta livre

In 1988, promoters tried to put together an anticipated fight between Rickson and luta livre exponent Marco Ruas. However, Hélio Gracie refused, demanding either that Rickson received a higher payment or that the bout happened inside the Gracie Academy, which were both rejected, so the fight didn't take place. Later, Rickson himself challenged Ruas to an impromptu match during a meeting with luta livre fighters in the Clube Boqueirão do Passeio. The reasons why this second fight fell off too are disputed: Rickson claimed Ruas asked for time to train, while Ruas claimed Hélio shut down the idea claiming Ruas was not a true luta livre representative. Other names like Eugenio Tadeu and Hugo Duarte were offered, but rejected.

Months later, Rickson was challenged by lutador Denilson Maia, but the latter's father died and he had to be replaced by Duarte. Although Duarte only wanted to fight in an event for a purse, Gracie encountered him on the beach, slapped him in front of his students and demanded him to fight there, so Hugo stepped down and faced Rickson on the sand. Gracie won after making him surrender to punches to the face.The riot over Renzo Gracie vs Eugenio Tadeu
Bloody Elbow, May 8, 2013 Shortly after, claiming that Gracie students had kicked him and thrown sand to his eyes during the fight, Duarte came to Rickson's gym and demanded a rematch. Gracie won again, causing a riot which forced neighbours to call the police.

Shortly after, Gracie challenged Tadeu, who had been entangled in a bout with his brother Royler when the police came. Royler and Tadeu fought to a 50-minute draw. The rivalry between Brazilian jiu-jitsu and luta livre continued without Rickson, as he left Brazil for the United States after the fight.

Vale Tudo Japan

In 1994, Rickson was contacted by Erik Paulson to compete in Satoru Sayama's event Vale Tudo Japan. Gracie traveled to Japan and participated in the tournament, firstly facing Daido-juku stylist Yoshinori Nishi. Gracie took him down and Nishi answered with a lockdown from half guard, but the Brazilian was able to pass his guard and catch him with a rear naked choke when Nishi turned his back. He later faced much larger wing chun practitioner Dave Levicki, but he was an even easier prey once taken down, and Rickson won by TKO after a flurry of punches. Gracie then fought American kickboxer Bud Smith at the finals, winning by the same method in even less time and getting the tournament's victory.

The same year, pro wrestler Yoji Anjo performed a dojo storm to challenge Rickson, after failed negotiations about Gracie wrestling for Union of Wrestling Force International. Gracie was the better in the fight and performed abundant ground and pound on Anjo, who did not surrender, so Gracie choked him unconscious.

A year later, Gracie was invited again to the next Vale Tudo Japan. In the first round he faced pro wrestler Yoshihisa Yamamoto from Fighting Network Rings, who unlike Rickson's previous opponents managed to keep him away from the mat by using the ropes and even tried a guillotine choke. However, Gracie eventually took him down and choked him. He squared against another pro wrestler in the form of Koichiro Kimura, swiftly defeating him, then met shoot wrestler Yuki Nakai at the finals. Nakai, who was almost blind from an earlier match against Gerard Gordeau, put up strong resistance to Rickson, but the Brazilian master managed to take his back and choke him for another tournament win.

Pride Events

In 1997, Gracie signed up to a fight against Yoji Anjo's superior Nobuhiko Takada in the Pride 1 event. Before the Tokyo Dome's 47,860 spectators, Rickson defeated the inexperienced Takada, mounting him and locking an armbar in 4:47.

Now enjoying a growing popularity in Japan, according to Gracie he was proposed to fight Mario Sperry at Pride 3, but the process was stopped due to Carlson Gracie's disavowal. Pride management also offered him to take Royce Gracie's place in his cancelled match with Mark Kerr, but he refused, citing one month to be a too short time to prepare. Fighting Network Rings's chairman Akira Maeda also challenged Gracie and proposed a fight as his own retirement match, but it was rejected. Rickson only agreed to sign up to a rematch against Takada at Pride 4, stating: "I feel Takada is a warrior and deserves the chance to try and redeem himself."Rickson Gracie interview 2
Onthemat.com

In their rematch, Takada had improved and was able to wrestle Rickson to neutralize his groundwork advantage, but the Brazilian master used a failed leglock attempt from the Japanese to sweep him and mount him. Nonetheless, Takada kept fighting under the jiu-jitsu master, dismounting him and threatening with a heel hook