Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (34 page)

George quickly lashed back, saying “Carlos was never a fighter. He likes to talk about the two times he fought. One time was at A.C.M. when he fought a man who knew nothing, and still he couldn’t beat him. The other time was at Fluminense when he abandoned the fight with Rufino dos
Santos”.
91

George ignored Carlos’ advice and did what he wanted to do. That involved lots of pro-wrestling. At least part of the source of the friction between the two brothers was the fact that George was willing to fight for less money than Carlos thought a Gracie was worth.
92
But fans and promotors generally did not want to pay high prices to see boring fights. In addition to being over-priced by market standards, the “real fights” that Carlos and Helio wanted to offer tended too often to lack what the fans wanted to see, which was spectalular action and decisive finishes. The market-sensitive solution, as the catch wrestlers knew, was to “tweak” the fight to give it what the fans wanted. And since fighters, no more than other people, do not enjoy pain and injury, from tweaking to completely “working” the fight was a short step. It was one that George and Oswaldo were willing to take. Helio was not and that was probably one reason why he did not fight between 1938 and 1949.

Another source of friction was that George did not respect Carlos’s jiu-jitsu knowledge or fighting skills. The best evidence available suggests that they both learned from the same person at the same time, namely Donato Pires dos Reis (notwithstanding the unsubstantiated possibility that Carlos may have had some contact with Conde Koma in Belém). Given that George demonstrably had the ring skills which Carlos just as clearly lacked, George might have resented taking “orientation” from Carlos, particularly knowing how dictatorial and eccentric Carlos could be.
93
George wanted to live his own life, fight his own fights, and keep his ring earnings in his own pocket.

The catch wrestlers sometimes went too far with their staging. Fans were gullible but not to an unlimited extent. It didn’t take long before writers began describing
the Zbyszko troupe’s fights as clown acts rather than combats, exhorting the fighters to take their work seriously. Local fighters came in for criticism as well when they performed with troupe members. Before a match with Bill Lyon (also known as
Leão
, Portuguese for lion), at Estadio Riachuelo,
Diario de Noticias
mocked Roberto Ruhmann as “The champion of fake fights” [
O campeão de lutas combinadas
] and the word “fight” [“
luta
”], was written between quotation marks.
94

But the George Gracie versus Jack Conley fight was taken seriously and unlike many of George’s other fights with catch wrestlers and luta livre fighters, it appears to have been legitimate. Conley seemed to be confident. He said
, “I think George will lose the title of ‘undefeated’ tomorrow. The Gracies think that our physiques are nothing. I’m going to show them that their skills are nothing“.
95

Knowing how poorly received the Helio Gracie versus Wladek Zbyszko fight had been, the press bent over backward to emphasize how George Gracie versus Jack Conley would be different. Zbyszko had been limited by jiu-jitsu rules. George versus Conley would be luta livre. Conley would be free to use all of the resources of catch
-as-catch-can. Zbyszko and Helio fought in kimonos, which interfered with movement. George and Conley would fight “
pieto nú
“ [bare-chested]. Moreover, Zbyszko was heavier and stronger than Conley (who weighed 90 kilos) and George was a more seasoned fighter than Helio, making the match more competitive.

The fight, fortunately (for jiu-jitsu representatives), was not a repeat of Zbyszko versus Helio. Nevertheless, it did not attract a great deal of attention. There were too many fights happening. The public was surfeited with catch and luta livre, and didn’t want to see jiu-jitsu. The result was reported without details, merely that “Conley succumbed to an effective armlock
after seven minutes”.
96

Carlos Gracie, wanting to rain on George’s parade, and probably retaliate for
the nasty (but true) things George had said about his lack of jiu-jitsu knowledge and skills, and his weak ring record,
97
told the press that he had strong doubts that the fight wasn’t a “
combinada
” [fixed].
98

Jiu-Jitsu versus Catch

Fresh off this “victory” George signed to meet his team-mate (both were under contract to EPB) Roberto Ruhmann at Stadium Brasil on September 9 in a luta livre match.
99
Ruhmann immediately injured himself in training. Renato Gardini, also under EPB contract, was selected as a substitute.

Italian “catcher” Renato Gardini had already been in
Rio for week when the Zbyszko troupe arrived in May 9, 1934. He had came on the “Neptunia” from Buenos Aires, on May 3, 1934, along with a group of fighters that included Canadian champion Leverne Baxter and North American “cowboy” Jack Russell. The Argentine boxer Arturo Costarelli was also on board. All three had recently been signed to contracts by EPB, as was George Gracie and several other jiu-jitsu men, namely Miyaki and Shigeo.
100

Initial reports indicated that Gardini was in poor physical condition and might not be in shape to participate in the Grande Torneio de “Catch-as-Catch-Can” that was set to commence May 15 at the campo do Botafogo, promoted by Empresa Pugilistica Carioca.
101

By October Gardini seemed to be on the mend. He was a master of the secrets of the ring [
um grande conhecedor dos segredos do rings
]. His record included thousands of fights without a single defeat [
em seu cartel constam milhares de luctas, sem uma unico derrota
]. He had enjoyed a victory over Strangler Lewis, a draw against Jim Londos, and most impressively of all, a win over the world champion Wladek Zbyszko.
102 

There was undoubtedly a degree of exaggeration in this description. Gardini had been defeated twice by Andre Castano and once by Zicoff
on April 3 in Buenas Aires and indeed that was the reason that he was not selected to compete in the Grande Torneio.
103

Ring records in the professional wrestling world were malleable and subject to interpretation. It was not unus
ual for a fighter who had never won a single fight to be honored for his undefeated record. In any case, Gardini, like George Gracie was under contract to EPB. If its contracted fighters did not fight, no one could make any money. Gardini’s loses were quickly forgotten and a fight was arranged. It would be a luta livre match of two 20-minute rounds to be held Saturday September 15 at Estadio Brasil. There would be no draw. Gardini would receive a gold cigarette lighter if he won, which he was expected to do, simply because he was too strong for George. George was technical, observers conceded, but a man who had beaten Zbyszko would not be stopped by mere technique.

Naturally, George Gracie’s fans vehemently disagreed. George’s “
sparrings
” [sparing partners] weighed more than 80 kilos. George would be ready for Gardini, they promised.
104

Writers were not uniformly enthusiastic about the George Gracie versus Gardini fight, wondering “Will it be new farce?” It is difficult to say”
.
105

As late as the day of the fight,
O Paiz
ran a long article previewing the fight.
Diario de Noticias
that same day ran a shorter piece, mistakenly saying that it was Helio rather than George who would meet Gardini.
106

The boxing commission had recently declared that fights in which there was a great weight difference between the contendors would not be permitted. Gardini out-weighed George by
roughly 40 kilos. The implication was hard to miss. No other paper mentioned the possibility that the fight might be cancelled and the pre-fight hype continued unabated.
107

On the day of the fight it was announced that EPB had decided to postpone the fight after all. As the fight was postponed “
sine-die
“ [indefinitely], that meant that it was in effect cancelled.
108

Instead Gardini would battle Jack Conley at Estadio Riachuelo the following evening.
109
George presumably began preparing for Wladeck Zbyszko (also under EPB contract) in October.

Renato Gardini and George Gracie did eventually “measure forces”
. Fans had to wait four years to see it happen.

The Ono Brothers Arrive

On Friday October 5, 1934, São Paulo sports fans learned that a Japanese troupe of 10 jiu-jitsu fighters would arrive the following week. The troupe consisted of Miyaki, Ono, Ywawe, Takasawa, Naioti, Azuma, Yamada, Issida, Miravami, and one not named, and two youths, Utiyama, age 13 and Saitou, age 15, and two children [
petizes
], Ahia, age 7, and Ogata, age 9 (both children of Migavi). They planned a demonstration of jiu-jitsu along with some matches on Saturday October 20. The matches would pit Murakami (Miravami/Migavi) versus Issida, Misawa versus Maritoni, Iamada (Yamada) versus Naioti, Iwawe, versus Azuma, Tigusa versus Ono, and Takasawa versus Miyaki.
110

The exciting Japanese sport [
emplogante esporte nipponico
] had many practitioners in São Paulo [
entre nós, tem já innumeros cultores
]. At the same time, it was still relatively little known [
ainda relativamente pouco conhecido entre nós
]. The newspaper explained that jiu-jitsu was the art by which the weak can defeat the strong [
a arte de dominio do fraco contra a forte
]. In fact, it went on, one of the most famous and fearsome jiu-jitsu fighters in the world was a tiny little man, weighing 44 kilos, who could, with astonishing ease, defeat men weighing up to 140 kilos! [
um dos mais celebres e temiveis luctadores de jiu-jitsu do mundo, é um japonez de 44 kilos de peso! E esse minisculo homenzinho, tem levado de vencido, com facilidade assombrosa, a homems até de 140 kilos
].

It is not known who all of the fighters were, but two of them were the Ono brothers Yassuiti and Naoiti (both names variously spelled in subsequent reports). Both would participate in many matches with George Gracie
(and two with Helio) and would train many notable jiu-jitsu fighters and judokas. In fact their careers closely paralleled those of the Gracies, with one difference. The Ono Brothers knew, and often pointed out, that what everyone in Brazil was practicing was Kodokan judo, not any original form of jiu-jitsu. They called it jiu-jitsu however, because that is the word that most people knew.

David versus Goliath

For unknown reasons, Helio fought Zbyszko first, but it was George who originally challenged him, in fact, even before he and his troupe got to Brazil. Zbyszko was so confidant that he offered to fight in a kimono and take on all of the Gracies on the same night. He also offered 5,000 dollars to anyone who could beat him.
111
Helio was the first of the brothers to try. He didn’t lose, but he didn’t take home the 5,000 dollars either.

Fans and writers and not least of all, George, felt that he could do better than Helio against the Polish ex-luta romana champion and catch troupe leader.

Zbyszko at first said that he would fight in a kimono. George said that anyone who wanted to fight him or his brothers had to wear one also, especially if there was a large weight disparity.
112
After the Helio fight, Zbyszko changed his mind, and so obviously did George.

In some sense, George did do better. However, he lost the fight. Helio fought defensively, which might have been wise under the circumstances. George fought to win. Winning was more important to George than not losing. Helio felt otherwise. Clearly, George had the better chance of winning the 5,000 dollars. He also had a better chance of losing the fight. It was gamble, but that is how gambling works. Larger potential pay-offs come with greater risks of loses. Helio wanted to retain his distinction of being undefeated more than he wanted to beat Zbyszko.
George wanted to win.

George weighed 66 kilos to Zbyszko’s 106 kilos. He also had the disadvantage of not wearing a kimono. Despite these two handicaps, according to one report, the fight was extremely even for the first 10 minutes [
equilibradissimo durante 10 minutos
] until finally Zbyszko applied an armlock from which George could not escape, suffering his first loss.

After the fight, Zbyszko was lavish in praise of George, admiring his fighting spirit [
combatividade
] and calling him “one of the most perfect and complete fighters in the world in his weight category [“
dentro de sua cahegoria, um dos mais perfeitos e completos luctadores do mundo
”]. He added that all of the Gracies were excellent fighters who could shine in any country.
113

In the same article it was mentioned that George had received several proposals to give exhibitions in the
USA and Japan. He was inclined to go to the USA and had already begun taking English lessons, the report said. There is no evidence that he went.