Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (42 page)

Logically, it was like a boxer saying that he might have won on points if he hadn’t been knocked out. It was possible, but highly irrelevant. Nevertheless, George insisted on a rematch. He might be able to do better next time. He couldn’t do much worse.
24

Diario de Noticias
described the sequence of events leading up to George’s loss. The first round was actively contested. Ono had the edge in throws and take-downs, six against three. George demonstrated an effective defense. Overall Ono had the advantage

The second round was more even. George stepped up his pace. Ono had a slight advantage.

Round 3 began violently and both fighters fell outside the ring subsequent to one of Ono’s spectacular throws. George hit his head on the floor and re-entered the ring “groggy”. Ono applied a classical strangle in combination with a headlock [
gravata
] and George, in pain, gave up. The time was 4 minutes into the third round.
25

It is noteworthy that George was able to take Ono to the ground three times in round 1. It would be interesting to know how he did it. But coverage was not that detailed, and the vocabulary at that time was limited.
26

George’s friends tried to make excuses for him, saying that he was out of shape [
fóra de forma
].
Diario de Noticias
rejected that and any other excuse. George’s lost because Ono was physically superior and had a deeper understanding of jiu-jitsu [
maiores conhecimentos technicos
]. George’s loss was honorable. If not for the throw in round 3, he might have resisted 24 more minutes (finishing out the fight), but physically and technically he was in over his head. Oddly, the writer did not think that Ono could repeat this against Helio, who (he wrote) was stronger and more aggressive than George. It would be difficult for Ono to beat Helio, he said.
27

It was an opinion shared by virtually no one, with the notable exception of Helio Gracie. It was certainly true that Ono would have a difficult time defeating Helio Gracie, as he admitted himself, but that was entirely due to Helio’s “impenetrable” guard.

By the same token, Helio had no possible chance of defeating Ono. And this applied only if the decision was based strictly on knock-out or give up. Ono dominated Helio in both of their fights, all reporters seemed to agree. He simply couldn’t get through the Helio’s defense, while Helio in turn was unable to mount any offense. But such were the rules. Styles make fights, as boxing trainers say. Helio’s style was hard for Ono to deal with. George’s was easier. But some styles excite fans and make them want to buy tickets. Others bore fans and send them looking for more exciting fights to watch. Even if they are less “real”.

Ono talked about the fight before heading back to
São Paulo. He realized that George was hurt when they fell (Ono fell on top of George). He thought that it not for the fall, George could have resisted longer. But the result would have been the same.
28

A photo in
A Noite
suggested a difference between George’s defense and Helio’s (judged from pictures of the Dudú and Zbyszko fights and George’s fights with Tico Soledade on July 8, 1933 and Geo Omori on April 8, 1933). Helio seemed to prefer a closed guard, generally speaking, while George evidently liked a more open guard. Helio’s guard would more effectively prevent an opponent from moving, while George’s would let the opponent move but keep him a safe distance from his own neck. Everything else being equal, it is easy to see George’s how guard would produce a more interesting fight, at least against aggressive opponents like the Ono brothers.

In addition, George used his guard to spring traps. Against both Geo Omori and Tico Soledade, George waited until his opponents had grabbed both of his ankles and stood up hoping to crank on a double anklelock or possibly to step over into a “Boston Crab” or some similar maneuver. As everyone who has taken a few jiu-jitsu lessons will know, that allows the man on bottom to grab the standing man’s ankle, lift his hip, forcing the standing man to fall straight back. That is how George mounted Tico. It didn’t work as well against Geo Omori, because Omori was not an unskilled weightlifter like Tico Soledade. The principle was the same however.

The two brothers’guard preferences may have stemmed from their very distinct personalities, or from their opponents’ tactics, or simply from the fact that George had shorter legs and couldn’t close his guard as easily as Helio even if he wanted to. In any case, both of their guard games seemed to work adequately well as defensive tools, when they could be deployed.

Ono’s throw highlighted one weak spot in defense-oriented jiu-jitsu as well as one of the advantages in being able to throw well. It is less useful to be skilled on the ground if you cannot compel the opponent to go there with you. It is then that stand
-up skills are particularly important.

Helio Gracie acknowledged that the crown of Brazilian jiu-jitsu now was on the head of a “foreigner” (or more literally, that the sceptre of jiu-jitsu in
Brazil was no longer in the hands of a Brazilian). But that was unimportant, he said.
29

Helio reminded readers that Ono had tried and failed to beat him twice before, on
December 5, 1935 and October 3, 1936. How could Ono claim to be the king of jiu-jitsu in Brazil when Helio Gracie was still undefeated? The fact that Ono would not fight him a third time had “great significance”, Helio hinted.
30

Ono’s manager Antonio Lins replied to Helio’s attacks. Ono regarded George as a better fighter than Helio, Lins quoted Ono as saying, because George went for the win, while Helio only tried to avoid losing. Lins elaborated that if Helio tried to fight aggressively like George he would be liquidated in less than 20 minutes.
31

A week later Antonio, now identified as Luis rather than Lins, suggested that Ono and perhaps the fans as well were uninterested in seeing Helio’s “defense” for a third time. There needed to be a compelling reason for another go at it. Helio probably needed the money, but Ono didn’t. Antonio explained, “Ono doesn’t live only by fighting. He has a business and teaches at three locations in
São Paulo in addition to his own academy” .
32

Much later (in October 1951) Ono relented and offered Helio his rematch. But by that time Helio didn’t want it.

But Ono didn’t mind giving George a rematch, in fact, several, and neither did his brother Naoiti, also known as “Oninho” [Little Ono].
33

The reason may have come down to styles. Helio waited for his opponent to give him an opening. If the opponent didn’t give anything, then nothing happened, and fans didn’t pay to see nothing, or if one prefers, two men lying on the floor holding each other. George
in contrast, understood that the public wanted to be entertained. If he could do that by choking a big man out, he was happy. If he had to do it some other way, he was also happy―as long as it was entertaining.

Everyone grasped the implications of that formula. Some were prepared to act on it. Others weren’t. They looked for other sources of income.

“Electra”

On
Saturday September 25, 1937, Carlos Gracie flew from Rio to Bello Horizonte via the Panair airplane “Electra.” He returned September 28 on the same airplane.
34
It has never been revealed what he was doing there.

***

Takeo Yano and Manoel Fernandes signed to meet at Estadio Brasil in the semi-final to the Pedro Brasil versus Dudú tilt for the Brazilian luta livre title. Yano versus Fernandes was also a luta livre match. According to press reports, Fernandes had trained carefully and was in magnificent physical condition. With his large weight advantage, he was capable of giving Yano a tough fight, and possibly even defeating him. Yano was at serious risk of suffering a decisive defeat at the hands of Fernandes. However, due to his abundance of technical resources, Yano was favored to win.
35

The Dudú versus Pedro Brasil fight was on and off for years and it is likely that as a result Yano did not fight Fernandes after all. If not, it wasn’t because he had any objection to confronting big men. Or professional wrestlers. Or engaging in questionable fights.

Jiu-Jitsu versus Heavyweight Boxer

In his last fight until 1950, Helio Gracie took on boxer Ervin Klausner on
September 26, 1937. Klausner was the second boxer among Helio’s opponents up to that point.

Unlike Antonio Portugal, Helio’s first opponent, Klausner was an experienced and legitimate heavyweight boxer, who (unlike Antonio Portugal) had won more fights than he lost. At 30, he was old (for a boxer) but not ancient. He could have been a dangerous opponent for a relatively small man like Helio Gracie.
36

This fight might have provided some foundation for Helio’s supreme confidence in 1947 (ten years into his first retirement) that he could beat undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.

Except for one thing. Helio’s fight with Klausner was not a mixed-styles fight, or a vale tudo, as they would later be called. It was a jiu-jitsu contest. Needless to say, Klausner was not a jiu-jitsu expert. He did however have luta livre experience, and at one time, he was considered among the best luta livre fighters in São Paulo (he fought and lost to Geo Omori several times, but also won his share of fights, including one against a “jiu-jitsu” representative named Dario Letone in 1928). The same however was true of Tavares Crespo when he fought Albino da Costa in 1933. Klausner was probably no better a grappler with a kimono than Crespo was.

The match was held at Feira de Amostras in Bello Horizonte on
Sunday September 26, 1937. As was usual with reports from outside Rio, details were sketchy, other than the fact that Helio won by armlock in the second round.
37
Perhaps it was a tribute to his luta livre training that Klausner made it into the second round, but it didn’t reveal much about how Helio would fare against Joe Louis.

Oninho

Yassuiti Ono insisted that George prove himself worthy of a rematch by fighting Naoiti Ono (Oninho), Yassuiti’s brother. Despite being only 17 years old, and weighing around 55 kilos, Naoiti had what it took to beat any Gracie, Ono said.
38
Geo Omori agreed, “
Naoiti vencerá
” [Naoiti will win], he predicted.
39

Naoiti was not under contract to EPB, and he was young, small, and inexperienced (he may have fought Carlos Pereira in October
1936 in a preliminary to his brother’s second fight with Helio Gracie. In 1938 he said that he had only been training three years). The Federation insisted on a
prova de sufficiency
40
to confirm that Naoiti was ready for George, or rather, that he could offer a solid, professional, entertaining fight. They invited Helio Gracie to do the honors. Helio choked Oninho out, but the Federation concluded that Naoiti was qualified to fight George. The fight was set for October 2, 1937.
41

The George Gracie versus Oninho match took place at Stadium Brasil on Saturday October 2. It was six 10-minute rounds, with two minute rests. George weighed 65 kilos, Oninho weighed 55 kilos.
42

It was not an easy fight for George Gracie despite his tremendous advantage in weight and experience. According to one report “Oninho dominated various phases of the first fight and spectacularly threw George about 20 times”.
43
Oninho eventually wore himself out, he later said, throwing his heavier opponent. He favored his brother’s aggressive style of fight and didn’t endorse the philosophy of waiting for the opponent to make a mistake.
44
It took George 52 minutes to finally apply an effective technique. Two minutes into the sixth round George applied a fight-finishing armlock.
45

Rematch

George beat Oninho. Yassuiti had to give him his rematch. It was held Saturday October 16 at Estadio Brasil. It was an eight-round fight, each round being 10 minutes with 2-minute breaks. Both men weighed 65 kilos.
46

George did better than previously. He avoided being injured by throws. But
six minutes into the sixth round, something happened that no one could have anticipated. Feeling that he had fallen into a position that made him susceptible to a George Gracie attack, Ono apparantly lost his composure and punched George in the face several times, in blatant violation of the rules.

George w
as awarded the victory.
47

It was hardly a conclusive finish. The public could not be faulted for wanting to see a third meeting between the two no longer undefeated jiu-jitsu masters.

Gravatas

The jiu-jitsu versus luta livre rivalry continued, encouraged above all by Carlos Gracie and close associates, such as Jayme Ferreira. The situation was slightly confused by the fact that every jiu-jitsu fighter also competed in luta livre. Indeed there was little difference between them other than the kimono, particularly when the fighter lacked strong throwing abilities. The large number of fights that end in “neck-ties” [
gravatas
] suggests that many fighters were trying to “tackle” their opponents to the ground, but exposing their necks in the process.