[3] Considered as the Godfather of BJJ, according to his son Rorion, Gracie is one of the first sports heroes in Brazilian history; he was named Man of the Year in 1997 by the American martial arts publication Black Belt magazine.

He also learned catch wrestling under the renowned Orlando Americo "Dudú" da Silva, who taught his brothers for a time.

[7] When he was 16 years old, he had the opportunity to teach a judo class, which helped him develop his family style, "Gracie jiu-jitsu".

Consequently, he began adapting Mitsuyo Maeda's brand of judo, already heavily based around newaza ground fighting techniques.

[8] Like its parent style of judo, these techniques allowed smaller and weaker practitioners the capability to defend themselves and even defeat much larger opponents.

The fight took place in the undercard of a "jiu-jitsu vs. boxing" event on January 16, 1932, which saw judoka Geo Omori defeating boxer Tavares Crespo.

As Namiki had a 7 kg (15 lb) weight advantage and was a native of Japan just like the art of jiu-jitsu, he was expected to defeat Gracie.

It was his biggest challenge up to the point, as Ebert outweighed him by 29 kg (64 lb) and was a decorated freestyle wrestler, and their match would have no time limit.

[2] However, the bout lasted almost two hours, and was eventually stopped by the police at the promoters's discretion as none of the fighters was progressing or advancing position.

He then applied a gi choke which Miyaki didn't surrender to, making the Japanese fall unconscious for the victory.

[15] On July 28, Gracie faced renowned professional wrestler Wladek Zbyszko who, very much like Ebert, had a 40 kg (88 lb) weight advantage (albeit was 22 years older) and was billed as a world champion.

[15] It was an uneventful affair; Gracie pulled guard at the opening and they spent the rest of the match in said position, ending in a draw.

[15] Gracie's next opponent was his own former teacher, Orlando Americo "Dudú" da Silva, who had defeated Hélio's brother George in a catch wrestling match earlier in the year 1935.

However, the wrestler ended up spending all his energy in the assault, and it allowed Gracie to counterattack gradually with short punches from the bottom.

When they returned to standing by the referee, Gracie landed two side kicks of the kind called pisão in capoeira, and the tired Dudú submitted verbally shortly after.

Again, Gracie demanded a match without judges and wore a modified judogi, and his brother Carlos predicted that Yano wouldn't last a single round.

He was billed as both a sumo wrestler and judo black belt, although Takeo Yano was quoted as skeptical of the second claim.

[15] Gracie met Yasuichi Ono for the second time on October 3, 1936, again in a match under jiu-jitsu rules and with no points of judges.

Fadda was known for training the poor in Rio de Janeiro, and for the use of leg locks, which the Gracies considered low class.

[24][25][26] In 1955, Gracie was challenged by Valdemar Santana, a former student of his academy who now trained and fought under the management of Carlos Renato and Haroldo Brito.

They hit him repeatedly with a steel box and immobilized him for Carlos to apply an armlock, dislocating Rufino's shoulder so badly that it needed surgery.

[citation needed] Gracie died on the morning of January 29, 2009, in his sleep in Itaipava, in the city of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro.

[32] Gracie was grandfather to many BJJ black belts, including Ryron, Rener, Ralek, Kron, and Rhalan.