The fight between Japanese judoka Masahiko Kimura and Brazilian jiu-jitsu founder Hélio Gracie was held at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on October 23, 1951.

[3] The idea had been proposed by resident judoka Takeo Yano due to his very public enmity with the brothers Carlos and Hélio Gracie, practitioners of "jiu-jitsu" (as judo was called in Brazil at the time).

[3][4] Expecting Kimura's troupe to attract Gracie's interest for a challenge match, Yano and his partner Yasuichi Ono helped Mizuno to bring them to Brazil.

[5] When the troupe arrived at São Paulo, Kimura was bestowed with the fictional title of "world's jiu-jitsu champion" by the Brazilian press, which saw it as an opportunity to draw attention.

[3] In response, the troupe demanded Hélio face Yukio Kato,[3] the lowest ranked member of the group and the most similar to him in size, weighing both around 70 kg (154 lbs).

[3] As Kato was relatively inexperienced in challenge matches, while Gracie had several on his record, the bout was advertised as a special fight between a professional and an amateur.

[3] After half an hour of fighting, Kato decided to take the bout to the ground and attempted to choke Gracie with juji-jime, which caused them to become entangled with the ring ropes when Hélio tried to counter with his own.

Although Kato, whom the ropes impeded from repositioning,[8] tried to counter it by resuming his hold, he lost consciousness, forcing Kimura to throw the towel.

[3] While newspapers immediately questioned Hélio’s victory, with Diário de Notícias pointing out the illegality of his action,[3] the loss still affected the troupe's reputation among the Japanese population of Brazil, who now saw them as phonies.

[2] Gracie's students paraded through the streets carrying a coffin, symbolizing Kato's defeat, and Hélio challenged next Toshio Yamaguchi, the second in rank and experience of the three Japanese men.

[5][11] Entering the second round, after blocking a tomoe nage attempt by Gracie,[9] Kimura threw him to the mat by osoto gari, and this time he followed him to the ground right after and pinned him with kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame.

However, this next feud was short-lived, as Cordeiro and Ono eventually distanced themselves from different style matches in order to join the rising judo scene.

[7] In 2002, Japanese MMA promotion PRIDE Fighting Championships hosted a special "judo vs Brazilian jiu-jitsu" bout as a tribute to the match between Kimura and Gracie.

It took place on August 28, 2002 at the event PRIDE Shockwave and pitted Olympic gold medalist judoka Hidehiko Yoshida against Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament winner Royce Gracie, Hélio's own son.

[13] Fighting under grappling rules with limited striking, the two fought for seven minutes, with Yoshida ultimately applying a sode guruma jime for the referee stoppage.

[13] In his 2008 book The Pyjama Game, British judoka Mark Law mentions the match between Kimura and Gracie while reviewing a sparring session at the Budokwai between Olympic gold medalist Kenzo Nakamura and multiple BJJ world champion Roger Gracie, an affair he described as "prolonged and inconclusive, but nevertheless quite extraordinary.