Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (25 page)

Champion

The Omori versus Manoel Fernandes fight was originally scheduled for August 6. It had the makings of an exciting match. Fernandes was the luta livre champion of the Portuguese colony and had a 15-20 kilo weight advantage. He promised that he would not give up. Omori would have to knock him out if he wanted to win.
78

The fight, planned for São Christovão Athletic Club on
rua Figueira de Mello, 200, was rescheduled for September 3 to make way for a basketball game.
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Number of rounds were unlimited and pinning [
classico encosto das espaduas
] was not recognized as a way to win. Saburo Senda and Mineyoshi Fukushima would measure forces in a five 5-minute jiu-jitsu contest. Both trained with Omori and Namiki. Two amateur boxing matches and an 8-round contest between Rubens Soares and Lauro Alves, with 4 ounce gloves were also planned.

Fernandes was confident of the result and wanted to beat Omori so that he, rather than Omori, could fight the North American cowboy hercules Jack Hillson, who was in
Rio giving demonstrations of strength. Hilson had challenged Omori to a luta livre contest.
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A New
Jiu-Jitsu School

In July a new school of jiu-jitsu opened in the Realengo neighborhood in the
western zone of Rio. The instructor was Jose Barbosa. Barbosa had been a second lieutenant in the army. In Pernambuco, in 1906 he developed a passion for jiu-jitsu and studied for two years. He became the instructor of the military’s physical education center [
Centro de Cultura Physica do Exercito
] in 1922, where he taught teams of sergants, officers, and civil guards.

Two of his best known students were Alberto La Torre Faria (also known as Al Faria), and Roberto Coelho. Coelho became a professional luta livre fighter and challenged George Gracie, who declined. Alberto La Torre Faria became an influential educator, administrator, and fight promoter, and came out on the losing end of at least one run-in with Helio Gracie.
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Jiu-Jitsu versus
Luta Livre

Omori and Fernandes finally met, this time as planned on September 3. Fernandes was true to this word. He didn’t give up. However, the no time limit rule had been revised. Omori attributed Fernandes’ survival to the fact that he “didn’t have a neck to grab” [“
não tem pescoso para se pegar
”]. Omori finally managed to get grips on Fernandes in the last round, but it was too late. He was certain that he would have finished Fernandes if the round hadn’t ended. But it did and he had to honor the contract, which was for six 10-minute rounds. Consequently, the fight ended without a winner or loser.

Omori’s manager counted the number of times Omori threw Fernandes. It was no less than 36 times. Omori wanted another fight, either 10 rounds, or without a limit.
82
A
desempate
was arranged for October 1, 1932, with an unlimited number of 10-minute rounds.
83
Fernandes would have to do more than merely survive.

Wrestler Geo Smith wasted no time
in challenging Omori. Whatever happened with Fernandes, Omori would not lack opponents. Maybe he could squeeze Smith in before the Fernandes tie-breaker?
84
In fact, that is exactly what happened.

Japanese
Jiu-Jitsu versus Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

After his debut success against Antonio Portugal the previous January, Helio Gracie was ready for a more difficult test. This time instead of a mediocre boxer, he would be facing a strong jiu-jitsu fighter named Namiki. The fight was scheduled for September 3 at Theatro Republica.
85

Namiki was described as an undefeated black belt [
faixa preta…sendo invicto
] and an “efficient and extraordinary lutador”. He was born in 1911 in Shiki, near Tokyo. He entered Kodokwan at 13 (1911), received a “red belt” [
faixa rubra
] at 17 (1928), which was given only to those with the aptitude to represent Kodokan without disgracing it [
sem desdouro
]. He received his black belt [
faixa negra
] from Prof. Kujirai. He came to Brazil in 1930. He had some matches at festivals in Araçatuba, in São PauloState, against other Japanese black belts. After an exhibition with Geo Omori in the ring of the campo of Santa Anna, a newspaper suggested a match between practicioners of jiu-jitsu. Namiki didn’t like challenging people [“
Por meu gosto, não desafio ninguem
”] but he said he was prepared to face one of the Gracies.

Namiki
was confident but not boastful. Whatever happens, he said,”I will bring honor to my teacher Kujirai and to the Kodokan” [“
Vou para o ring confiante. Qualquer que seja o resultado do combate, saberei honrar o meu mestre Kujirai e o nome da Escola de Kodokwan
”]. Namiki was training with at Geo Omori’s academy in Rio. Omori was preparing for his own match with Manoel Fernandes.
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Helio would climb into the ring with the heavy responsibilitly to defend his title of “undefeated”
[
subiria ao ‘ring’ com a responsibilidae grande que Ihe dá a titulo de invicto
”].
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Namiki had also never known a defeat [
o formidavel japoneze que ainda não conheceu a derrota
].Considering their actual records, it implied more than it literally meant. In reality it was a match between two fighters who had never had a professional fight between them. Helio Gracie’s fight with Antonio Portugal had been an “amateur fight”.

The fight was postponed to September 10 for unspecified reasons. Helio shaved off his moustache.
88

The day before the fight, Geo Omori, who had been training with Namiki, predicted that Helio would not win. Helio was confident that he would, and wanted to fight Omori. Helio was training with luta livre representative Dudú.
89

There would be four preliminary fights, all to be decided by giving up or being choked out
. The Gracie versus Namiki match was eight 5-minute rounds. The one other jiu-jitsu match and three luta livre matches were five rounds. The jiu-jitsu match was Saburo Senda versus Fukushima Mineyoshi. The luta livre matches were Geroncio Barbosa (a “strongman”) versus Alcindo Pacheco, Herminio (a former football player) versus Maurice Levy and Jayme Ferreira versus Tavares Crespo.

Helio weighed in at 65 kilos, Namiki at 72 kilos.
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The fight took place at Theatro João Caetano on Praça Tiradentes.
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The fight was one of the few that lived up to its promise and was extremely violent [
uma luta violentisima
]. Omori’s prediction was correct. Helio did not defeat Namiki. Technically the fight was draw. His family’s jiu-jitsu had proven to be an efficient method of defense against a grappler in a no-striking, no-points fight. It was less outstanding as a method of attack, at least against a Kodokan black belt According to
Diario de Noticias,
Namiki dominated most of the fight.
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The next day, the columnist “Puncher” wrote that although Namiki dominated the fight he could not subdue Helio [“
teve o predominio da luta, mas não pode sobrepujar Helio Gracie
”]. Not being beaten by a Kodokan black belt was some sort of victory. In the logic of professional grappling, not losing = winning and therefore not winning could also = winning, as long as one didn’t tap out or go out.
93
That made it easier to maintain an undefeated record, which in turn made matches involving at least one (and sometimes two) undefeated fighters potentially more attractive.

The imagery and symbolism of the black belt was valuable as a marketing tool. The Japanese fighters knew what a black belt really meant. Omori specifically pointed out that there were 30,000 people in the categories of 1-5
dan
in his August 23 article. But Japanese were small, and jiu-jitsu was heavily hyped as a “scientific” style of fighting. The word “science” had just recently been invented and people in general associated it with knowledge-based power, vaguely miraculous, but (in theory) under direct human control.
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Where size and strength were used to hype luta romana and luta livre fighters, and agility to hype capoeiras, Kodokan credentials (belts and diplomas) were used to hype Japanese fighters. It was in the interest of the Gracies and other Brazilians to exaggerate the meaning and value of “black belts”. It automatically made almost any Japanese opponent marketable. It also made a victory more impressive and a defeat or draw more excusable. The fact that some of the Japanese fighters’ Kodokan qualifications were questionable was beside the point.

Puncher also described the fight in detail. Technically, Namiki was superior. He always had the advantage. He put Helio in bad positions on the mat whenever he wanted to, and he escaped from anything that Helio could throw at him [
technicamente, Takashi Namiki foi o melhor. Houve-se sempre com vantagem. Quer quando impunha Helio situacões incomodas no tapete, quer quanda tinha que se safar golpes desferidos pelo contendor
].

He also provided a round
-by-round account of the fight.

In round 1 Namiki attacked and dominated until the end of the round. In round 2 Namiki again attacked and dominated until the end of the round, at which time Helio managed to escape a dangerous position. In round 3 Namiki umabiguously dominated again [
dominio franco de Namiki
]. With less than a half minute remaining, Helio got Namiki in a headlock, but the round ended.

By round 4, both men seemed very tired. They studied each other for a long time looking for an opportunity to attack. Namiki was first to find one and threw Helio to the canvas again, controlling him there. However, Helio showed a lion-like courage and strength [
bravura e a resistencia leonina
]. Namiki forced the action but his efforts were nullified by the bell.

Round 5 was one of the most action-packed of the fight. Helio surprised Namiki with an armlock aided by a
tesoura
[he used his legs]. Namiki took it in stride, with the apathy that is characteristic of his race, and didn’t seem very worried. Helio made a desparate effort but had to let it go [
Helio suprehende Namiki com un chave de braço auxiliada por uma tesoura. Com a fleugma que caracteriza os homems de sua r
aç
a, o valeroso athleta japonez nao se perterbou um bastante
].

Puncher digressed to explain the armlock to his less enlightened readers. The
chave de braço
, also known as a
prisão de braço com a tesoura
, or in French, “
clef au bras á terre
” is a frightening technique that can only be escaped by an expert, and even then only with great difficulty. The Japanese fighter was vociferously applauded.

The seventh round was boring [
frio and sem lances de emoção
]. Understandably, both fighters were very tired, especially Helio. Helio continued to try to avoid Namiki’s attacks. Finally Gracie tried to pull out a victory with a final spurt of offensive effort but it was too little, too late. Namiki was alert and Gracie’s last ditch effort was ineffective [
sem effeito
].

In the undercard, Jayme
Ferreira scored a sudden and complete [
fulminante e decisivo
] victory over Tavares Crespo, by way of
gravata
with
tesoura
(a guillotine choke with legs around, probably but not necessarily on the ground). Crespo didn’t have a chance to put the techniques of his modality into play. In less then two minutes of round 1, he asked the referee to stop the fight.

Fukushima Mineyoshi and Saburo Senda’s match was exciting [
simplesmente empolgante
]. The smaller Saburo conquered the public’s sympathies. Saburo numerous times spectacularly escaped the dangerous attacks of Mineyoshi but finally in the fourth round succumbed to a neck-tie choke [
gravata
].

Bernardo Frota, filling in for the injured He
rminio (originally Maurice Levy’s opponent), finished Levy in the second round with a footlock [
chave de pé
]. Puncher emphasized that Frota was an amateur and had defeated Levy, who was a professional. Geroncio Barbosa beat Alcindo Pacheco in the fourth round by
gravata
.

Three of the five fights were decided by
gravatas
[headlocks], one by footlock. G
ravatas
were
probably the most commonly used technique during this period. Everyone used them.

Helio was praised for his effective defense [“
technica defensiva muito efficaz
”] and for having survived, but from Puncher’s account, the fight belonged to Namiki. Officially the result was an
empate
[draw], so both remained professionally undefeated, Helio with a record of 0-0-1, Namiki with a 0-0-1 record. Helio would attempt to improve his record on November 5. Namiki was back in action the next week.