Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (37 page)

Exhibitions, demonstrations, amateur and professional fighting were all part of the jiu-jitsu business. They created interest and recruited students. Teachers also trained and supported their students who had the aptitude and desire to fight professionally, to test their skills, protect the honor of their family, prove the efficiency of their style, promote their teacher’s school, build a name for the time when they would open their own school, or meet young girls, intellectuals, and influential cultural, political, and military leaders. Or simply to earn money. The reasons didn’t matter. Being willing to enter the ring was what counted.

It was inevitable that Takeo Yano would enter the rings. His first appearance was September 28, 1935, and his first opponent was George Gracie. It wasn’t the last time they would meet in the ring.

Flu-Fla

George began teaching jiu-jitsu and luta livre at Fluminense on Tuesday September 3, 1935, at 5 in the afternoon.
18
Yano represented the Red and Black [
Rubro Negro
], George represented the
Tricolor
. These were the nicknames of the two famous arch-rival football clubs, Flamengo and Fluminense, repsectively.

George Gracie versus Takeo Yano I was held Friday September 28 at Stadium Brasil. It was a five 20-minute round match. It was described it as the Flu-Fla (Fluminense-Flamengo) of jiu-jitsu,
19
suggesting a significance that it probably didn’t have, given that it was the debut fight of a previously unknown sports instructor.

Given his inexperience, it wasn’t surprising that George’s brother Helio predicted that Yano would not last one round, [“
Yano não passara do 1 round
”]. Yano was described as a student [
discipulo
] of Conde Koma.
20

The program also featured two well-known jiu-jitsu men. The “Arabe” Jose Detti (90 kilos) and 3-
dan
black belt [
faixa negra da terceira categoria
] Yakuro Goto would measure forces in the semi-final (two rounds of 20 minutes each). There would also be two boxing matches: Loffredo versus Sanlez “The São Paulista Sub-Machine Gun”, and Arthur Bispo versus Antonio Mesquita.
21

Gazeta de Noticias
provided a round by round account.
22

Yano initiated the action in the first round by throwing George to the ground and from there trying to choke him. George defended skillfully. Yano threw George five more times, but each time George escaped by grabbing the ropes. Yano demonstrated skill at “
rasteiras
” [foot sweeps].
23

In the second round George attempted to to beat Yano at his own game with a “
balão
”, [shoulder-throw]. Yano defended skillfully. George in turn was able to successfully avoid some of Yano’s throws and foot sweeps. The fighters veered toward the ropes, where George again attempted a “
balão
”, which was again unsuccessful. The fight took a violent turn with both men attempting foot-sweeps [
rasteiras
], but to no effect. They ended up upright, hanging on to each other’s kimonos.

Yano began the third round with a strong throw. However, George got to his feet before Yano could attack him on the ground. Again Yano threw him to the ground but George used his legs to keep Yano at
a safe distance. George tried to bring Yano to the ground, but failed. Again Yano threw George but couldn’t finish him there [
leva George ao chão, mas sem resultado
]. George went to the ground and Yano tried to choke him.

After being in a bad situation George managed to bring Yano to the ground and get on top. At this moment the fight seemed to be going in George’s favor, but they again bumped into the ropes and were obliged to return to the center of the ring. The fans were on their seats. George tried two throws
. Neither succeeded. George had been on the bottom but ended up on top, where he stayed for the next 15 minutes. George had a good opportunity at this moment, but the round ended before he could do anything.

Round four was extremely boring [
esse round foi desinteressantissimo
]. George and Yano only went for chokes. The public demonstrated its dissatisfaction with the lack of action.

Round five settled into the same pattern as the previous round. The fans jeered. Yano applied a sensational throw [
sensacional tombo
] on George, which did no damage. George attacked but Yano ran to the safety of the ropes. Yano threw George again, and George again survived without imjury. The referee halted the fight briefly to disentangle George’s legs from the ropes.

Soon after that the fight ended. There was no winner or loser. The official result therefore was
a draw [
empate
].

In retrospect, a number of observations can be made. One is the obvious dominance of Yano in the throwing aspect of the match. Since the fight took place on a padded surface it was not surprising that George wasn’t beaten by Yano’s throws, and in 1935 points were not awarded either for individual throws or for superiority in
quedas
[throws and other take downs].

Neither George nor Helio had the skills to stand up with the legitimate Kodokan graduates, Omori, Yano, and the Ono brothers. That wasn’t the only reason they emphasized ground fighting, but it was one reason. The rules didn’t give them an incentive to change.

Another was the fact that “rope escapes” were permitted and used. “Rope escapes” were a feature of professional wrestling, not traditional jiu-jitsu or judo.

Also in evidence was the tendency for jiu-jitsu matches to bog down into defensive stalling
.

Finally, the public’s impatience with overly defensive fights was clear.
In 1936 The
Federação Brasileiro de Pugilismo
[Brazilian Boxing Federation]
devised rules for professional jiu-jitsu matches, probably to avert such outcomes. But the rules were not consistently applied and in any case did not offer sufficient incentives for fighters to substantially alter their games.

Shame in the Ring

Geo Omori and Manoel Grillo did not give up on their plan to engage in a fight. A new date was set for October 5 at Estadio Brasil. Again Grillo promised to beat Omori in the first 10 minutes. Omori promised Grillo would not be around to answer the bell for the second round.
24

Omori was again training with Takeo Yano. Geo Omori was teaching at Associação Christa de Moços in
Rio. The semi-final was a jiu-jitsu match between Miyaki and Arake Kioto. Preliminary bouts were boxing matches between Rodrigues Lima and Antonio Mesquite, and Pinga Fogo versus Singarelli. Grillo was training with Kid Abyssimia.
25

Grillo weighed 90 kilos. Omori weighed 66. 5 kilos.
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To most people’s surprise, Grillo administered a thorough thrashing to Omori. He threw Omori out of the ring three times. The final time, 15 minutes into the fight, Omori hit his head on the floor and was knocked unconscious. He regained his senses after massage and applications of very cold water [
agua bem fria
]. Grillo demonstrated great knowledge of jiu-jitsu, according to
Gazeta de Noticias
. In the semi-final, Miyaki defeated Kioto, by
desistencia
[give-up].
27

The Boxing Commission held up the fighters’ purses, alleging that the match was a shameful work [
combinação vergonhosa
] and a “fake” [
tapeça
].
Gazeta de Noticas
, keeping an open mind, thought that if the allegation was confirmed, both Omori and Grillo should receive long suspensions for violating “morality”and in general demanded that any perpetrators of worked fights of box, jiu-jitsu, or catch be suspended or banned.
28
The press, like the fans, wanted fights to be exciting, but also real. Promoters and fighters were sometimes tempted ensure a certain level of excitment by advance planning (which would have the added advantage, from the athletes’ point of view, of less pain and fewer injuries). It was a fine line.

Helio Gracie challenged Grillo, who was willing, he said, if the commission would allow the fight.
29
It might have been an interesting fight. Helio was probably the only professional fighter of the time who did not engage in worked fights. Perhaps Grillo, remembering what had happened to Du
dú
, was less willing than he let on.

Two undefeated students of Oswaldo Gracie, Barata (Mirando Netto) and Dante Carvalho (aka “Noqueador”) were scheduled to meet at Paisandu, Friday December 27, 1935, after many months of delays and postponements
.
30
The result of the fight, if it happened, was not reported.

Jiu-jitsu fighter Ricardo Nibbon was scheduled to meet capoeira Andre Jansen in a catch match [
luta de ‘catch as catch can
’] in Bahia, October 30, 1935 at Parque Boa Vista. Nibbon was George Gracie’s top student, and was the first to bring catch as catch can, luta livre, and jiu-jitsu to the region.

Andre Jansen (75 kilos) was Sinhôzinho’s prize pupil and was the
capoeiragem champion of Rio [
campeão carioca de luta nacional
]. He had defeated Caio Mendonça, Alberto Silva, Eurico Fernandes, Fernando Machado, and Bahiano in capoeiragem contests. In catch as a catch can fights, he defeated the French fighter Roberto Villa Vinencio, and Americo Xerem, and drew with Ismario Cruz and Bernardo Frota. All of the aforementioned took place in the capital (Salvador).

In other states, Jansen defeated Joaquim Mattoso and Le Conti of
Uruguay in Juiz de Fora, Minas, and defeated Edgard Machado and Roberto Lopes in Rio.
Jansen was one of the most capable, versatile, and successful fighters of the period. No Gracie or other jiu-jitsu representative was ever able to defeat him.
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Nibbon had been challenging any fighter for months in the press. Jansen accepted. It would be the first catch fight in
Bahia, and one of the few so far in the North of Brazil.
32

The match took place as scheduled on Wednesday October 30. At
22:45 p.m. Nibbon tried to throw Jansen out of the ring, and then attempted a choke [
golpe de pescoço
]
from the guard position [
chave de rins
]. If it hadn’t been the end of the round, Jansen might not have survived.

In the second round, Jansen went on the attack but Nibbon defended tenaciously. In t
he third round they were even.

By the end of the
fourth round, even though he was more tired than Nibbon, Jansen attempted some techniques [
golpes
] but Nibbon escaped. Nibbon applied a lock to Jansen’s left arm, [
chave do braço esquerdo
] but just then the round ended. The fight was a “draw” [
empate
]. In addition to showing great knowledge [
conhecimentos
] of the difficult sport, they showed courage and never gave the opponent and second of respite. The audience, which included ladies, applauded the fighters enthusiastically.
33

Nibbon and his students planned to demonstrate and explain the techniques of jiu-jitsu and luta livre and the rules of competition.
O Imparcial
expected that jiu-jitsu would become as popular as “catch” in Bahia.

Readers were familiar with catch, presumably having seen or heard about
Nibbon’s match with Andre Jansen. The writer explained that luta livre was really “catch as catch can
nacional
” [Brazilian catch as catch can], and was regulated by the
Commissão de Pugilismo de Rio de Janeiro
[Rio de Janeiro Boxing Commission]. The Commission had prohibited unsafe techniques, such as fingers in the eyes, straight kicks [
ponta-pés
], pulling the ears or hair, biting, punching, elbows, knees, finger twisting, among others. Rounds could range from 5 to 20 minutes with breaks of from 2 to 5 minutes. The number of rounds could vary, and the winner was determined by give up or KO, or being unable to return to the ring within 20 seconds after being thrown out of it.
34

In other words,
catch was essentially luta livre with more consistent rules. It was to luta livre what America was to Brazil.

The Gracie brothers had seemingly shown that they were the best non-Japanese jiu-jitsu fighters in
Brazil. To be the best jiu-jitsu fighters in Brazil they had to fight Japanese representatives and beat them at their own game.

Results so far had been mixed. Helio drew with Namiki and beat Miyaki. George beat Shigeo and drew once with Yano and twice with Omori. The results were inconclusive. Miyaki and Shigeo were lightly regarded. Miyaki had lost to Roberto Ruhmann and even Carlos Gracie considered him a non-entity, and Shigeo was Miyaki’s student. Omori was legitimate but old.

The most meaningful match had been George versus Yano, which ended in a draw. Moreover, Yano, also, although said to be a disciple of Conde Koma, was something of an unknown.