Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (39 page)

Rivalry

Yassuiti Ono versus Helio Gracie in June 1935 had also ended in a draw. But no one accused Ono of lacking fighting spirit, and no one even tried to pretend that Helio’s “draw” represented equality in fighting skills. Perhaps on the ground, where neither man could make substantial headway, but certainly not on stand-up. Overall, considering both stand-up and ground aspects of their fight, Ono had been in absolute domination (as reports clearly indicated).

But the draw seemed to leave the rivalry unsettled.

In June, Ono came to Rio to challenge Helio to a rematch. Helio accepted.
21
Both thought they could do better this time around. The first time Ono had been hampered by a knee injury. Otherwise, he believed, he would have finished Helio rather than merely throwing him 32 times. Helio promised to be better prepared for the rematch. The fight would eventually take place October 3, 1936. In the meantime, Helio needed a tune-up, someone with a low level of jiu-jitsu ability, if any at all.

Jiu-Jitsu versus Olympic Rules

On June 16, 1936 it was announced that on June 18 George Gracie would meet the Portuguese luta livre fighter Mossoró, and Helio Gracie would face not less than two opponents (the headline said three). Helio’s two opponents would be Geronicio Barbosa and possibly Manoel Fernandes, who had been challenging Helio and all of the Gracies and everyone else. Mossoró also had been eager to confront a Gracie.
22

The fights
eventually took place at Estadio Brasil on Tuesday June 23 in a night of boxing (six fights), catch-as-catch-can (three matches), and six luta livre matches, three of which were fought by George Gracie. Helio and Mossoró were nowhere to be seen. George’s three opponents were Geroncio Barbosa, Antonio Roque, and Jose Amorim

Geroncio
Barbosa was a “strongman” who followed the normal course and entered luta livre.
23
Antonio Roque was a professional wrestler.
24
Jose Amorim was a former amateur boxer.
25

The arrangement was unusual. Instead of fighting each one a specified number of rounds, he fought all three in two
20-minute rounds. The plan was to finish one and then move on to the next. This is what almost happened.

George beat Geroncio Barbosa and Antonio Roque, but had his hands full with Amorim. It seemed that everyone thought George lost, except George himself [
J. Amorim, um dos adverarios de George Gracie venceu-o nitidamente
]. Although George was “clearly defeated,” the referee had neglected to count to “3” as required by Olympic rules, when Amorim pinned him [
Depois de o vencer nitidamente, sem que fosse contado pelo arbitro os 3 segundos exigidos pelo Comite Olympico
].

George protested. There was some confusion about which rules were in effect, as often happened. Nevertheless, it was obvious that, even if George’s protest was accepted, he had been unable to subdue Amorim (and there was no indication that Amorim was playing defensively). The first round of 20 minutes ended without George getting the better of Amorim [
não levou a melhor
].

There was also a long disagreement concerning the number of rounds. George wanted to take his ambiguous draw and go home. The others wanted to continue with the second round, as agreed before the fight. George compromised by promising that he would fight and beat them all in a single 20
-minute round some other time, when his schedule permitted.
26

In August Roberto Ruhmann began his campaign to bolster his jiu-jitsu credibility and pave the way for lucrative matches with one or more of the Gracie brothers. He started by fighting two Japanese, one named Misuki, the other Yamada. Little is known about Misuki other than that he lost to Ruhmann by KO on
Saturday August 1, 1936 at Estadio Brasil.

According to one report, Ruhmann defeated Misuki without difficulty [
Ruhman venceu Misuki sem difficuldade
] and demonstrated his knowledge of the new game that he had recently begun learning.

At the start of the fight, Misuki went for a choke but Ruhmann applied a “
gravata
” [headlock] that Misuki pulled out of. That seemed to impress Ruhmann, who had been known as “Strangler” [
Estrangulador
] in São Paulo. A few minutes later Ruhmann applied a leglock [
chave de pernas
] and then a choke. It was all over for Misuki.
27

At least one newspaper was skeptical [
Ruhmann não convenceu como praticante de jiu-jitsu
]. The fight was a farce. Neither Ruhmann nor Misuki demonstrated any knowledge of jiu-jitsu and Misuki did absolutely nothing in the match [
Misuki…não fez absolutamente nada
]. He dropped out of sight after this debacle.
28

Roberto Ruhmann versus
Jiu-Jitsu

After disposing of Misuki, Ruhmann announced that he would fight Helio Gracie on September 5. Ruhmann never fought Helio Gracie. Ruhmann met George instead. On August 7 it was announced that Ruhmann would fight Tageshika Yamada on Saturday August 8. Yamada
was only slightly less unknown than Misuki. He may have been among the members of the Ono group that arrived in São Paulo in October of 1934. But Yamada is a common Japanese name.

Yamada was in some way professionally associated with Massagoichi, who would fight Helio Gracie a month later.
29
He was a man with “cat-like agility” [
é a homem de agilidade feline
], which was said about every Japanese “representative” (with the exception of Massagoichi). He had a notable career in sports [
um japonez portador de notiveis antecedentes sportivos
]
30
which suggested to at least one paper that he would be a tougher opponent for Ruhmann than Misurki [
sic
, Misuki] had been.
31
His style was said to be extremely fast and disconcerting [
possue um estylo extremamente rapido e desconcertante
]
32
and to be characterized by extreme mobility [
extrema mobilidade de seus movimento
].
33
He was “considered to be the South American jiu-jitsu champion”.
34
On the day of the fight, he was shown in a photograph applying an inverted calf-crush with toe-hold on a training partner.
35

Overall, the pre-fight build-up was a collection of clichés and vague, unsupported assertations. The complete absence of specific information strongly suggested that Yamada was manufactured for this fight (as it would in the case of any other unknown fighter). This possibility did occur to some people. And they said so. However, almost everyone had incentive
s to maintain the fiction.

The essential problem was there there were too few legitimately skilled jiu-jitsu men in
Brazil, or at least those who wanted to be professional fighters. That wasn’t something that could be easily or quickly remedied. In the mean time, everyone played the game. In consequence, the public eagerly anticipated the fight. To be sure they were not too disappointed in case Yamada failed to deliver a convincing performance, several boxing matches were included, as was the general custom.
36

The Ruhmann versus Yamada fight was scheduled for six rounds of 10 minutes each. Ruhmann weighed 78 kilos, Yamada weighed 62 kilos.
37

Local reporter Dan Shupe described the action in the following terms:

After a long wait, Yamada enters the ring, followed by Ruhmann. Yamada sends Ruhmann to the canvas by means of a leg trip and a hold on Ruhmann’s kimono. He then attempts to apply a decisive Strangle Hold and very nearly does, Ruhmann escaping with some difficulty, thanks to his abnormal sarength [
sic
]. Yamada tries again to get a Strangle Hold but failed again to do so. They both get on their feet and Ruhmann gives a Stomach Throw with the Jap tightly clinging to his tunic. Ruhmann applies an Arm Stretch to the Jap who manages to escape. Yamada then downs the Syrian with a Stomach Throw and soon after tries to give another and fails. Ruhmann trips Yamada, to sit on him and apply a Strangle Hold, making his adversary give in. Yamada took some time to return to his senses. Such [
sic
] the power of Ruhmann’s hold. Ruhmann did not make as good a showing last night as he did last week
.
38

Ruhmann’s stranglehold [
gravata
] was legendary. Indeed, a good wrestler, which he supposedly was (an Olympic champion, he said), can apply considerable pressure with a head and arm grip. The jiu-jitsu (judo) equivalent, the
kata-gatame
hold-down can even be effective as a choke, if held long enough. Pictures of Ruhmann applying it leave some doubt as to how legitimate it really was. George Gracie, who encountered Ruhmann several times, was skeptical. But in this case, the only one who could speak with true authority was Yamada. He apparently had nothing to say.

Neither Misuki nor Yamada had any other fights, at least none that received press coverage. It is not out of the question that both were simply untrained members of the Japanese immigrant community who needed to make some extra cash and were recruited for the role of Ruhmann victims.

One who suspected as much was Takeo Yano, who commented, “I have never heard of these “champions” and I’m sure that they don’t know anything about jiu-jitsu”.
39

Coincidentally, Misuki and Yamada and one more Japanese “champion” had been somehow “discovered” by Ruhmann’s manager Kid Pratt. The other “champion” was someone named “Masaquichi”
.
40

Professional Jiu-Jitsu

In an attempt to make jiu-jitsu more entertaining the Brazilian Federation of Pugilism [
Federação Brasileiro de Pugilismo
] formulated 15 rules for professional jiu-jitsu matches.
41

The new rules introduced points. Unlike previously where victory depended
solely on KO or give up (by the opponent), now a man could also win by points. The points however were not awarded for specific positions or techniques (as in judo or amateur boxing) but rather “superiority” (with one exception). There were 15 rules, as follows:

1. Fighters must wear appropriate, sturdy Japanese kimonos, with sleeves that reach half-way up the lower arms
..

2. The fighters must be barefooted, without grease of any kind on their body, and with their fingernails trimmed.

3. The ring will be 5 x 5 meters. The floor will be covered with cotton or something similar.

4. The fighters will be separated if one is completely outside the rope and then they will both be sent back to the middle of the ring.

5. There will be one referee [
juiz de ring
] and three judges [
jurados de mesa
].

6. The maximum time of a fight will be 60 minutes, in rounds of 10-20 minutes each, with a break between rounds of 2-3 minutes.

7. Each fighter can have a maximum of two “seconds”.

8. Prohibited techniques are
Cuteladas
[chops],
ante-braço
[fore-arm],
cotoveladas
[elbows],
socos
[punches],
bofetadas
[slaps],
dentadas
[biting],
joelhadas
[knees],
cabeçadas
[head-butts],
ponta-pés
[straight kicks],
puxão de cabellos ou das orelhas
[pulling hair or ears],
torcão dos dedos das mãos e dos pés
[twisting fingers or toes],
dedos nos olhos ou orgãos genitaes
[fingers in the eyes or genitals]. Putting the fingers inside the sleeves or pants legs is also prohibited. Infractions will incur a warning or disqualification.

9. A medical examination is mandatory on the day of the fight, between
11:00 and noon, at a place designated by the Federation.

10. In addition to disqualification, fights can be decided by points [
pontos
] unconsciousness or knock-out [
perda de sentidos (knockout)
], give up [
desistencia
], or disqualification [desclassificação].

11. Decisions by points will be rendered by the table judges [
jurados de mesa
], as follows:

a. One point for superior defense.

b. One point for superior technique.

c. One point for superior attack.

d. One point for superior efficiency.

e. One point for knocking, throwing, or otherwise putting the opponent’s shoulders and hips on the ground and completely dominating him.

When the fighers are equal in a round they will both be given 5 points.

At the end of the fight the fighter with the largest total number of points will be declared the winner. If they have the same number of points, the result will be a draw.