Helio Gracie, the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 95.  Mr. Gracie was famous for two reasons.  As mentioned, he was the founder of the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and his two fights against Masahiko Kimura and Valdemar Santana.

Gracie’s fight with Kimura lasted thirteen minutes, where he sustained many throws by the larger man.  Kimura applied an Udegarami (now known as the Kimura lock) but Gracie would not tap.  As the rules state, Kimura had no choice but to break Helio’s arm.  Still, Gracie would not tap and Kimura broke it again.  Finally, Helio’s older brother Carlos threw in the towel.

Helio’s second fight was against his student Valdemar Santana.  He lost this fight as well, due to exhaustion, but to my knowledge it is the longest mixed martial arts fight in history, at three hours and forty five minutes.

Helio’s son Royler founded the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and his other son Royce won three of the first four tournaments (in the now dead tournament style, where you had to fight at least three times in a single night).

Without Helio, there would be no UFC, and no mixed martial arts.  A legend has passed.