Gracie challenge

The Gracie challenge was an open invitation issued by some members of the Brazilian Gracie family, known for their Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) mastery, to martial artists of other styles to fight them in a vale tudo match. A precursor to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the purpose of these challenges was to prove the effectiveness of the Gracie style of BJJ. Challenges have been issued since Carlos Gracie first made one in the 1920s with some becoming public events while others have remained private.

The Gracie challenge was first issued by then Judoka Carlos Gracie in the 1920s to promote and develop the Gracie's style of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and as an attempt to show that it was superior to other styles of martial arts. The matches typically featured a smaller Gracie versus a larger and/or more athletic looking opponent, and became increasingly popular. Carlos and later his brother Hélio Gracie and both of these men's sons defeated martial artists of many different styles such as boxing, judo, karate, and wrestling, while experiencing few losses.

Helio Gracie issued a challenge to a highly touted Judoka named Masahiko Kimura. An agreement was made under what would be known as the "Gracie Rules" via the Gracie Challenge that throws and pins would NOT count towards victory only submission or loss of consciousness. This played against Judo rules in which Pins and throws can award someone a victory. Kimura would go on to defeat Helio in 14 minutes. Kimura broke Helio's arm during the match with a reverse ude-garami after applying a number of submissions. According to Kimura in his book "My Judo", he thought of Hélio Gracie to be a 6th dan judoka at the time of his fight with him in 1951.

In 1951 jiu-jitsu instructor Oswaldo Fadda issued a challenge to the Gracie Academy to prove his worth. The contest was proposed through O Globo (The Globe), Brazil's most popular publication. “We wish to challenge the Gracies. We respect them like the formidable adversaries they are, but we do not fear them. We have 20 pupils ready for the dispute.”—Oswaldo Fadda

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