In their third confrontation George made it clear that he was the boss, but again, he didn’t establish the sort of superiority that his supporters expected from him. George finally caught Oninho with a choke, but he needed over 55 minutes of ring time to do it.4
Winner Take All
On Saturday February 4, Yassuiti Ono was in São Carlos, about 230 kilometers from São Paulo to give some demonstrations. As there were many practitioners and fans of jiu-jitsu, luta livre, and boxing [numeros adeptos do ‘jiu-jitsu’, luta livre e box] in São Carlos, Ono offered to fight anyone who wanted to test their own or his abilities. He offered “bolsa ao vencedor” [winner take all].
If more than one person wanted to have a go at it, Ono said he would fight two or even three on the same night. He brought along Braz Gomes, who was one of his many students, to assist.5 Braz had been learning Ono’s style of jiu-jitsu for about one year at that point and began competing in professional shows (as an amateur) almost from the day he first put on a kimono. Braz became known as Braz I to distinguish himself from Braz Gomes II, who also competed. Both were among the approximately 75 Brazilians who studied with Ono in 1938 alone. There were another 75 Japanese in his classes.6
Multiple Opponents
George had fought three men back to back before, with mixed results. He had offered to fight all three of his opponents again, when he had the chance. He hadn’t had the chance to fight the same three opponents (Geroncio Barbosa, Antonio Roque, and Jose Amorim). He wanted to fight three men again, but would have to be content with three different men.
In 1936, two of his opponents were strongmen or pro wrestlers or both, and one may have once been a Gracie student (another was a former amateur boxer). This time, in 1939, the line-up included a strongman pro wrestler, Luiz Tarzan Fazio. There was also an experienced grappler, Alberto Suleiman, who, judging from his record, was a luta livre fighter with primarily pro wrestling experience. His opponents had been people like Dudú and Antonio Mossoró. He had also competed in jiu-jitsu matches, but without notable succcss. The third of George’s opponents was an authentic jiu-jitsu representative. He was Arthur Riquetto Filho. Riquetto was a jiu-jitsu teacher, with an academy and many students in São Paulo. He had learned his art directly from the great Geo Omori, and at one time had been the São Paulo jiu-jitsu champion. Clearly he was not just some guy off the street that a promoter had handed a kimono and black belt to put on for a publicity shot.7
The plan was for George to fight Riquetto in a jiu-jitsu match. If he beat Riquetto he would then face Luiz Fazio “Tarzan” in a luta livre match. If he also beat Tarzan, he would then confront Alberto Suleiman in another luta livre match. All matches were three 10-minute rounds with 2-minute breaks. The matches were scheduled for Saturday March 11, 1939 at Theatro São Paulo. There were also three boxing matches and a five 5-minute round jiu-jitsu contest between Benedicto Peres and Alfredo Riquetto. Ticket prices ranged from 5$ for general admission to 50$ for camarotes [box seats].8
Be Born, Suffer, Die
On May 10, Roberto Ruhmann challenged Takeo Yano and both Ono brothers. He was supremely confident, offering to fight all three on the same night, in “luta livre valendo tudo”. An Arab never refuses a fight”, he said, and he was ready to fight anyone anywhere anytime, including the world champion. He lived by three words, “be born, suffer, and die” [“nascer, soffrer, morrer”]. Obviously, he wasn’t too worried about armlocks and chokes.9
Ruhmann’s fighting skills might have been questionable but as a “strongman” he was in constant demand. Being challenged by Ruhmann was an excellent way to get one’s name in the news.
A match between Takeo Yano and Yassuiti Ono in Bello Horizonte at Estadio Benedicto Valladares on June 17, 1939 was announced.10 If it had happened it probably would have been superb exhibition of throwing. However, it didn’t because on June 17, Yano was in a ring with Charles Ulsemer.
Ulsemer
Yano met French wrestler Charles Ulsemer in a grappling match in Bello Horizonte on Saturday June 17. Reports differed on whether it was a jiu-jitsu or luta livre match.11 In any case, Yano tapped out in the fifth round to a choke [estrangulamento]. Later reports mentioned that Yano had not been able to throw Ulsemer even once.12 If true, that would suggest either that the match had been a luta livre (without kimono) or that it had been staged. Staged fights were not unusual at the time and had become almost the norm since May 1934. By 1939 some of even the most die-hard jiu-jitsu men were eagerly participating. The Yano versus Ulsemer fight on June 17 might have been such a fight.
Yassuiti Ono also fought Ulsemer around the same time although specifics are lacking. According to one report in July of 1939,13 Ulsemer recently defeated both Ono and Yano.
However, a later report indicated that Ulsemer managed a draw against Ono.14 It is conceivable that they met twice or even more, as most jiu-jitsu fighters met most of their opponents multiple times, due primarily to the limited supply of opponents.
If the above mentioned reports were accurate, Ulsemer apparently knew enough jiu-jitsu to hold his own against the two best jiu-jitsu fighters in Brasil in 1939, assuming that the matches actually took place and were legitimate. However, according to informed insiders, they probably were not.
Power meets Technique
George and Ruhmann had split their previous two matches. George seemed to have the edge in jiu-jitsu, while Ruhmann’s tremendous physical power made him an unstoppable force of nature in luta livre.
A third match was scheduled for July 8, 1939 at the gymnasium of the Associação Athletica São Paulo on av. Tiradente, at Ponta Grande. It would be a luta livre match of ten 5-minute rounds (with 2-minute breaks). They both promised that it would be a hard fight [luta renhida]. The referee was Arthur Riquetto.
Among the other matches, Braz Gomes was scheduled to meet Matafiko Merimossa in a five 5-minute round jiu-jitsu match, which would be refereed by Gomes’ teacher Yassuiti Ono.
George had recently been suspended. During the down-time, he trained and taught at the Academia Delauney at avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio.15
The reason for George’s suspension is unknown but might have been related to irregularities surrounding the March 11 program pitting him against Arthur Riquetto, Tarzan Fazio, and Alberto Suleiman, which may in turn explain why no results were reported or subsequently mentioned.
In the Ruhmann return match, George made an error in not demanding a “no pinning” rule. George lost by being pinned. This was discussed as being “prejudicial” to jiu-jitsu representatives, who often would go to their backs to escapes chokes. Why George agreed to a pinning rule is unknown. It was odd given that he lost the second fight by shoulder pin. Perhaps there was no other way to make a Ruhmann victory believeable.16
Believeably or not, Ruhmann won the fight. The reason for permitting shoulder pinning in jiu-jitsu versus luta livre matches was often to motivate a follow-up match without the rule. It also allowed undefeated fighters to remain technically undefeated within at least one style of fight. Being undefeated was not as good as being a champion but it was close. Both were highly subjective, in any event.
King Solomon
On July 10, Yano faced the German wrestler Fritz Weber at Estadio Benedicto Valladares, in Bello Horizonte. The referee was Oswaldo Gracie. The fight was remarkable for the fact that there were two winners and two losers.17
The fight must have been fairly even during the first four rounds, because no one lost or won. In any case, neither man dominated to the point of victory. Things took an unexpected and unprecedented turn from that point however. In the third minute of the fifth round, Weber applied a headlock [gravata]. At the same time, Yano went for a footlock [chave de pé]. They simultaneously applied pressure for two minutes. Finally Weber couldn’t stand the pain anymore and tapped out. But when Oswaldo Gracie went to raise Yano’s hand in victory, he discovered that the jiu-jitsu representative was unconscious.
The fans were stupefied and waite
d in suspense for Oswaldo Gracie to make his pronouncement. Oswaldo decided to annul the fight, and declared that both men lost, Yano by knock-out and Weber by give up. For the first time in ring history, two fighters won at the same time that they were defeated by each other.18
Like King Solomon [rei Salomão], Oswaldo awarded half of the victory to each man. Officially, the fight was a draw.19
It is not common, but it has occasionally happened that two boxers land punches at the same time and both are knocked out. Whether the Yano-Weber simultaneous half-victory, half-defeat was genuine or not will have to be argued by the experts.
Coincidentally, Yano was involved in another double defeat, this one even more remarkable. He and his opponent, George Gracie, both choked each other out at the same time in March of 1940.
Family Honor
After seeing his brother lose to Ruhmann, Oswaldo decided to take a break from his referring chores to restore the family honor. He immediately challenged Roberto Ruhmann.
Ruhmann equally immediately accepted and the match was set for the following Saturday, July 15. However Oswaldo insisted that the result should not be decided by shoulder pin. Oswaldo promised that he would avenge the family’s honor. It wasn’t something that could be taken for granted. “Can Oswaldo manage to avenge the defeat of his brother George?” one newspaper wondered. Ruhmann didn’t think so.20 There was only one way to find out.
Ruhmann was extraordinarily powerful, Correio Paulistano acknowledged, but Oswaldo had technique on his side. After all, weighing only 68 kilos, he had previously beaten the the 105 kilo [sic] giant João Baldi. This time, there was no significant weight disparity. Oswaldo weighed 76 kilos, about the same as Ruhmann.
Unfortunately, the victory over Baldi happened eight years before. Oswaldo had beaten up two adolescents in a restaurant in Bello Horizonte, on Tuesday April 20, 1937, but he hadn’t fought quality opponents regularly since then.21
Oswaldo began the fight aggressively, attacking relentlessly, giving Ruhmann no chance to coast. But Ruhmann remained calm, conserving his power, until he felt that he had Oswaldo under his control. He then went into attack mode. It was the first and only attacking technique that he applied. Ruhmann choked Oswaldo unconscious in the third round using his trademark headlock [gravata] with a jumping kidney lock [chave de rins volante].22
Coffee
Marilia, about 440 kilometers from São Paulo, was a center of coffee cultivation and home to many Japanese immigrants. In the third week of July Yassuiti Ono went to Marilia to fight local challengers. He planned to be back by July 26 or 27 to fight Roberto Ruhmann or George Gracie if they didn’t back down from his challenges.
Oninho offered Benedicto Peres a rematch under very generous conditions. Peres didn’t have to beat him; he simply had to survive for 30 minutes. If he did, he would be the winner and would take home all of the prize money.23 It was the same offer he had extended in 1938. Given their relatives sizes, it was almost insulting.
Caesar
Peres was ready to fight Oninho again, but he wasn’t in a hurry. First, he wanted George Gracie. Peres was the São Paulo champion. George was the Brazilian champion. Their association went way back. They knew each other from the Geo Omori versus Carlos Gracie exhibitions of 1930. Peres then assisted George and his brothers in Rio when they staged their “jiu-jitsu versus capoeiragem” tournament in 1931. Peres filled in for the injured Helio Gracie and took on Ozéas. At that time, he (Peres) was described as an old student.
Now George was being challenged by his old comrade in arms. Were there some hard feelings involved?
Probably not. Hostility between the Gracie brothers, spearheaded by Carlos, and their rivals, periodically resulted in street ambushes. But then, everyone was seven years older and wiser. Peres versus George was a professional fight. Away from Carlos’s influence, George had decided that getting paid was the primary purpose of fighting. He usually needed money. Consequently, he fought a lot. Inevitably, he sometimes lost.
George was being managed by his brother Gastão and was still training at Academia Delauney. Peres was training was training at the Academia Paulista de Box, on rua do Seminario, 51, with Roberto Ruhmann, Alberto Suleiman, Marinho, and others.
Jiu-jitsu fighter Arthur Riquetto Filho [Junior] was recruited to confront Henrique Vicaro in a luta livre match of six 5-minute rounds. Riquetto weighed 56 kilos, the “Mastodonte” Vicaro weighed 104 kilos.24 One of the preliminaries was a six-round middleweight boxing match between Zumbano III and Negrito. Both had aggressive styles that won many fans from among the afficionados of “the sport of Joe Louis” in São Paulo.
There was also an amateur boxing match between Tony Cadete and Jose Gonçalves.
The Benedicto Peres versus George Gracie match took place on Saturday July 22, 1939 in the gymnasium of the Associação Athletica São Paulo.
Peres had a 17 kilo weight advantage. One of his sparring partners, Roberto Ruhmann, who had recently defeated George, was betting on Peres to win.25 Peres was a dangeous man, but George was agile, technical, and aggressive. He was not known as the “Red Cat” [gato ruivo] for nothing.
The fight could not be decided by pinning [não valer encostamento de espaduas]. Reporters wondered why Peres didn’t insist on having the option of pinning, where his weight could possibly prove to be a factor.
“Give to Caesar what is Ceasar’s [“Cesar o que é de Cesar”], he explained. It would be difficult to beat George in a kimono. To do that, one would need to be born in Japan and start learning at a tender age from consummate masters. In fact, it would be difficult to beat any Gracie in a kimono. Peres challenged George to a luta livre match for the logical reason that he didn’t think he could beat George in a kimono, but believed he could beat him without a kimono.26
Peres’ confidence was misplaced. Even without the kimono, he was not a match for George Gracie. Peres gambled that a surprise move would pay off. He went for a “flying lock” [chave volante], which was reputed to be fool-proof as long as the opponent wasn’t familiar with it. Unfortunately for Peres, George was. He deftly avoided it and applied a counter-armlock, sealing Peres’ doom. Arthur Riquetto, despite his great weight disadvantage, easily submitted Henrique Vicaro in 20 seconds of the first round.
Roberto Ruhmann needed to make some money to recoup what he lost betting on Peres. He made an appearance, performing demonstrations of strength.27
Agility versus Brute Force
Ruhmann and Oninho faced off Saturday August 19. at Associação Athletica São Paulo, promoted by Jose Antonio Lage. The question that seemed to be on the public’s mind was, “Can brute force overcome the agile Japanese?” [conseguirá a força bruta dominar o agil japonez?]. Oninho certainly thought not, because the purse went to the winner [bolsa ao vencedor].
Oninho was blindly confident [confiança cega] of his muscles and technique. But so was Ruhmann, who had not just ordinary muscles but muscles of steel. Oninho had one advantage in that pinning was not permitted, or rather, was not a route to victory [sem valer o encostamento de espaduas].28
It was a luta livre match. Oninho fought valiantly, but the lack of kimono must have stacked the odds against him. He was left prostrate and bereft of his senses [prostou sem sentido] in the fourth round, courtesy of Ruhmann’s potent choke.29
For some reason, George Gracie didn’t even wait for the fight to begin before challenging Ruhmann to another rematch, this one without pinning [sem encostamento de espaduas]. It was almost as if he knew what the outcome would be before it happened.
Kodokan Jiu-Jitsu Exhibition
In July and August, the League of Marine Sports and the Embassy of Japan [Liga de Esportes da Marinha and Embaixado do Japão] sponsored a series of demonstrations of “judo” featuring Suniyuki Kotani and Chugo Sato, to be held at Escola de Educação Physica do Exercito na Fortaleza de São (July 31), Stadium do Fluminense (August 1), Corpo de Fuzileiros Naveas (August 3), and finally, open to the general public, at Stadium Br
asil (August 4).30
Kotani and Sato had returned from a two-year stay in Japan where they perfected their technique. They arrived Saturday July 29, 1939 on the “Buenos Aires Maru” from Argentina (where they obviously had given similar demonstrations).
All of the demonstrations were well-publicized. On August 1, local practitioners of judo, or jiu-jitsu as it was generally known in Brasil, were invited to participate. They included Helio Gracie and two of his students, Paulo Cunha and Manoel Azevedo Maia, and from São Paulo, Shojino Higuchio, Seiseton Fucikaya, and Tokanuo Toresoki.31
A picture in Gazeta de Noticias on August 1 showed Helio Gracie in a standing “sleeve and collar grip position” position with one of the professors, surrounded by spectators and three kimono-clad Japanese sitting in the traditional kneeling “seiza”(正座) posture, observing intently.32 Helio Gracie declared that he had no doubt that Kotani and Sato were authentic masters.33
It is unknown what the Rio based jiu-jitsu representatives learned from the experience. Possibly that judo is not real jiu-jitsu, as Helio Gracie would later claim, but equally possibly that their access to the limited self-defense instruction market would be better maintained by de-emphasizing competitive throwing and by not calling it “judo”.34
The Return of Donato Pires dos Reis
One day in late August or possibly on Friday September 1, 1939, Dr. Donato Pires dos Reis visited the editorial offices of Correio Paulistano to discuss something that the São Paulo public needed to know. It concerned his recently opened school of scientific self-defense in São Paulo. It was called “Studio Scientifico de Defesa Pessoal,” located on the 15th floor of the Martinelli Building [Edificio Martinelli], room 1,526 in the city center.35
Earlier in the decade, George Gracie, along with one or more of his brothers, tried but failed to ambush and beat Donato senseless. Today, he was at Donato’s side, singing his praises. “I consider Donato Pires dos Reis a profound expert of jiu-jitsu. I don’t believe anyone knows more than he does,” George testified [“reputo Donato Pires dos Reis como um profundo conhecedor do ‘jiu-jitsu’. Não acreditando mesmo que haja maior technico no assumpto”].
Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) Page 36