GTR Reyla Gracie Book Review Chp. 9

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Note: If you read this translation of the Playboy interview with Helio Gracie anywhere other than Global Training Report, it means it was ripped off from Global Training Report in criminal violation of all applicable copyright laws.

A candid conversation with the father of modern jiu-jitsu about heavy punches, cowardly men, punches, and sex for procreation

In the world of martial arts there is no doubt that Brazilian Jiu-jitsu possess his own name of Gracie. Trying to draw a genealogical tree of his family is a big work. Counting the number of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great nephews and nieces, who have inherited the name "Gracie", it is estimated that the enormous clan of Helio Gracie, the sole living patriarch of the family, today with 88 years old, reaches the mark of 150 people. "I don't know even half of them." He himself attributes to the creation of the techniques that revolutionized jiu-jitsu and brought his family not only a lot of money, but also success and fame too.

Helio Gracie is the father of three champions in the world of jiu-jitsu: Rickson and Royce, who live in the United States, and Roiler [Royler] who owns an academy in Rio de Janeiro. Other members of the family have reputations that are less respectable. One case was registered in the Boletins de Correncia Policial. Ryan Gracie, for example, nephew of Helio, was in prison in February of last year [2000]. He was accused of stabbing a seller and also a jiu-jitsu fighter Marcus Vinicius Rosa during a lambaerobica party in Rio.

He has already by accused of generalizations by groups dedicated to the defense of homosexual rights. They consider that the Gracie family has aggressive attitudes and preconceptions against lesbians and gays. While condemning violence, Helio leaves no doubt about his position. "I consider that homosexuality is an aberration of nature." These are other "great truths" that are presented as postulates by this friendly man. He is in the habit of writing down his main thoughts. He keeps his reflections safe in a briefcase. He records them when some controversial theme comes on the agenda.

He provokes impetigo in proponents of political correctness. ...."A woman is only independent if she has a cowardly man". But it can't be thought that only minority traditional views are the target of Helio's attack, jiu-jitsu people also receive his jabs. Helio declared without mincing words that less intelligent students learn the techniques of jiu-jitsu better and more quickly. "Intelligent people think too much before executing".

PLAYBOY sent Dalila Magarian to interview Gracie. Dalila was at the small farm in Itaipava, in Rio de Janeiro state, about 100 kilometers from the capital, where Helio has lived in retirement for the last 8 years. She relates that " I have had three encounters with Prof. Helio. Upon arriving at the farm, which is located about 2 kilometers from the center of the city of Itaipava, there is a sign saying "Nosso Vale [our valley], where I was greeted, always by six Napolitan mastim dogs. The Professor appeared next, with a wide smile and a strong open hand. We spent three days in animated chatting always on the veranda with a view of an enormous green pasture occupied by a few head of cattle. The total area, about 320,000 square meters, is a personal city for him and his 56 years old wife, Vera. She made a legitimate cold cheese food which delighted me on the second visit.

During the interview, Professor Helio surprised me not only with his good disposition, but also with his speed of thought, demonstrated himself to be a man little given to changing his ideas. Various times it became evident that he was displeased and disgusted with where jiu-jitsu is heading in Brazil. All of the documents for legal residence in the United States are in order but still can't leave his country to live with with his sons who are in the United States because there is no one to buy his nice piece of land which is valued at 5 million reais. With opinions that are not always popular with respect to sex and other small things, he demonstrates that he is not afraid to say what he thinks. He says that "sex is only valid for making children".

HELIO: I had a bad temper in my adolescence. [laugh], But I was also foolish. At times I would challenge someone who wasn't anyone to me there. On one occasion I was convinced that a citizen was looking at me strangely at the ball. I approached him closely and asked if he was a fag. From that moment he looked at me as if he saw me for the first time and I perceived that he was a clown. Another time, I took a terrible thrashing from a guy who had 1,80 meters in height. I wasn't prepared. These two occasions taught me a lesson. I discovered that being brave and being a thug are different. I teach this in my classes.

PLAYBOY: What is the difference between the jiu-jitsu you teach and the traditional jiu-jitsu?

HELIO: I adapted the jiu-jitsu to my characteristics. I was weak and awkward, light [with 1,75 meters of height, and never passing more than 63 kilos (138.6 lbs.)]. I could not manage to do what my brother [Carlos] did, because his jiu-jitsu depended on strength and ability. I had neither the one nor the other of those. Then I made that which is known today. I perfected the flawed technique of my brother on behalf of weaker people, using the principles of physics, like force and the leverage. You, for example, can not lift a car with the strength of your two arms, but with a jack you can lift a car. That's what I did. I discovered techniques of leverage that optimize the force. These modifications made a form of jiu-jitsu that is superior to the jiu-jitsu that existed before that, and today the jiu-jitsu that the entire world knows is my jiu-jitsu.　

HELIO: No, you are right. If you understand my method of jiu-jitsu, you can give a thrashing to any man over there [laughs]. It isn't a matter of ability or strength, but of knowing how to use correct leverage in a technique. With one finger, I have the capacity, even at my age, of putting a man on the floor. You for example [he rises and puts me to be in front of him. Then he makes it that I have two hands around his neck. Two seconds later, I fall prey to an army-lock.] {laughs]. It is a kind of mouse trap. A mouse trap doesn't chase the mouse. But when the mouse puts his claws in the cheese, the trap closes. Every form of aggression has a defense. It is the type of aggression that defines what is the proper type of defensive technique.

HELIO: There aren't ten different types of aggression. It can be a punch, a kick, a head butt, a stick, a knife.....In jiu-jitsu there are 100 types of defense for these aggressions. For each type of attack, there are 3 or 4 types of defense. Even me, who never weighed more than 63 kilos, have put on the floor men who weighed 120 kilos [264 lbs.]. And this is what my son Royce demonstrated in his fights in the Ultimate Fight [UFC}.

HELIO: Absolutely. The Ultimate Fight was invented by my son Rorion. Everyone in the world who practices a martial art says that it is his and is the best. So to know what is really the most effective, my son decided to create the Ultimate. My other son, Royce, defeated all challengers. He is the undefeated champion [this interview was published February 2001].This impressed the Americans so that today everyone in the world knows our jiu-jitsu, even the Japanese, who invented fighting [laughs]. My family still has a strong tradition of jiu-jitsu.

HELIO: My great grandfather, James Gracie, was Scottish. He had a misunderstanding with the government there and moved to Brazil. .His son, my grandfather Pedro, was a banker in Rio de Janeiro and had 18 children, including my father. Almost all of them were diplomats. My father Gastão, spoke five languages was going to begin a job as a diplomat in Central America, but before he left for Belém do Pará, he fell in love with my mother, Cesalina and so he stayed where he was [and established himself as an importer of dynamite]. They had five sons [Carlos, Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., Jorge, and HELIO] and three daughters [Mary, Helena, and Ilka]. After the death of my grandfather they left Belém and came to Rio.

PLAYBOY: Diplomacy and passion, it seems something from the movies. But where did jiu-jitsu enter the scene?

HELIO: My brother Carlos [died in 1995 at age of 94 years], learned fighting with a Japanese teacher in Belem named Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Conde Koma, a former champion of jiu-jitsu [and a commercial attaché from his country to Brazil]. He was a friend of my father and knew of his concerns about his older sons' involvements in street fighting. Maeda taught techniques to Carlos and began giving lessons to his friend at the Bank of Brazil. He finished doing this as a profession.

HELIO: No I was the youngest brother. I wasn't old enough yet. I also didn't take lessons from Carlos even though I considered him my second father. I was a student at the Colegio Diocesano of Rio, and suffered from dizziness and fainting. So that no one would know about that I managed to convince my mother to take me out of school. It was the third year of primary school.. For close to 14 years I passed the entire day overhearing my brother giving lessons to others. After one and a half years, I seemed like a parrot and could repeat everything that he had explained to his students.. One day Carlos was absent from the academia and I taught the classes in his place. Then I resolved to adapt jiu-jitsu in my own way.

PLAYBOY]: Another part of the Gracie Family attributes the success of jiu-jitsu to your brother Carlos. Were the two lines of fighting different?

HELIO: Lines can not be drawn. It is liking comparing an airplane of Santos-Dumont to a supersonic of today. Who today would want to fly in an airplane of Santos-Dumont? Or who would want to ride in a Ford made in 1930? What I mean is that I didn't invent jiu-jitsu. But I took a piece of junk like a Santos-Dumont airplane. You're not going to fly from here to that corner in that. There is no jiu-jitsu that invented; I just improved it..

.Note: If you read this translation of the Playboy interview with Helio Gracie anywhere other than Global Training Report, it means it was ripped off from Global Training Report in criminal violation of all applicable copyright laws.

HELIO: I was 17 years old a fought with a Brazilian boxing champion, Antônio Portugal. I beat him in 30 seconds. The boxer threw a punch, I blocked, took him to the ground, mounted, and applied an army-lock.

HELIO: One of them was against a Japanese, I. Ono, from an academy in Sao Paulo. I was 37 at that time. The challenge was for 20 minute rounds. When the first round was finished, I couldn't see anything, I practically was fainted. My brother gave me ammonia to smell. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, I recuperated. The Japanese ending up in a bad position and I kept him there. But he was lucky because the gong sounded and I let him go. He spent the rest of the rounds running away from me in the ring. There was no winner and no time regulation but the fight made me famous.

PLAYBOY: You fought with the Japanese champion Yukio Kato in 1951 in a fight that is still popular. How was that?

HELIO: A Japanese newspaper [Asahi Shimbun] sponsored three Japanese champions to come to Brazil. One of them was Kato, who challenged me. The first fight happened at Maracanã and didn't have a winner after three rounds. The next time it was in Pacaeembu [in Sã o Paulo] and I won in the second round. After him came Masahiko Kimura who weighed 98 kilos [215.6 lbs.] and was undefeated in 50 years. The President of the Republic Eurico Gaspar Dutra watched the fight. Kimura said that if he didn't beat me within 3 minutes, the title would be mine. I fought him for 15 minutes.

HELIO: I didn't win because my brother [Carlos] threw in the towel for me when he saw that I had fallen victim to an army-lock. Kimura tried to leave the ring. A judge asked me and I confirmed, because I knew my brother had thrown in the towel and it would have been dishonest to deny it. But I didn't consider that [Kimura] had really beaten me [não me considerei verdadeiramente vencido]

PLAYBOY: If you fought with the boxer Acelino da Silva o Popó, would it be an easy fight?

HELIO: Popo is a colossus and I admire and respect him. But for a good jiu-jitsu fighter there aren't any adversaries practicing other fighting styles. He [Popó] would fall in 2 minutes. In a fight against jiu-jitsu, it is robbery. He would be finished quickly, because I, withstanding his punches, would have my hour. The resources of jiu-jitsu are many.

HELIO: Never. In compensation, I fell down off the roof of my house while making some repairs and broke 4 ribs. [laughs]. And I fractured my leg when I had a bicycle accident. [laugh]. My first official fight in Rio was in 1934 when I was 20 years old. It was a vale tudo with punches and kicks. My adversary weighed 100 kilos [220 lbs.]. But I won [laughs].

HELIO: Jiu-jitsu has rules with regard to weight, belts, and time limits. A vale tudo is a brawl, where you can do what you want. But it's apples and oranges. Jiu-jitsu is personal efficiency to protest the weaker, which anyone can do. It is the force of leverage against brute force.

HELIO: No [laugh]. One day my brother Carlos was at the window of the academy and threw a piece of bread at a seller of chickens. It was a prank, but he got annoyed and Carlos sent me down to deal with the guy. I applied a choke and he stayed on the sidewalk unconscious. When he regained consciousness he didn't remember anything that had happened. When a person faints due to insufficient blood to the brain a collateral effect is a type of amnesia. The person remains out of it for a while [fica um tempo meio bobo].

HELIO: I didn't have many because I was a fighter in the ring, not a street fighter. But one other time a taxi driver blocked my way in the street by the entrance to the door. . Or maybe I blocked his way. Anyway, the discussion was finished.. We got out of the cars and I left him sleeping on the sidewalk, with a strangle technique. I got in my car and left.

HELIO: I had one other in Petropolis [the highland region of Rio de Janeiro]. I was driving (or directing) a serviço de operários in a building (construction site?) and a truck driver got out of the cab of his vehicle wanting to fight after some abuse and insolence. I also put him to sleep.

HELIO: No. I know the exact point where to stop. Before dying the subject will faint. He will die only if you keep the pressure on his throat after than point. Chokes are my specialty. For this I was famous in Japan. Due to my weak physical constitution I had to nail my opponent quickly. When your throat is grabbed no one is brave. Everyone sleeps very fast [laughs].

HELIO: It is when after trying to have a civilized conversation, the other person starts to get aggressive. You don't have to strike the first blow. If you know it doesn't happen, you have another chance to avoid a confrontation. Now, if he's already become violent, you don't have a choice. It is self-defense so you will be supported by the law.

HELIO: It was 66 years ago. that I was involved in my biggest trouble. A famous fighter in Brazil [a former luta livre champion] Manoel Rufini dos Santos. said that he was going to show the world that we Gracies were nothing. It was at the Tijuca Tenis Clube of Rio that I gave my answer to him. I arrived and said "I came to answer the declaration that you made". He throw a punch and I took him to the ground, with two fractures of his head, and a broken clavicle, and blood spurting out. But it was a foolish act that I did. Today I would never repeat such a thing..

HELIO: Criminal proceedings were started and I was sentenced to 2 and a half years in detention. An appeal was made to the Supreme Court [Supremo Tribunal]. My lawyer was Romero Neto. The sentence was upheld, and the court said "today it was with Manoel Rufino dos Santos. Tomorrow it will be us".

HELIO: I never was in jail. Two hours after the supreme court confirmed my sentence, Getúlio [the President of Brazil [Getúlio Vargas] pardoned me. One of our students, Rosalina Coelho Lisboa, whose brother was an ambassador, was very close to Getúlio and intervened, saying that it was unjust for such a youngster to be going to jail because of a street fight. He was a good person and pardoned me. The Supreme Court was demoralized [laughs]. After that I met Getúlio several times. And I taught his son, Maneco.

[Note: Vargas was president from 1934-1945, and again from 1950-1954. Helio was born in 1913. If this happened 66 years ago the year would have been 1935 and Helio would have been 22.].

Playboy: Your great nephew Ryan has also had problems with the law, when he beat up a man and stabbed someone in a Rio nightclub in February of last year, isn't that right?

HELIO: Considering everything it is lamentable. No one is ignorant of the fact that currently the Gracie family is divided into two parts. The first arises from Carlos Gracie, my brother, a man of great qualities, bravery, tolerance, and unshakeable morality. His only mistake was to have 21 children with five different women, producing an enormous clan of more than 150 people, today without a leader who can counsel, control, and orient. I don't understand that. In a family with many people, there are people of every type. The second part of the family is my part. with nine children, who ended up sending Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world. Now, to sell more copies (of magazines and newspapers), anything that happens to anyone with a famous last name gains distinction in the media. The editors are not concerned with whether or not they are going to be implicating innocent people who happen to have the same last name.

PLAYBOY: That isn't the question. The case was news because it really was news. Ryan was accused of attempted murder and was arrested and put in jail.

HELIO: My children have never been mixed up in activities outside the law. More than that, I don't know how to respond.

HELIO: I'm the type of person who "doesn't let even a shrimp through the net". If someone says something that I disagree with, or that I don't like or that isn't true, I call them on it.

[Prof. Helio use the expression "não deixe passar camarão pela malha" which means to pay the attention to even the small things.]

HELIO: My wife, has several times that I don't remember more. Someone said something about me that was in error, I request proof. Today you have so many people talking bullshit about the Gracie family without knowing anything that it is difficult to correct all lies.

HELIO: I can say that I've never had sex with a woman without the purpose of reproduction. I also taught that to my sons and various grand-sons. Never were fags When I was younger I could have had a big succession of women, I was considered a national celebrity, and all young girls were interested in me. I would give them a little kiss, a hug, go around with them but I wouldn't go too far. I always had will power.. When they wanted to get more heavy, I would quickly ask them if they wanted to have my children, because for me that was all I wanted were children. That stopped them right away [laughs].

HELIO: It came from my convictions and my respect for nature. I dominated the impulse for pleasure by a question of morality. I learned this from my brother Carlos, who was a spiritualist.

HELIO: I have nothing but approval for sex and love between two people who want to do it.. But sex for the sake of sex is an unnecessary expenditure of energy. The worst things is to have sex without fulfilling nature's purpose. In other words, sex is the instrument of procreation. I had a sister who was a nun [Mary, 85 years old] who lived in the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, in Sao Paulo. That infuriated me. I would have preferred that she had been a bum. To complete her mission on earth as a women what does it serve to be a virgin.. A women with breasts, ovaries, who was born normally, should have children. Not to do it goes against nature.

HELIO: [Pauses]. Look, I was a world champion who did it only a little. In my estimation, I could have had sex with all of the women in Brazil. But I never had relations with more than 10 women. And I only did it with women who accepted the idea of having children.

PLAYBOY: So, according to your account, if you have nine sons, you did it a little more than nine times.

HELIO: It wasn't like that either. There were times when I did it all night long., because God didn't cooperate. So I did it as many times as I wanted until [she] became pregnant, or when she requested it. I proved best my abstinence by the number of women I had sex with. There were ten women in total in my life. That was my merit. I had 30 girlfriends, but I didn't give a kiss here a kiss there.

HELIO: [Emphatically]. My God! I never used condoms. There is no women in the world with whom I would ever use condoms. Not even if she was the last women on earth. I would rather die without doing it. My kids also don't use them and I have 28 grandkids.

HELIO: [Indignantly]. This business of AIDS is for those who are involved in depravity and filth. None of my kids pretend to be Don Juans {Exasperated]. Those who fear AIDS are those who have sex with anyone. And those know have sex with just anyone, are in my opinion, nothing more than dogs.

PLAYBOY: Have you ever been unable to get it up? [O senhor ja broxou alguma vez?]

HELIO: Even a great champion can't maintain his performance after a night of sex. Any champion suffers the effects of sex.. It represents a great expenditure of energy. If sex serves to make a human being, how much energy must be involved in that. It isn't forbidden to have sex after a fight, but it can't be said to be recommended. It is a question of good sense.

HELIO: Two. I lived with my first wife, Margarida, for 50 years. She had three sons [Rorion, Relson, and Rickson]. When she died, I married my second wife Vera {who is 32 years younger than Helio]. She gave me six more children. I am not a man who leaves women.

PLAYBOY: Why do all of your children's name begin with the letter "R"? (Rorion, 50; Relson, 48, Rickson, 42, Rolker, 36, Royler, 35, Royce, 34, Rherika, 32; Robin, 29; Ricci, 23).

HELIO: Because "R" is a strong letter. It is the most powerful letter. Which would you think is stronger, "Orion" or "Rorion"? "Rorion" of course, I think the same as my brother Carlos. His children have names that begin with "R", "C", and "K".

HELIO: Technically they are all the same. Today Rickson is introduced as the leader of the family because he is the strongest, and weighs almost 90 kilos [198 lbs.}. Rorion was also strong, but doesn't fight now but instead administers the academy and career of his brother [Royce]. In the family everyone is a champion.

HELIO: Rorion is also a lawyer and a good administrator. But all the rest finished school and immediately devoted themselves to jiu-jitsu.

PLAYBOY: Rorion is writing a book in your honor. What do you desire to transmit with your history?

HELIO: The truth about jiu-jitsu. I have a grand niece, Reylla, who is writing a book about my brother Carlos. I think that it is very strange, because she was born when he was already almost 65 years old. She is going to end up writing a book without fundamentals. listening to people who also don't know the facts. The only one who is still living is me.. I believe that my book will be more truthful. My book will try to do that [da para provar]

HELIO: It isn't like that. The truth is that Carlos didn't put on his quimono to give classes to his children. The one who taught them was me. Reyla is writing a book about a man who she didn't know. It is very vague to write a book by interviewing people who didn't know my brother. Each one talks, wants, thinks, but no one supplies anything. She wants to use the Gracie name, but she doesn't know anything about jiu-jitsu.

PLAYBOY: Rorion registered a patent for the name Gracie for your jiu-jitsu in the United States. Is that still valid?

HELIO: He registered a patent for the name Gracie as a method of teaching years before, to avoid that Americans would trick other people by using our name. This patent is in force for a long time but can't be renewed. The American government denied renewal in consideration that today jiu-jitsu is a new martial art. I agree, because this that is a recognition of my technique. I received a certificate from the U.S. government acknowledging me as the creator of the jiu-jitsu that is practiced there.

PLAYBOY] Today, for self defense is it better to go armed, or to learn jiu-jitsu?

HELIO: A revolver is a two edged sword. If a robber finds your weapon he can take it and use it against you. But the robber can't see your jiu-jitsu and you run no risk of being disarmed. Never use weapons.

HELIO: It depends. If it's just one guy, from a reasonable distance, I'd take his revolver with one technique. But if it's several armed assailants, I'd hand over everything that I had on me at the time, because I'm not stupid. In these cases, it is foolish to resist, because you are going to die. A thief is afraid, who doesn't believe in himself, he only has his revolver. Any reaction and he shots you right then and there. The danger of a Brazilian robber is his fear. In my case, if I wanted to assault someone, I wouldn't need a revolver. It would be enough to grab the victim's neck and take everything right away.

HELIO: Boxing. It has only one defect. It takes a long time to be able to knock out an adversary {to develop the skills]. You have to hit him first. But a good boxer, in a fight, is excellent. Now, to be a boxer you have to train a lot. In jiu-jitsu, 40 classes with me are sufficient, two times a week, to subconsciously assimilate everything..

HELIO: Because the intelligent student tends to get lost if thought before executing the technique. With this preoccupation, he ends up lost in thought and can't function. I want to give the student good reflexes. The method that the crafty person wants to know is that which hinders his reflexes. When he thinks that he understands, he is going to want to do it the way he thinks it is supposed to be, not the way that I taught. I mean, he will do everything wrong. A baby, a young girl, an idiot are going to learn more quickly than an intelligent person. A baby will just do it, not ask questions.

HELIO: It isn't that! [Angry]. Learning jiu-jitsu is something for the subconscious, not for the consciousness. I don't teach so that the student can know jiu-jitsu, I teach so that he can execute jiu-jitsu. There is a difference. If I teach something to an intelligent person, she will learn quickly because she puts it in memory. But the good student can execute his jiu-jitsu without thinking.. If he stops to look for what I knows in his memory, he is lost. It doesn't deal with decorative movements, but rather with exact reflexes when an aggression occurs. And aggression always occurs by surprise.

PLAYBOY: How do you resolve this kind of impasse. I mean, how do you teach an intelligent student?

HELIO: I show them in practice that the power of their intelligence won't serve them for nothing. I put them quickly on the ground to let them know that the best way is to execute without stopping to think.

HELIO: Men are born to be warriors. They fight while studying, working, supporting their family. But women were not born to fight. Nowadays, women women fight in life because they don't have a men to take care of her. It is for a woman to take care of the house. A man was born to fight in life, a a women was born to take care of her warrior.

HELIO: Wait a minute [HELIO gets up a comes back with a briefcase from which he takes out a manuscript and begins to read]: "For me it is easy to diagnose the men who prefer independent women: cafetões, [pimps], effeminate, lazy, and individuals with weak and cowardly personalities, are the ones who like that kind of women.. Nature did not create men and women by mistake, but for each one to do her part. The man takes care of the woman and the woman takes care of the children, who will be the men of tomorrow". [returns the paper to the briefcase]. The problem with men's values nowadays is that women, poor things, have no other option than to try to be independent.

HELIO: I don't consider it machoism. I am a man. Machoism is a fashion.. A man who isn't macho isn't a man, in the same way a women who isn't feminine isn't a women. Machoism, as far as I'm concerned, is simply what it is to be a man.

HELIO: I'm not in favor of it. A women should take care of her man. Now, when I look at a nude woman, I analyze everything together, to see if she is well put together and in good health. I am not thinking about sex, no. And to appreciate the natural beauty. [pause]. The jiu-jitsu magazines lately are putting naked women in together with sports. I don't approve. That is nothing to look at in a fight. No girlfriend of mine would ever pose nude. Only if I was a coward. [HELIO picks up a jiu-jitsu magazine and open to a foldout of Feitceira,] Her boyfriend must have been a coward.

HELIO: Sad. He is a beginner in jiu-jitsu. He only knows about fighting with rules. One time I had a talk with him on the telephone.

HELIO: He talked bad about my son Royce. I called him and asked him if he was disposed to test himself against my son. He replied that he only fought for money and that is not my style. His response did not please me. He demonstrated that he didn't have the conviction of what he could do. He fights well, but he isn't an efficient fighter. He was thinking like that until he had a sufficient number of fights.

HELIO: Mario Andreazza, ex Minister of Transport in the gestao of President Medici, also former President of Brazil Joao Baptista Fiqueiredo when he worked in the National Information Service [SNI] which served the military dictatorship, and Roberto Marinho........

HELIO: More or less [smiles condescendingly]. These men were always very busy, without time to train. They were also very anxious.

HELIO: Roberto Marinho was a reporter at that time and was not truly dedicated to jiu-jitsu. He did it because it was a fashion,, due to a projection. .At that time in Brazil we didn't have many important sports like we have now, At that time the press spent an entire month talking exclusively about jiu-jitsu and Roberto wanted to be in the middle of it.

HELIO: He was brought in by Mario Andreazza, also because of the projection.. He was full of enthusiasm when he began learning jiu-jitsu and then he brought in all of the officials of the SNI, including Figueiredo. He was a very strong man, but very tense. He took 40 classes regularly and he left reasonably good. But I didn't know him outside of the academy. I never had social contact with him. At times he would say, "Helio I'm going to send for you to come to a party at my house". But he never did. I think he forgot about it. He was very busy.

HELIO: We weren't rich. My children worked hard, here and there, without a rest. We live well but we don't have a lot of money. The expenses of the academies were also great. If we made 200,000, half of that went to taxes. My small farm (with 320,000 square meters located in Itaipava in the hill country of Rio) was bought at a time when land was cheap. I paid 400 reis.. Today it is very expensive but no one has the money to buy. Therefore, we weren't then and still aren't rich.

PLAYBOY: Despite the fame and success, you declared that you would like for your sons to quit fighting. Why?

HELIO: In my youth I was filled with enthusiasm about with my discoveries and began to fight to prove that they were good. I wanted every Brazilian to know about jiu-jitsu. Today, it isn't necessary to fight for idealism. I have nothing more to prove about the validity of my techniques. So I advised my sons to stop fighting. They are the ones who will decide. If they want to continue to fight in order to make money, that's fine with me. Today even jiu-jitsu has become commercial.

PLAYBOY: You have referred to academies that are preparing thugs who always walk around with pit bulls at their side.

HELIO: These academies should not be open. It is the government's fault, who doesn't examine the real conditions of the schools. Today you can open an academy of jiu-jitsu without any problem, and many times the owner doesn't even have a diploma.

HELIO: Absolutely. A real jiu-jitsu fighter does not go around beating people down. Our defense is made to neutralize aggression. This is a type of counter-advertising that uses the name of our jiu-jitsu. Any nonsense that is done nowadays will soon be given the name of the Gracie family.

HELIO: It's pitiful.. He's only an artist, not a fighter. But in a movie, a fight is beautiful. In movies, fights are all choreographed, there is nothing to see with jiu-jitsu. My sons have already taught actors like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, and Mel Gibson. I like to watch. I don't have to think, the story is always the same. When watching the "bang-bang" movies, the young hero always beats the bad guys.

HELIO: I always say I am old but not used up.. I am 88, but I wouldn't trade places with a man of 50. I never had bad habits like smoking, drinking, or snacking between meals My palette is also educated. I eat fish, cold cheese, fruits, and legumes, I only have bread once a day. I don't mix cereals and I don't get fat from sugar. I learned that from my brother and I haven't had a cold for 15 years. I never had sex more than was necessary for reproduction. Nature is not stupid. If you break the rules you will pay interest and penalties. When the age is advanced it comes the time to calculate the debts. Those who lacked will power will be with the donkeys in water [burros n'agua].

From Brazil PLAYBOY February 2001, presented in this English translation by GTR, January 1, 200, corrected edition April 5, 2012.

Many thanks to Carlos Eduardo Loddo for calling GTR's attention to this interview, providing the Portuguese text, and offering many valuable hints and corrections on the translation.

This translation first published January 1, 2005, Revised April 5, 2012 (two minor errors corrected Question # 8 and a few small typographic errors elsewhere.)