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Even Rickson admits he is undefeated after he got his blackbelt. But his record includes streetfights so he beat up Duarte twice, the Rebbecis, one time a large gang tried to beat up him and Royler after Royler beat up one of there members and after they told the police department they both went and found as many as they could, choked them unconcious and gave them to the police. There is probaly more but I don't think I could name them all.
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to Chris Davis 200
I appreciate your research... i can relate. i am a documentary filmmaker. I have been a fan of Rickson for awhile and find all the controversy interesting... Chris, you wanted to go to cali to ask Rickson himself... Rickson is going to be in a film i am currently doing. What exactly did you want to know... if he has been defeated? actual 400 wins.. what were they?
The thing i think everyone should consider, if the Titanic was floating today, many would say it was once underwater... just as Rickson's record... Who has said they beat him in freestyle 'realistic' fighting? who?
-JoelComment
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some observations
Great analysis of the Rickson legend.....I was a student at his academy for 3 years from 1996-1999 or maybe 2000....In all that time I got to roll with 'da man a total of ONE time. At the time, private lessons were 200.00 an hour at his garage in his home. I just couldn't afford those private lessons....The main man at his school was Luis "Limao" Heredia, who was teaching at the academy on Pico Blvd. day in and day out, along with Mauricio Costa. Both are great teachers, and it is cool to see Limao has his own school in Maui now. Rickson would train more in the day time, when I had to work, but I was able to observe him training on more than one occasion.
One thing about training during this time at the academy was the ability to roll with some of the jiu jitsu luminaries of the time on the same mat. Saulo Ribeiro, Fabio Gurgel, Carlos Barreto, Pedro Sauer, Franjinha, Cleber when he first came up from Brazil, Rockson(deceased), Royler, it was all good. Rickson could blow through all of their guards like they were little kids. At the time, Fabio Gurgel was a world champ, and I watched Rickson pass his guard like it was nothing.
On another occasion I saw Rickson training with all of his black belts from the association, including Pedro Sauer, Fabio Santos, Megaton, etc. At times, Rickson would go at it without using his hands, keeping them tucked in his belt, and he would just annihilate....it was otherworldy to watch.
I believe Rickson is one of the most amazing BJJ practioners in history...what I regret is that he didn't step up and really put some stellar matches under his belt before he got too old. He is now 47 I believe. If he would've fought Kerr, Coleman, Bas Rutten, Sakuraba, etc., in their primes.... Now that would've made history.
I ended up leaving his academy and taking a 5 year break from BJJ largely being disillusioned by the school, I mean Limao was great and so was Mauricio, but the lack of access to Rickson was a downer. Now I am training again, and am training at a school where the instructor is there every day. I think access is an important factor in the success of a school.
About the Gracies in general, they weren't the only family trained by Count Koma, aka Maeda....Sensei Maeda lived in Brazil for many years, and trained a lot of different people during that time in Brazil. It's just that the Gracies marketed themselves very well over the years. To give him credit, I think Helio really modified the techniques and took it to another level, but the Gracies were also part of the upper class in Rio over the years and were tied into the Elite class-Military-Press(Globo) power structure, in which they used their connections with the media to further the image of the family. Gracie jiu jitsu in Rio is a privileged class game...you have to have money to train.
And it's true, BJJ does not have a great reputation in Rio de Janeiro.....nor is it as popular as soccer, or futebol, as it is known.
Why are all the great jiu jitsu teachers here in the USA? There is more money to be made here....Comment
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Mr McEwen,Originally posted by Joel McEwen
I would like to know why Rickson Gracie turned down a one million dollar contract offer to fight Gokor Chivichyan? Was it not enough money or were there other considerations that deterred Mr. Gracie from accepting?Comment
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Here is a transcript I wrote from the Helio interview published in the Gracie tapes which in part he metions Rickson:
Originally posted by Helio Gracie"Comment
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