Rickson Gracie (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈʁiksõ ˈɡɾejsi]; born November 21, 1959) is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He is a member of the Gracie family: the third oldest son of Hélio Gracie, brother to Rorion and Relson Gracie, and half-brother to Rolker, Royce, Robin and Royler Gracie. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was widely considered to be the best fighter of the Gracie clan, and one of the toughest in the world. In July 2017, he was promoted to ninth-degree red belt, the second-highest ranking in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Rickson Gracie is considered an important pioneer for both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts (MMA). He had several vale tudo bouts in Brazil in the 1980s, and in the 1990s Gracie became a high-profile competitor in Japan, having won Vale Tudo Japan 1994 and 1995 tournaments, he also headlined Pride 1 and Pride 4 against popular professional wrestler Nobuhiko Takada, all which are credited to have helped to popularize the sport in Japan. He retired with an undefeated record of 11 wins and no losses, all by submission.
Rickson Gracie, son of Helio Gracie, received his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 18 in 1977.
At 20, Gracie was pitted in a high-profile fight in Brasília against famous Brazilian professional wrestler and fighter Casemiro "Rei Zulu" Nascimento Martins (father of Zuluzinho). Rei Zulu was not a qualified martial artist, having only a background in a supposedly indigenous wrestling style named tarracá, but he weighed 230 pounds (104 kg) and had experience in the vale tudo circuit, being supposedly 270–0 at the time. Despite the size difference, Gracie won the match at the third round by submitting Zulu with a rear naked choke, gaining immediate national recognition.
In 1984, Zulu requested a rematch in Rio de Janeiro, which became a controversial affair. According to Zulu, the Gracie family demanded the rules to be changed just one hour before the event, banning closed-fisted strikes, direct punches to the face, and kicks to a downed opponent. During the match, held in the Maracanazinho before an audience of 20,000 spectators, Zulu himself fouled by trying to eye-gouge Gracie, while Gracie himself gave Zulu a low blow later into the fight. Gracie also claimed Zulu was oiled up with vaseline in order to impede his grip. In any case, Gracie won again, submitting his opponent with another choke in the second round.
In November of the same year, Zulu defeated kickboxing champion Sérgio "Rock" Batarelli in another fight, which was the condition to host another match against Gracie, but it never happened.
In 1988, promoters tried to put together an anticipated fight between Gracie and luta livre exponent Marco Ruas. However, Hélio Gracie refused, demanding either that Gracie received a higher payment or that the bout happened inside the Gracie Academy, which were both rejected, so the fight didn't take place. Later, Gracie himself challenged Ruas to an impromptu match during a meeting with luta livre fighters in the Clube Boqueirão do Passeio. The reasons why this second fight fell off too are disputed: Gracie claimed Ruas asked for time to train, while Ruas claimed Hélio shut down the idea by claiming Ruas was not a true luta livre representative. Other names like Eugenio Tadeu and Hugo Duarte were offered, but rejected.
Months later, Gracie was challenged by lutador Denilson Maia, but the latter's father died and he had to be replaced by Duarte. Although Duarte only wanted to fight in an event for a purse, Gracie encountered him on the beach, slapped him in front of his students and demanded him to fight there, so Hugo stepped down and faced Gracie on the sand. Gracie won after making him surrender to punches to the face. Shortly after, claiming that Gracie students had kicked him and thrown sand to his eyes during the fight, Duarte came to Gracie's gym and demanded a rematch. Gracie won again, causing a riot which forced neighbours to call the police.
Shortly after, Gracie challenged Tadeu, who had been entangled in a bout with his brother Royler when the police came. Royler and Tadeu fought to a 50-minute draw. The rivalry between Brazilian jiu-jitsu and luta livre continued without Rickson Gracie, as he left Brazil for the United States after the fight.
In 1994, Gracie was contacted by Erik Paulson to compete in Satoru Sayama's event Vale Tudo Japan. Gracie traveled to Japan and participated in the tournament, firstly facing Daido-juku stylist Yoshinori Nishi. Gracie took him down and Nishi answered with a lockdown from half guard, but Gracie was able to pass his guard and catch him with a rear naked choke when Nishi turned his back. He later faced much larger wing chun practitioner Dave Levicki, but he was an even easier prey once taken down, and Gracie won by TKO after a flurry of punches. Gracie then fought American kickboxer Bud Smith at the finals, winning by the same method in even less time and getting the tournament's victory.
The same year, Union of Wrestling Force International (UWFi), which was seeking legitimate fighters from other martial arts for inter-style matches so they could demonstrate the superiority of its "Real Pro-Wrestling" style, entered negotiations for Gracie to face UWFi star Nobuhiko Takada. The negotiations ultimately failed, reportedly because Gracie was unwilling to participate in a predetermined professional wrestling match, as doing so would have lent credibility to UWFi's claims of realism while potentially undermining his own reputation as a legitimate fighter. Takada subsequently provoked and publicly challenged Gracie, further escalating the dispute. In December, pro wrestler Yoji Anjo travelled to Los Angeles and performed a dojo storm, challenging him to a fight. Gracie was the better in the fight and performed abundant ground and pound on Anjo, who did not surrender, so Gracie choked him unconscious. Anjo had traveled accompanied by UWFi executive Shinji Sasazaki and a Japanese press contingent, who reported the event back home, with photographs of his bloodied face subsequently appearing in Japanese weekly magazines. The incident became widely reported in Japan, and Gracie later traveled to Tokyo and showed the Japanese press a recording of the fight, countering claims that Anjo had been attacked by multiple people. The incident intensified Gracie's rivalry with the UWFi and the Japanese shoot wrestling scene, and the desire of UWFi's wrestlers and fans to see Gracie face one of their leading representatives eventually contributed to a long-awaited matchup with UWFi star Nobuhiko Takada at the inaugural Pride Fighting Championships event in 1997. The rivalry between the Gracie family and Japanese shoot wrestlers subsequently continued through Kazushi Sakuraba, a student of Takada, who defeated several members of the Gracie family and became known as the "Gracie Hunter".
A year later, Gracie was invited again to the next Vale Tudo Japan. In the first round he faced shoot style professional wrestler and mixed martial artist Yoshihisa Yamamoto from Fighting Network Rings, who unlike Gracie's previous opponents managed to keep him away from the mat by using the ropes and even tried a guillotine choke. However, Gracie eventually took him down and choked him. He squared against another pro wrestler in the form of Koichiro Kimura, swiftly defeating him, then met shootist Yuki Nakai at the finals. Nakai, who was almost blind from an earlier match against Gerard Gordeau, put up strong resistance to Gracie, but Gracie managed to take his back and choke him for another tournament win.
Rickson did not compete at Vale Tudo Japan 1996, as he felt the event had stagnated and failed to grow as he had hoped. However, he did not want to turn his back on the organizers and instead he sent his brother Royler Gracie to represent the family.
In 1997, Gracie signed up to a fight against Yoji Anjo's superior Nobuhiko Takada in the Pride 1 event. Before the Tokyo Dome's 47,860 spectators, Gracie defeated the inexperienced Takada, mounting him and locking an armbar in 4:47.