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 were 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. Bets on challenges have reached $100,000 to the winner of the match.[1]
The Gracie challenge was first issued by 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.[1][2]
The Gracie challenge entered American martial arts mythos when Rorion Gracie came to the United States to teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Gracie upheld the family's tradition and regularly took challenge matches at his facility. A common myth was that Gracie backed-up his challenges with a $100,000 guarantee, that he would pay the winner $100,000 should he lose. The misconception stemmed from a proposed challenge match with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, where both Gracie and Urquidez would bet $100,000 on the outcome of the match. However, that match never occurred.[3]
It has been speculated that soon after he received his black belt, Royce put out the "Gracie Challenge," in which competitors would face him in a No Rules contest, won by submission or knockout, with a prize of $100,000. This claim was nullified in an interview with Royce himself from silvervision.co.uk in which he states, "It wasn't really a $100,000 challenge. My brother had a big problem with one of the big American kickboxers. Somebody was going to do the commentary for the chapter and they called my brother, and asked if he wanted to face him. He said that he would face anyone in MMA. My brother had already faced and beat him before. He told them to ask him if they knew who he was facing as he should know who he was facing." Benny the Jet pretended he didn't know who the Gracies were, so they made a bet to put a $100,000 down each to fight for something. Benny the Jet later backed down on the bet and allegedly said he did not want to put his money down and instead put his belt in place of the $100,000 and that if Royce Gracie won, he would become the World Champion in kickboxing.
However, there are contradictory versions of the challenge with American kickboxer Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. According to an interview with Urquidez, the Gracies came to his school and challenged him to a fight. Benny agreed to the fight under the Gracies' rules and asked for time to train and for the fight to be held at a neutral location. When the Gracies found out that Benny was a competent grappler and had been training for many years with grappling legend Gene LeBell and Gokor Chivichyan, they, allegedly, backed out of the fight.
Another episode that could be included with the Gracie Challenge occurred when the Gracies challenged "Judo" Gene LeBell. The Gracies wanted to match Rickson Gracie with the American grappling master/professional wrestler/stuntman. Gene LeBell, who was almost 60 at the time, replied that Rickson was much younger than he and that he would instead grapple with Hélio Gracie who was closer in age to him. When confronted with this reply, the Gracies accepted the challenge on the condition that Gene LeBell drop down to the 140 pound weight class of the 80-year old Hélio Gracie. At that point, Gene LeBell allegedly did not accept their counter offer because he was around 200 pounds and could never make it down to 140 pounds.
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