Davie’s initial name for the competition was ‘War of the Worlds’, which in 1993 he presented to the Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG), having exhausted all other alternatives.
The film-maker proved equally excited by the concept, leading the three to develop a detailed plan by October 1992. Buoyed by the success, Gracie and Davie came up with a plan to bring the Gracie Challenge into a wider arena, pitching the idea to John Milius. In 1991, he worked with Rorion Gracie to produce the seminal Gracies in Action tapes, using a direct mail order scheme to good effect. Meanwhile, Art Davie had left J & P Marketing. Helped by Norris’ influence, the new academy got plenty of attention, it’s success enabling the Machados to open up a second school in December 1992, located over at Redondo Beach. Carlos Machado had previously been helping out at the Torrance academy, but moved away to start his own school: according to Gentry, this aggravated Rorion. This inspired Davie to take lessons himself, making friends with fellow student, film director John Milius, in the process.Ī year later, Chuck Norris brought Carlos, John and Rigan Machado – also members of the Gracie clan - to Encino in order to teach. There he saw Royler Gracie engage in a challenge match, easily despatching his karate trained opponent. He thought he saw business potential in the Gracies, leading him to travel down to the half-built Gracie Academy in Torrance, California during 1990. Arthur Davie, who worked for advertising firm J & P Marketing, was one of those readers. Jordan’s article generated plenty of interest among Playboy readers, along with a follow-up on the Gracie Challenge in Karate Kung Fu Illustrated. Jordan also provided one of the early citations of the “most real fights end up on the ground 90 percent of the time” statistic, which would be oft-repeated in later years. Jordan described Gracie jiu jitsu – now more commonly known as Brazilian jiu jitsu – as “a bouillabaisse of the other martial arts: judo (throws), karate (kicks, punches), aikido (twists), boxing (punches) and wrestling (grappling, holds)”, though he could have more simply defined it as judo with a highly refined focus on groundwork. Further exposure came with the September 1989 Playboy article by Pat Jordan, entitled ‘BAD’, dubbing Rorion Gracie “the toughest man in the United States”. Wrangles over rules meant the match fell through a second time, but did create sufficient hype that would eventually lead to Rorion choreographing a fight between Mel Gibson and Gary Busey in 1987’s Lethal Weapon. A second opportunity arose when a documentary film crew contacted Rorion, hoping to set up a challenge match with a kickboxer: the man in question turned out to be Urquidez. However, Urquidez decided against following through after a friendly sparring session with Gracie demonstrated the efficacy of the Brazilian. Urquidez was willing (at least at first) to back up a karate instructor friend of his who had agreed to fight Rorion. As Gentry describes it, the Challenge took off in America when Benny ‘the Jet’ Urquidez got involved.
Clyde Gentry, a fan of MMA and the UFC in particular, provides further detail in his book, No Holds Barred. Since the early half of the 20th century, this challenge – and the Gracie’s impressive winning record – made them legends in Brazil. Helio and his elder brother Carlos initiated the Gracie Challenge, which effectively boiled down to an open invitation to anyone brave enough to test his skills against a Gracie. His sons, Rorion and Royce, would go on to bring the Gracie name and style of jujitsu to widespread attention in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts competition arguably began, in the modern sense, with the challenge matches of the Gracie family, especially it’s most famous patriarch, Helio Gracie. BJJ Purple belt Can Sönmez put together a compelling blog on the start of the world's fastest growing sport. UFC on FOX 1 provides an apt moment to reflect on the beginning of the league, UFC 1.
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