Vale tudo became MMA, jiu-jitsu became professional and as a result
of this natural evolution, almost all of the great rivalries that
marked the history of both sports in Brazil were resolved. Today,
former rivals face each other with great respect, aware that it was
thanks to the wars they fought in the past that the sport evolved
and reached its current level—with one notable exception.
Renzo Gracie
and
Wallid
Ismail is a rare case in Brazilian martial arts history of a
high-level rivalry that only grew more bitter with time.
Curiously, that rivalry started on Aug. 5, 1993, three months
before UFC 1. Event promoter Ricielli Santos decided to take
advantage of the emergence of a new power in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
Gracie Barra, and the natural rivalry that was emerging between its
greatest representative, Renzo Gracie, and Wallid Ismail from
Carlson Gracie, to promote a one-hour jiu-jitsu challenge between
the two at the Flamengo gymnasium. The preliminaries featured five
more superfights between representatives of some of the biggest
jiu-jitsu teams of the time.
The First Faceoff
At that time, I was invited by Renzo to take the photographs for
the fight poster. On a Saturday two weeks before the event, Ismail
came to Academia Espaco Vital, where Gracie Barra operated, and
there we took the shots. He arrived alone and despite all the
tension in the air, he was very well received. In about 30 minutes
I took some 70 photos of them in black-and-white and color. As
Ismail was leaving afterward, Joao Paulo “Big Head,” one of Renzo's
training partners, asked Wallid to pose with them. Nowadays it
would be something extremely natural, but at a time when
representatives of rival associations barely spoke on the streets
of Rio, that idea didn't seem to sound good to Wallid, who agreed
to pose, but it was clear by his face that he wasn't comfortable.
In the following days, I gave the 50 best photos to Renzo as
agreed. One of his training partners decided to play a prank using
the picture where Wallid was posing among the rivals. At the time,
the entire jiu-jitsu community used to go to an acai store in
Leblon called Bibi Sucos and this friend of Renzo put up a poster
there with a photo of Wallid and the members of Barra with the
words “The new member of Gracie Barra.” The joke infuriated Ismail,
who went imediately to Bibi to tear up the poster, and stirred up
even more spirits for the dispute.
Wallid Passes the Guard Three Times
Located inside Flamengo, the most popular soccer club in Brazil,
the Gymnasium was completely packed with almost 3,500 people
divided between representatives of the main jiu-jitsu associations
who carried flags and chanted fight songs. Before the hour-long
fight between Wallid and Renzo, there were five fights between the
four main academies in Rio (Carlson, Alliance, Gracie and Gracie
Barra).
When Renzo and Wallid entered the tatami set up in Flamengo's gym,
the atmosphere was one of war. To spice it up even more, the two
spent a few minutes facing each other in the center of the dojo
until master Alvaro Barreto started the fight. Renzo started
better, attacking a crucifix and almost taking Wallid's back, but
the Carlson athlete didn't let Gracie place the hooks and turned
him over, passing guard and scoring the first three points to the
delight of the Carlson crowd. Renzo managed to regain guard on two
occasions, but Wallid passed his guard twice mroe, closing the
score at 9-0.
Statements after the Fight
I talked to both men right after the fight. Gracie said, “Wallid
only fought for the points, he didn't show any technique, while I
put on a show of technique, since I got three chokes and an armbar
while he couldn't do anything. I have no excuses for losing. I lost
because I fought poorly tactically not looking for points. Now he
wants to direct the challenge to my cousin Rilion who is 62 kilos
[136.4 pounds]—that is, 20 less than him. That’s a cowardly
attitude. I want to make it clear that Wallid for me is carrion and
I'm going to eat that carrion.”
Even after winning, Ismail made a point of responding in kind,
making it clear that the story between them had just begun: “Taking
into account that Renzo said he was going to submit me, the fight
was even easier than I expected, especially since eight points were
not counted (from 4 full belly knees). I know why. Renzo's father
is the president of the Federation. The vice president, Carlos
Gracie Jr., is Renzo's uncle and teacher. The referee must have
felt totally coerced and despite everything I managed to win by a
large margin. Comparing with soccer, it was as if I had won 5-0
with four goals disallowed.”
Opposite Ways
Three months after that challenge, Renzo's cousin,
Royce Gracie,
would win the first UFC, opening up the MMA market for Renzo,
Wallid and the entire jiu-jitsu community. Because they were on the
same side, as representatives of jiu-jitsu, the rivalry went
dormant for a few years. Two years after Royce's first victory,
Renzo would fight in the WCC 1 tournament in Charlotte where he
would beat three opponents in one night to win the tournament. Four
months later Wallid would make his international vale tudo debut by
submitting Denis Kefalinus at UVF 1 in Japan and, after two more
victories in Japan, he would stamp his passport to represent
jiu-jitsu in the under-200 pound tournament at UFC 12, where he was
eliminated in the first fight by Japan’s
Kazuo
Takahashi on the same night as his training partner
Vitor
Belfort's victorious debut.
Meanwhile Renzo knocked out the almost 50-pounds heavier
Oleg Taktarov
in MARS and a few weeks later was invited to face
Eugenio
Tadeu, a luta-livre representative and Gracie archrival, in the
main event of Pentagon Combat. Curiously, Eugenio was the same
oponent that Wallid had defeated in 1991 at Vale Tudo do Grajau, in
the historic 3-0 victory for jiu-jitsu over luta-livre.
At Pentagon Combat, Renzo was
clearly losing when the lights went out and a riot began and a
riot began that led to the banning of vale tudo in Rio for four
years. Wallid didn't miss the opportunity to skewer his rival in
Tatame magazine. “Renzo didn't say I was technically limited, what
happened to him? He was being spanked by Tadeu. I'm shocked. After
what I saw Tonight, I think Eugenio even deserves a rematch of our
fight at Grajau,” said Wallid, adding another chapter onto his cold
war with Renzo.
Wallid Submits Royce Gracie
Renzo and Wallid would follow different paths until 1998, when UFC
co-founder Rorion Gracie selected Ismail and three other black
belts from his cousin Carlson to fight
Royce Gracie
in a gi challenge in a arena set up on Copacabana beach.
Interestingly, Wallid was the fourth on Carlson Gracie's list of
preferences after
Mario Sperry,
Murilo
Bustamante and
Amaury
Bitetti, but he was the only one who immediately accepted the
offer to fight without a time limit and thus ended up jumping to
the front of the line.
Against all odds, Wallid put Royce out with a clock choke in front
of 5,000 people. Known for his sharp trash talk when praising his
accomplishments, Wallid knew how to use victory like no one else
and took the opportunity to enter the American market with a cover
in Black Belt magazine (“The Gracie Killer”). The marketing
irritated the family and at the 1999 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship,
Renzo's brother
Ryan Gracie
punched Wallid backstage, which later led to several other episodes
with street fights, challenges on TV shows and much more. In 2007,
Ryan Gracie died and the anticipated vale tudo fight between them
ended up never happening.
With Wallid retired from the ring and starting to work as promoter
of the most important Brazilian MMA show,
Jungle Fight, and Renzo living in New York, leading
the most successful Gracie academy in the world, everything led to
believe that the rivalry between the two would die naturally. But
on 2017, Brazilian television channel Combate produced a
documentary about the 10 year anniversary of Ryan's death and
Wallid was among the interviewees who testified negatively about
Renzo's younger brother. It was the password to arouse the wrath of
Gracie, who, seeking to avenge his brother, promised to beat Wallid
in the streets.
In 2020, the two started a ferocious discussion on Instagram. Since
Renzo had over 500,000 followers and Wallid more than a million,
the daily discussion between them started to be one of the favorite
subjects of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA worlds during the
pandemic. Wallid posted daily memes of the “Carlson Lion” against
the “Gracie Hyena,” and videos of his daily training for a possible
professional vale tudo return against Gracie, while Renzo answered
saying Wallid was a coward that didn't want to fight for real with
him, once it was a matter of honor and he didn't want to give money
to Wallid. The discussion started to get really tense, so as soon
as flights were opened again, Renzo took an airplane from New York
to Rio, doing a live waiting Wallid for two hours in a local
academy to a closed-doors fight. Wallid, who always made clear he
wanted to make the fight professional, didn’t showed up. Since
then, the narrative calmed down. The two continued their wealthy
lives, Wallid promoting his Jungle Fight and managing his athletes
and Renzo leading his academy in New York.
Today, Renzo and Wallid are 56 years old. Thirty years after their
first fight, there is no sign of the rivalry ending. Even always
being in oposite sides, they continue to be seen as examples of
great fighters who turned into wealthy businessmen of the fighting
world. Since that world is like a small village, it would be no
surprise if sooner or latter their stories cross again.