Helio Gracie was born on October 1, 1913, Belem, Para, Brazil. He passed away at the age of 95 on January 29, 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and remains in many eyes the person most responsible for what we today call Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In addition to two daughters, Helio Gracie fathered seven sons who made their father’s jiu-jitsu their own careers. Rorion, Relson, Rickson, Rolker, Royler, Royce, and Robin, were among the first to export what would become known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world.

Helio Gracie participated in well over a dozen no holds barred or Vale Tudo fights in his life. Confident in his father’s form of ground fighting, Rorion Gracie formed the UFC in 1993 as a platform to showcase jiu-jitsu in North America. The victories of a skinny Royce Gracie in the early UFCs remain the reason most BJJ practitioners participate in jiu-jitsu. Even modern day Brazilian jiu-jitsu dynamos like Gracie Barra’s Otavio Souza claim that they became interested in jiu-jitsu because of seeing what Royce did in the UFC.

Shortly after his passing, Rickson Gracie, the best fighter among his sons, perhaps the best fighter among all of us, spoke at the 2009 BJJ Pan-Ams

“I’d like to welcome you all, and respect our great, great Master,” began Rickson, as transcribed by the FightWorks podcast. “There is nothing to be sorry about. The way he wants to be remembered, he always said to us, was a party and a celebration. I think this is a moment, with all of us here, to celebrate his legacy, to spread the seeds of the jiu-jitsu he created and brought. And I think, what more can we expect from life than to live to be 95 years old and pretty healthy and his sons doing what he loved to do? So thankfully, there is nothing to be sorry about. My dad now is eternal. Let’s live on his legacy and the passion for jiu-jitsu for all of us and for the future generations.”