Hélio Gracie

Brazilian practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu

艾里奥·格雷西 · エリオ・グレイシー · 엘리우 그레이시

Born

1 October 1913, Belém

Died

29 January 2009, Petrópolis

Citizenship

Brazil

Sport

judo

Occupation

judoka, writer

Hélio Gracie (October 1, 1913 – January 29, 2009) was a Brazilian martial artist who together with his brothers Oswaldo, Gastao Jr, George and Carlos Gracie founded and developed the self-defense martial art system of Gracie jiu-jitsu, also known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ).

Considered as the Godfather of BJJ, according to his son Rorion, Gracie is one of the first sports heroes in Brazilian history; he was named Man of the Year in 1997 by the American martial arts publication Black Belt magazine. A patriarch of the Gracie family, multiple members of his family have gone on to have successful careers in combat sport competition, including mixed martial arts (MMA). In 2001, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.

Teachers

• Carlos Gracie

Students

• Rickson Gracie
• Relson Gracie
• Royce Gracie
• Rorion Gracie
• Carlos "Caique" Elias

External links

• Wikipedia
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q455578 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.