UFC paid homage to the legendary Helio Gracie vs. Masahiko Kimura match from this very day in 1951 during the open workouts for Saturday’s UFC 179 event, which took place on Thursday on the Maracana field in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
63 years ago on this very day, Kimura defeated Gracie with the submission hold that was later named after him in the same stadium that UFC visited today.
Additionally, UFC came up with the concept for an MMA quiz show called, “Você Sabia?” which means “Did You Know?” in Portuguese.
“We created the ‘Você Sabia?’ to inform and entertain the MMA fans in UFC events in Brazil, remembering important moments and people in the history of the UFC,” Grace Tourinho told the MMAFighting.com website. “Since this UFC card is at Maracanazinho, a temple of MMA in Brazil, we had the idea to do an historical edition remembering important chapters of the early days of vale tudo in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s, the PRIDE era, and the first UFC shows.”
Prior to today’s UFC 179 open workouts, Robson Gracie and Joao Alberto Barreto, two of the most respected names in the jiu-jitsu and vale tudo worlds, received a pair of UFC gloves that were signed by current UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, who defends his title in a rematch against Chad Mendes at this Saturday’s pay-per-view.
“This was Carlos Gracie’s dream,” Robson Gracie said. “One of the things he always said was that they taught jiu-jitsu to turn a p*ssy into a warrior, turn a Brazilian into a champion. There’s no fight anywhere in the world where a Brazilian is not involved.”
UFC will be holding an edition of “Você Sabia?” on Saturday night, just hours before the first preliminary bout at Maracanazinho, where veteran journalist Marcelo Alonso will join UFC reporter Paula Sack.
“‘Você Sabia?’ was created by the UFC office in Brazil, and I heard that Dana White loved the idea,” Alonso said. “They did that twice already in previous UFC events, and Grace Tourinho came up with the idea to do a special edition based on the photos of my book. We will talk about 17 photos, from Helio vs. Kimura to Carlson Gracie to Murilo Bustamante to Ruas vs. Pinduka, always connecting the history to Maracanazinho and the UFC. Maracanazinho is the Colosseum of Brazilian MMA. A lot of important, historical fights happened here.”
For the full story on the famous Gracie vs. Kimura bout, told by Rener Gracie, check out the video at the top of the page, courtesy of the Gracie Academy YouTube channel.
Make sure to visit MMANews.com this Saturday for the best UFC 179: Aldo vs. Mendes II live results coverage on the web!
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