UFC History: The Unfortunate Gracie Legacy Of Never Submitting

There is a long history of not tapping to submissions in the first family of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and that legacy has extended into MMA.

Way back in 1951, Masahiko Kimura (pictured right) locked a reverse ude-garami on Helio Gracie and started to slowly twist. Rather than surrendering, Gracie let his shoulder become dislocated, and his arm broken before his corner finally threw in the towel.

From this moment, two legacies were born.

The reverse ude-garami became known in BJJ as the kimura, in tribute to Masahiko Kimura's victory, and the Gracie family tradition of allowing bones to break in competition became famous.

Royler Gracie refused to tap to a kimura against Kazushi Sakuraba (who turned 41 today), but the bout was stopped at 13:16 of the round when the referee feared that Gracie's arm would be broken.

Sakuraba locked another kimura lock against Renzo Gracie, and this time, Gracie's arm was badly broken.

Many people say that allowing a bone to be broken is somehow glorious, or honorable, or worthy of respect or something, but I disagree.

It's simply prideful.

On most days, I'll be the last one to say a bad word about the Gracie family, but for all of the honor and respect that they've occasionally shown, they've also got a history of prideful behavior.

The Prideful Gracie Legacy

Many people take issue with small things like Gracie involvement in Brazilian beach fights, Gracie boasting, the fact that they basically rigged UFC 1 by not inviting any high-level Judo fighters, and Royce Gracie's steroid use, but for me, there are three incidents that stick in my mind as being particularly prideful.

They are as follows:

Helio vs. Kimura

For himself, Kimura was not without a bit of boastful trash talk. He told people that if Gracie lasted three minutes, then he should consider that a moral victory. But Gracie took the boasting to a new level when he had a coffin brought out to the ring—for Kimura.

After getting tossed around the ring like a ragdoll for 13 minutes, getting choked unconscious and waking up, and finally getting his arm broken, Helio still wasn't done trash talking, and insisted that he would have won the bout if it wasn't for the weight difference.

This is where it gets a bit silly, because while Kimura's estimate of a 15 pound weight difference may have been low, the Gracie suggestion that Kimura outweighed him by 80 pounds is nothing short of ridiculous, and is the prime example of how the Gracies just wouldn't accept a loss as such.

Renzo vs. Sakuraba

While I can't fault Renzo for following the "family tradition," I find it funny that he's also followed the other family tradition of not being able to give adequate credit to his opponents.

Following his loss, the best compliment that Renzo could muster up was that Sakuraba was Japan's version of the Gracies, which is more like a compliment to himself than anything else.

Rickson vs. Fedor

This fight never happened, but while many on the internet will always be willing to announce "Rickson by armbar," Rickson's declaration that Fedor has "so-so technical ability" and that he was "100% sure" he would defeat him is worthy of at least a few facepalms.

The Gracie Tradition In Modern Times

For all of the great things the Gracie family has done for the sport of MMA, they've left at least one regrettable legacy in how fighters now deal with submissions.

Because Dan Hardy refused to tap to Georges St. Pierre's armbar and kimura attempts, many people said that Hardy had earned their respect.

Indeed, my respect for Hardy went up because of how well he was able to defend himself, but in other cases, simple refusal to tap is something that I'm never going to applaud.

As it was, St. Pierre did not correctly apply those techniques, and so he was unable to finish them off, and Hardy was able to escape.

However, had St. Pierre applied the kimura correctly and broken Hardy's arm, he would only have had himself to blame as he spent a year in rehabilitation and recovery.

The worst possible scenario will be if a fighter ever applies a proper neck crank on somebody who refuses to tap.

Yet, aside from these scenarios featuring professional fighters, I find the "there's no quit in me" attitude much more frustrating in it's implications on the amateur level.

It's one thing for a professional not to tap, but when they celebrate broken arms as honorable or glorious, they set a dangerous precedent for amateur competitors.

As an amateur grappling competitor myself, I've already found that attitude has become all too prevalent, as many would rather wind up convulsing unconscious on the canvas rather than tapping to the choke, or absorbing torn knee ligaments rather than surrendering to a knee bar.

Of course, the referee and the person applying the submission should have their own responsibilities as well, but a no-tap mentality opens the door to a point where a small lapse in judgement can lead to catastrophe.

Hopefully, we don't need the worst of things to happen before the MMA and grappling communities learn this lesson.