![]() ![]() He ended up leaving Helio’s gym to join his older brother Carlson Gracie. It is said that his global vision for BJJ clashed several times with the more traditionalist views of Helio Gracie, the man who raised him, but who he felt sometimes neglected by the favoring his own blood sons. He ended up getting a Gracie Team together for the Pan Ams the following year (1980) where he got a Bronze Medal. Rolls also tried to make a Brazilian Wrestling team in order to compete at the Moscow Olympics but was unsuccessful mainly due to the lack of organization and bureaucracy difficulties. Unfortunately for the LA Police Department he refused what was an excellent wage at the time, mainly due to Helio Gracie’s disapproving of his move to the US. The pair managed to refresh a few of the techniques in time for another gold medal for the Gracie.Īfter another amazing achievements Rolls invited to stay in America and teach the LAPD his grappling magic. In that same year he planned to compete at the San Diego Wrestling Pan Ams, with that in mind he asked his cousin Rorion if he could stay at his California house during his trip, but his cousin refused, instead Rolls sought shelter at his friend Bob Anderson’s home. In 1979 Rolls competed at a Pan American competition in Sambo, a tournament he won with two gold medals (in his weight and in the absolute division). This would be the first time in Roll’s career where he did not submit his opponent. ![]() The judges rendered Rolls Gracie the victor due to his constant offensive mentality. As none of the two fighters could take each other down for several minutes, Rolls took the initiative and jumped guard, Paulo on the other hand froze, not attempting to pass the guard but also not allowing Rolls to move, pinning him to the ground as hard as he could until the end of the fight. The fight occurred at the Mello Tenis Club. The name of Alves’ student was Paulo Boca, who was 90kg and had been a Brazilian National Judo champion. The deed was so impressive that several of the surfers became students of Rolls just a few weeks after the event.Īfter some time away from competitions due to lack of a challenge in Jiu Jitsu, Osvaldo Alves proposed a super-fight against a student whom Alves believed could beat Rolls. The fight was short lived and in just a few minutes all the surfers were put to sleep on the beach. As he arrived and demanded an explanation, all hell broke loose and a big fight broke out. Rolls decided to walk to the beach to speak with the local bully, taking a few of his students with him. Mario was so angry with the situation that he went to Rolls’ academy, where he also trained, and told the story to his master. Mario got into a scuffle with a well known surfer named Daniel Sabbá and was sent out of the beach. When one of Rolls Gracie’s students named Mario Gomes (who became a huge soap opera star in the 1980′s) was surfing on the famous Arpoador beach. Rolls also trained Olympic Gymnastics and Surfing in order to improve his athleticism, in fact he was the first member of the Gracie family to buy a surf board.Ī funny story is told about Rolls’ first contact with the surfing community. After a few days of pestering Rolls, the Gracie invited him for a sparring session where he proceeded to tap the large wrestling heavyweight 10 times in just a few minutes, leaving the Anderson in awe of his technique. He couldn’t believe a person of Rolls’ size could win an open weight match and mocked the deed. A funny episode is told of when the American found out that Rolls was the Brazilian open weight Jiu Jitsu champion. Bob stayed at Rolls Gracie’s house for the duration of that period teaching him many of his favorite wrestling techniques. Rolls met Anderson by way of a connection in the Colombian wrestling federation, through which he extended an invitation for Bob to come to Rio de Janeiro and teach wrestling for a couple of months. First cross training was with Osvaldo Alves, training with the Judoka in Brazil, later seeking 5 time US Wrestling champ Bob Anderson to improve his grappling stand up (with who he developed a strong friendship throughout the years), the famous Keylock is named “Americana” in Brazil due to this partnership as Anderson loved this particular move. He was the first of the Gracie’s to actively seek competitions in Freestyle, Greco Roman and Sambo wrestling as well as Judo. Rolls started practicing jiu jitsu as a toddler, starting competing as a child, winning every single major trophy there was to earn at the time. He was the son of Gracie Jiu Jitsu founder Carlos Gracie, although he was raised for the most part by his uncle, Helio Gracie, at Carlos’ request (as did most of Carlos’ children). Rolls Gracie was born on the 28 of March, 1951. ![]()
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