[güttsfükk]

Only in Brazil will you get a major event in MMA history taking place at an impromptu beach fight.

As we outlined already, in Brazil, the folks who trained Luta Livre and the folks who trained Jiu Jitsu just did not get along. And for the Jiu Jitsu side, there was no greater representative than the legendary Rickson Gracie. Famous for his alleged 400-0 record, Rickson defended the Gracie family's honor against all comers for years, and was consistently held up as the greatest fighter of his time.

In 1988, Hugo Duarte, a top name from the Luta Livre school, was the latest young fighter to insult the Gracie name. Rickson, as was his job, set out to quiet him down, but instead of doing it at a gym, he found Duarte at a beach, slapped him, and it was on.

The footage of this fight is, understandably, pretty rough. Be happy we have anything at all. The best footage is the version edited by the Gracies for their video series. Rickson is in the full bathing suit, Duarte in the speedo. You can see Rickson get mount and some nice ground and pound towards the end.

There's also a complete, unedited version, which has a bit more action, but is not as good quality. I've included both versions in the full entry.

[güttsfükk]

Hugo Duarte was talking shit about Rickson and saying the Gracie familie and their Jiujitsu were worthless. Somebody called Rickson and told him Duarte was on the beach insulting him. Rickson challenged Duarte on the spot and after punching him into submission he also forced him to say outloud who was the baddest SOB on Rio de Janeiro.
I uploaded this video for all those who say Rickson's legend and fighting skills are BS. The video's quality is bad but I think you'll apreciate it's crudeness and chaotic intensity and hopefully will give you a better understanding of how Rickson's legend was forged in Brazil, maybe not in a profesional Vale Tudo ring/cage, but in the streets of Rio de Janeiro where truly "anything goes" and fighting skills are mandatory for survival.
Its probably hard for an american/european (in the safety of their respective nations) to fully understand how violent streets in latin america can be like for instance cities like Tijuana, Mexico City and Juarez (in MEXICO), Medellin and Bogota (in COLOMBIA) and Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo or Salvador (in BRAZIL) where thousands of people die each year execution style killed by gangs and "Death Squads" formed by profesional hitmen, former soldiers and dirty cops. If you guys think Los Angeles and New York are violent cities then let me tell you: you guys are in paradise...

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AEUC39Dum20" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[kellyhound]

[Illusion]

Rickson is a beast

[güttsfükk]

shame the quality is so poor

[icheerthebull]

I had seen this before when I first got into MMA as a kid but never knew it was Hugo Duarte. Rickson will not go down as a legend IMO. Had he fought the greatest of all time (saku the gracie hunter) and lost he would have alot more respect from me (again this is only opinion) but he didnt he ducked it.

Whats more the whole 'undefeted in 500 fights' thing he used to claim was embarrasing. Now travis fulton I have way more respect for, over 200 legit fights!

[güttsfükk]

Originally Posted by icheerthebull ↗

Whats more the whole 'undefeted in 500 fights' thing he used to claim was embarrasing. Now travis fulton I have way more respect for, over 200 legit fights!

i read an interview with one of the older gracies who said that when rickson came up with that figure he was also including matches from challengers to the gracie technique, n he said in that interview that he believed if he was to count that way he himself would have over a million fights

but i do think it includes his sambo fights and a few styles in that figure

there's also the 1 defeat to ron tripp which rickson denies to this day. i dont understand why he never took on the gracie hunter