According to Rickson Gracie, one of the legendary members of the Gracie family that founded modern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, his father Helio Gracie once choked out actor and martial artist Chuck Norris to showcase the effectiveness of their martial art.
In his autobiography “Breathe”, Rickson recounts how in the 1980s, Chuck Norris had taken a vacation to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he heard about the Gracie family and their exploits in Jiu-Jitsu. Intrigued, Norris contacted Helio Gracie and arranged for a private lesson.
“After I grappled with him, my dad told Norris to mount him. And when he’s he did said, okay, Chuck, punch me. The American hesitated, but my dad was was in his seventies by then, but Elio kept insisting. Finally, Norris drew back his arm to punch, but before he could throw on, the old man had choked him out.”
During the lesson, after Rickson had grappled with Norris, Helio instructed the famous action star to mount him (a dominant position in grappling). When Norris hesitated to strike the elderly Helio, the Jiu-Jitsu master insisted that Norris attempt to punch him. As Norris cocked back to throw a punch, the septuagenarian Helio deftly caught him in a submission, rendering the younger man unconscious.
Rickson told Jocko Willink that Norris left Brazil incredibly impressed by the Gracie family’s martial art and its ability to allow a smaller, older man to easily subdue a much larger opponent. He then invited the Gracies to come to America and hold seminars for his students.
“Chuck left Brazil impressed by the Gracie family invited us to come to America and hold a seminar for his students.”
This shows that after being submitted, Norris was impressed enough to invite the Gracies to teach seminars in America.
“He was a genius on that.”
Rickson calls his brother Rorion a “genius” for videotaping matches against other martial artists and using it to promote Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in America.
Norris offered a slightly different take on their first meeting years ago:
“So I tracked them down in Rio, and I went to their school. And I met Mr Gracie, the father. I met Rickson Gracie, who was the world champion at that time, and Royce Gracie.
“So I asked if I could work out with them. And they said–very cordial–, ‘Of course.’ And I was a black belt in judo, so I thought I had some pretty good grappling skills. Anyway, I got on the ground with Rickson Gracie, and it was like I’d never had a lesson in my life. He played with me. And then I went and worked out with Royce for a while. And then Mr Gracie said, ‘Chuck, let’s you and I grapple.’
“Mr Gracie’s about this big [gesturing that he is short with his hand]. So we started working out, and I mounted him. And he says, ‘Okay, Chuck, punch me.’ And I said, ‘Mr Gracie, I’m not going to punch you.’ And he said, ‘No, no, no. Punch me.’ So I brought my hand back [to punch him], and that’s the last thing I remember.”
