1987: When Rickson Gracie sparred with a Japanese judo master Hayward Nishioka

Yeah and how old was Nishioka at the time? Like 45? What was Graceland? 10 or 15 years younger?

Very nice to see old-school judo with leg grabs meeting old-school BJJ, which still had a significant stand-up component.

Rickson is not the better for knowing Jiu Jitsu. Nowadays he has Parkinson's and shakes like a leaf.

Great video and commentary, Chadi!

Damnnnn Rickson smashed that judo dude in his own rules...wasn't even close..

"in my opinion" wisdom 100%

Rickson was in his 20' s and had rolled with a few of these guys before going against the 40 year old. Not bad.

Very well designed video.

Well, one gat a throw in and taps. The other got just throws. I think it goes to BJJ.

Thanks for sharing. It seems the comments section is again a judo vs BJJ war for some reason… The both are great sports. Different rules. Enjoy and have fun.

高専柔道が1番強い！西岡は普通の柔道選手にすぎない。

In the first clip, I’m really surprised Hickson was allowed to continue without readjusting his gi. This is usually unacceptable etiquette in a dojo.

GJJ or BJJ not Jujutsu

At the end of the day its all the same tree, different branch. Anyone that knows this doesnt see BJJ vs Judo. They see 2 fighters with different preferences in fighting style. However they both practice the same art.

Rickson was already much more of an all-around fighter from what I understand, which helps explain the posture difference. Standing straight like that as your default posture might be a good idea in straight judo, but it'll get your head taken clean off in other facets of fighting. Likely one of the reasons why so few judo-based guys reach the highest levels of mma. Especially as that sport continues to evolve.

I trained at Rickson’s school in Los Angeles in the mid 90’s when he shared space with a Karate dojo on Pico near Sepulveda, and we did Judo occasionally in addition to BJJ Newaza.

I remember when this happened. The thing I remembered most was Rickson was much younger than Nishioka and was ripped. Nishioka was an older man and not in good shape at all. Rickson still did well, but we all wondered how it would have gone is Nishioka was in HIS prime the way rickson was... Another thing is, one of Ricksons brothers was there with him and was much better at standup than Rickson was. The older brother was there also and at the end he asked Nishioka how good he thought Rickson was. Nishioka told him, Rickson had a lot to learn, but his younger brother was very good...

Cool video

Hayward is a trooper being 44 against a dude half his age. Most people at 44 are overweight, let alone athletic. I'm an absolute outlier as well.

It's worth remembering that Hayward was already past his prime when they had this randori session while Rickson was still in his peak. Hayward was 44 and Rickson was 28 when they sparred in 1987. Hayward's highest world ranking was 5th in the 1960s. By 1987 he had long ceased being active in competition. Hayward's competitive weight class was -80kg while Rickson typically fought at +80kg. So despite the huge age gap, being non-competitive for years, and the weight class disadvantage, Hayward still managed to ragdoll Rickson a few times.

@suareztactics

Back when Judo was great

So Rickson lost?

Brilliant! and very lucid commentary. Thank you for this clash of titans

The gi has to go because it is not really realistic

Rickson was amazing.

RG the 🐐

There is no Jiu-Jitsu here, just one Judo master. I still do not know why BJJ has anything to do with jujitsu.

Judo works for the street and self defense. BJJ is practical mostly for ring competitions.

Thank you for that excellent break down.

I'm developing my own Kempo system which combines Shotokan,

Wing Chun, Kosho Ryu Kempo, American Kenpo and Judo, so this video is very helpful for understanding Judo much better.

Sheesh. I saw this video in my teacher's office in Little Tokyo in 1995? 96? "Oh yeah; that's old judo". Friend of Nishioka sensei who was fortunate to meet. "Basically Japanese Judo".

Rolls Gracie had the best judo ive seen from a Gracie he had the posture and his tecnics were more fluids.

Sacrifice throw

Awesome video 👌🏼 📹

Almost a tie 😂 Rickson destroyed the Japanese Judo master

Final question is who actually won that pretty sure was Gracie

I was there. When I say I was there I mean my dad was there and when I say my dad I mean a a guy he knew. When I say he knew him, I mean they were both Gracie students on earth at some point. Anyway, that doesn’t matter, the Gracie’s reported to me, in confidence, and when I say to me, I mean, they weren’t too interested in this getting out, but anyway, that doesn’t matter, the reality is, they allege Hayward had 1000’s of hypodermic needles in his palms, all slowly infecting Rickson with a powerful yet untraceable poison. These needles couldn’t be seen nor could the damage to Rickson Gi or skin because advanced Japanese technology. This wasn’t enough to kill a man such as a Gracie, let alone Rickson, but it made him unfocused, have poor posture and struggle. Rickson still won.
If you got this far I hope you had a laugh. 😂😂😂😂😂

What's is technique video ? Uchi-mata ? Uchi-mata my favorite technique.

Thank you for such an incredible video detailing an unknown sparring mach between two icons, LOVED IT!!!!

You should do a deep dive on high percentage judo takedowns relative to combative world wide like sambo/ systems / combatives / Gracie / edo period samurai judo takedowns I recommend using a.i

But but he never lost a point!?

When will the Gracies start paying BJJ royalties to the Japanese for stealing and making money from the Japanese artform? Theyve made billions from the Japanese Martial Arts and not one Japanese person has received any of that.

Rickson didn’t just try to go for the leg, he got it and the takedown as well…

Judo isn't much more than Karate using catch wrestling and jacket wrestling. Gracie JJ is basically that combined with more catch wrestling

It's too bad these Judokas are not Kosen. The Gracie's should have gone to Japan and challenged the Kosen Judokas. Kosen focuses more on ground work. Judo here in the states focuses more on stand-up and throwing.

Nice...but this is the equivalent of thumb wrestling.

I don’t know about Rickson, but at a judo, jujitsu training session Jason morris was doing newaza with Gracie and ragged him around like a noob.

Thanks for sharing.

Rickson's not being careless with his posture. At this point, through Rolls Gracie Rickson had been exposed to other forms of grappling, as you can see from the single and double leg takedowns. A bent posture becomes more suitable.