Masahiko Kimura vs. Hélio Gracie

The arm lock named "Kimura"

Masahiko Kimura widely regarded as one of the greatest judokas ever. In submission grappling, the reverse ude-garami arm lock is regularly called the "Kimura", because of his monumental victory over Gracie jiu-jitsu developer Hélio Gracie.

Masahiko Kimura began learning Judo at the age of 9 and by the age of 15, he defeated six fighters in a row. At the age of 18 he became the youngest 5th-degree black belt to defeat eight consecutive opponents at Kodokan (headquarters for the main governing frame of Judo).

At the peak of his career, Kimura's training involved a thousand push-ups including nine-hours of exercise every day. 

In 1949, following a touring of Hawaii, Kimura and Yukio Kato departed to Brazil after an invitation with the resource of the Sao Paulo Shimbun. Both confronted by Hélio Gracie of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Gracie added some guidance rules termed the "Gracie regulations", eliminating traditional throws and pins from gaining any advantage, the judokas lack of submission training meant the regulations designed to position Gracie for victory. Kato announced he would be the first combatant to accept the test, drawing Hélio Gracie in their match at the Maracana stadium. However, Kato lost to Gracie via GI choke.

Hélio urged to continue with the challenge, and Kimura proposed he was to fight. The battle between Gracie and Kimura scheduled at the Maracana stadium, before an audience of 20,000 people, including the President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas. Kimura was issued a warning from his Japanese embassy, if he lost this fight he wouldn't be welcomed home in Japan. Kimura entered the arena with raw eggs and insults by the Brazilian mob, and the Gracie challengers added a coffin to signify Kimura will face his doom, much the same as Kato did before.

As the match opened, Hélio tried to takedown the judoka but Kimura was checking his attempts while combining throws of his own. The judoka recognizing Gracie's strategy began devising a way to win. In the second round, Masahiko took the battle to the ground, pinning Gracie with kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame. Executing a hold trained by the Japanese, the Brazilian laid helpless beneath Kimura. But, Hélio continued his fight.

The next round, Kimura took Gracie's arm and executed gyaku-ude-garami. Still, Hélio didn't surrender, Kimura applied the arm lock until it snapped Gracie's arm. Hélio still denied surrendering, Kimura continued to destroy the arm shattering it considerably. Finally, as the judoka proceeded to crush it a third time, the Gracie corner was forced to throw in the towel, declaring Kimura the winner.

As a tribute to Kimura's victory, the arm lock technique used to defeat Hélio Gracie is referred to as the Kimura lock, or simply the Kimura.