Wallid Ismail
| Wallid Ismail | |
|---|---|
| Born | Wallid Farid Ismail 23 February 1968 Manaus, Brazil |
| Other names | Paraíba |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Weight | 182 lb (83 kg; 13.0 st) |
| Division | Middleweight |
| Fighting out of | Rio de Janeiro |
| Team | Carlson Gracie Team |
| Trainer | Carlson Gracie, Georges Mehdi, Ary Almeida |
| Rank | 1st degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu |
| Years active | 1991–2002 |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 12 |
| Wins | 9 |
| By knockout | 2 |
| By submission | 5 |
| By decision | 2 |
| Losses | 3 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| By decision | 2 |
| Occupation | Fight promoter |
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
Last updated on: December 11, 2009 | |
Wallid Farid Ismail[1] (born February 23, 1968) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and promoter. Ismail holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) under Carlson Gracie, and is an IVC mixed martial arts world champion and BJJ Champion.[2] In mixed martial arts, Ismail also competed for the UFC, and PRIDE, and most of wins in the sport came by way of submission. Ismail's nickname "Paraíba," is a term often applied to those in Brazil that come from outside of Rio de Janeiro. The adjective is similar to the term "redneck" in the United States.[3]
Background
Ismail started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 1980 in his home state of Amazonas in Brazil under Ary Almeida, and then, in 1984, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and started training under his master, the late Carlson Gracie, who described Ismail as a "hairy and chubby guy," but had a desire to succeed, as he would be known for later in his career[3] and stayed by the side of his master until the day Carlson died in 2006. Gracie had allowed Ismail to train with his camp even though Ismail had no money to afford the teaching and it was Ismail's peers at Gracie's camp that originally gave Ismail the nickname, "Paraiba."[4] Wallid then started to compete in jiu-jitsu tournaments, becoming champion several times, and defeating four members of the famous Gracie family in competition.
Victories over the Gracie family
Back when they were brown belts, Wallid had a famous duel with Ralph Gracie at the Copa Rio Sport Center, with Ismail winning a referee decision. In 1993, Wallid scored another victory over a Gracie when he defeated Renzo Gracie.[5] After his win, Ismail challenged the main members of the family, Rickson and Royce, stating that he would fight them in any style anywhere. Only Royce accepted the challenge, demanding special conditions for the fight, like having no point scoring and no time limit, thus making the fight only winnable by submission. With renowned Hélio Vigio as the referee, the bout took place in December 1998, and was won by Ismail after four minutes and fifty three seconds, choking Gracie unconscious with the Relógio (also known as clock choke or koshi-jime), a move that has been associated with Wallid ever since. After the match, Royce's side tried to negotiate a rematch, but according to Ismail, they withdrew from the proposition after several months.[6]
Wallid was also famous for his personal enmity with Ryan Gracie. It started in December 1999, when Ismail and Gracie challenged each other and had a shouting exchange in a beach in Rio de Janeiro. In October 2000, Ryan tried to attack Wallid from behind in a party, after which Wallid turned around a choked Gracie unconscious with a guillotine choke.[7] Ryan agreed to fight Wallid at mixed martial arts match at World Extreme Cagefighting in January 2000; however, Ryan dropped out of the event, and instead proposed fighting in April 2001, but he had to drop again after being arrested for stabbing a man in a bar fight.
Feud with Edson Carvalho
In 1996, Wallid was involved in a violent incident with Edson Carvalho, a judo black belt and fellow Carlson Gracie trainee. The matter took place in Georges Mehdi's judo school, which both Ismail and Carvalho were attending at the time. After heated words among the two, a sparring turned into an all-out fight when Ismail and Carvalho attacked each other. Mehdi intervened to break up the brawl and expel them out of the academy, but the two fighters resumed fighting as soon as they were in the street. Seeing the situation, Mehdi opted for calling the police, but it arrived too late and didn't compromise to break up the violence, and meanwhile Wallid was brutally beaten down and left unconscious and profusely bleeding. After the incident was finally over, Ismail had to be attended by Mehdi himself and spent a week in an ICU, with 20 stitches in his head, both orbital bones broken and many other facial injuries.
The incident had deep repercussions. Carvalho's coach, Antônio "Mestre da Morte" Lacerda, declared himself prideful of his trainee's act and actually paraded through the city with the bloody gi jacket of Ismail.[1] Carlson Gracie, who was teaching in United States at the time, returned to Brazil and attacked Lacerda in a public meeting, challenging him to a fight, but nothing came from it. Ismail claims that Edson's brother Ricardo Carvalho intervened actively in the brawl and that it became a 2-on-1,[8] but Mehdi himself dismissed this version and assured that the fight was fair.[9]
"The fight started in my academy. I ordered Wallid and Edson to stop. They conceded but soon started it again. Then I sent them outside, because my academy is not the place for this type of fight. Since they would not let go of each other I had to push them outside close the doors and call the cops. And the fight out there went on for half an hour since the police was not coming quickly. Sometimes I opened the door and tried to separate them but it was like separating a dog fight. Edson did not obey me and then I asked Wallid to stop it, asking for mercy he replied "not even dead". It is important to remind you that at no moment Edson's brother helped him: Wallid and Edson fought alone. When the police arrived with reinforcements, Edson left. I took Wallid with a totally disfigured face to the restroom and had him cleaned. Afterwards he was taken to the hospital wherein he stayed for days"
Mixed martial arts
Early career
Ismail was able to become a professional fighter because of his specially dedicated training, as he had many sponsors and did not have to teach or have another job, unlike most of the other competitors in the country. Wallid was brought to the spotlight in 1991, when he faced Eugênio Tadeu, on an event aired by Rede Globo channel in national television, giving the victory to Ismail in his professional debut.
He later went to compete at Universal Vale Tudo Fighting. He first fought Australian Dennis Kefalinos, winning in short time, and went to face Japanese professional wrestler Katsumi Usuda, hailing from Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. Katsumi offered resistance to Wallid's attempts to pass guard, but he was eventually mounted and punched. The fight then turned controversial, as Usuda tapped out unceasingly only for the referee to ignore it and allow Ismail to choke him out. They met again in Japan, but Ismail won again.
In 1998, he defeated Johil de Oliveira by submission due to strikes, and then defeated Gary Myers via decision.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
In 1997, Ismail had his debut for Ultimate Fighting Championship at the UFC 12 event, where he was paired with Pancrase fighter Kazuo Takahashi. The fight would become infamous for its irregularities and disregard for the rules, as Takahashi seemed to be uninformed of the event's ruleset while Ismail intentionally ignored it.
Wallid tried to take Kazuo down, but they hit the cage wall and stayed on it, and both of them kept grabbing the fence despite the referee's continuous warnings. Shortly after, Kazuo knocked down Wallid with a right punch which seemed to end the fight, but the Japanese wrestler stood waiting, believing his opponent would receive a 10 count like it was done in Pancrase; when he learned that the match would continue, he tried to kick Ismail, but it happened to be an illegal attack because he was wearing wrestling shoes. Recovering the pace, Ismail eye-gouged Kazuo, and the Japanese wrestler asked for time to check it out, which was refused as UFC didn't include it on the rules unlike Pancrase. Takahashi had also to be informed of the end of the round, as he didn't know its duration. However, the most shocking event of the night came at its end: having been informed that groin attacks were legal, Takahashi slid his hand inside Ismail's trunks, tore away his protective cup and started striking his groin, which the Brazilian tried to counter by eye-gouging him again. Ismail lost the fight by unanimous decision.
PRIDE
Ismail then signed with PRIDE FC, making his debut at Pride 4 against Japanese fighter Akira Shoji. Although he was the smaller fighter, Ismail controlled Shoji early, but later in the fight, Ismail became exhausted and Shoji finished him with strikes. Ismail later stated that jet lag from the trip to Japan was the cause for his exhaustion, not poor conditioning.[6] Ismail returned at PRIDE 15 with a win by arm triangle over Shungo Oyama. His next fight in Pride Fighting Championships|PRIDE]] was a decision loss in a technical ground fight to Alex Stiebling at Pride 19. Ismail won the last two fights of his career in 2002 in Japan.
Post fight career
Wallid founded the Jungle Fight Championship promotion in Brazil,[10] and is often on the corner of Paulo Thiago and Erick Silva in their UFC fights.[11]
Mixed martial arts record
| 12 matches | 9 wins | 3 losses |
| By knockout | 2 | 1 |
| By submission | 5 | 0 |
| By decision | 2 | 2 |
| By disqualification | 0 | 0 |
| Draws | 0 | |
| No contests | 0 | |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 9–3 | Yasuhito Namekawa | Decision (unanimous) | Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002 | December 12, 2002 | 3 | 5:00 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Win | 8–3 | Kazunari Murakami | TKO (punches) | UFO - Legend | August 8, 2002 | 2 | 3:03 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Loss | 7–3 | Alex Stiebling | Decision (unanimous) | PRIDE 19 - Bad Blood | February 24, 2002 | 3 | 5:00 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Win | 7–2 | Shungo Oyama | Technical Submission (arm triangle choke) | PRIDE 15 - Raging Rumble | July 29, 2001 | 2 | 2:30 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Loss | 6–2 | Akira Shoji | TKO (punches) | Pride 4 | October 11, 1998 | 2 | 1:26 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 6–1 | Gary Myers | Decision (unanimous) | IVC 5 - The Warriors | April 26, 1998 | 1 | 30:00 | Brazil | |
| Win | 5–1 | Johil de Oliveira | Submission (punches) | IVC 3 - The War Continues | October 12, 1997 | 1 | 9:48 | Brazil | |
| Loss | 4–1 | Kazuo Takahashi | Decision | UFC 12 - Judgement Day | February 2, 1997 | 1 | 15:00 | Dothan, Alabama, United States | |
| Win | 4–0 | Katsumi Usuta | Submission (rear naked choke) | U - Japan | November 17, 1996 | 1 | 3:10 | Japan | |
| Win | 3–0 | Katsumi Usuta | Submission (rear naked choke) | UVF 2 - Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 2 | June 6, 1996 | 1 | 3:59 | Brazil | |
| Win | 2–0 | Dennis Kefalinos | Submission (rear naked choke) | UVF 1 - Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 1 | May 4, 1996 | 1 | 2:10 | Japan | |
| Win | 1–0 | Eugenio Tadeu | TKO (injury) | Desafio - Jiu Jitsu vs. Luta Livre | August 26, 1991 | 1 | 16:18 | Grajaú, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Submission grappling record
See also
References
- ^ a b "Wallid Ismail | BJJ Heroes: the jiu jitsu encyclopedia". BJJ Heroes. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
- ^ "MMA Legend: Wallid Ismail". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
- ^ a b "Wallid Ismail | BJJ Heroes: the jiu jitsu encyclopedia". BJJ Heroes. 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
- ^ [1] Archived March 29, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ten Years Ago, on December 17, 1998, Wallid Ismail Defeated Royce Gracie in Jiu-Jitsu | News Archive". Adcombat.com. 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
- ^ a b Rodney Ley, Wallid Ismail Opens Fire! 'The Gracie Exterminator' Speaks About Royce, Ralph, Renzo and Rickson, Black Belt Magazine, September 1999
- ^ Wallid Ismael vs. Ryan Gracie feud – the facts once and for all
- ^ Wallid Ismail, revista Tatame, 1995
- ^ Georges Mehdi, "O depoimento do Prof. Medhi à revista Kiai nº19 - ano 4", 1995
- ^ [2] Archived April 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [3] Archived January 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
