Wallid Ismail

 ( 1968 Births ) 

After his first championship wins, Ismail had a famous duel with Ralph Gracie, whom he believed the Gracie family had trained specifically to beat him for three years. The Carlson Gracie apprentice defeated Ralph at the Copa Rio Sport Center, winning a referee decision. In 1993, Wallid scored another victory over a Gracie when he defeated Renzo Gracie, who would have been training for two years for revenge. Ismail then challenged the main members of the family, Rickson Gracie and Royce Gracie, stating that he would fight them in any style anywhere.

Only Royce accepted the challenge, though 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 on December 17, 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 in judo), a move that has been associated with Wallid ever since. The bout had a significant international repercussion due to Royce's previous career in Ultimate Fighting Championship, Wallid Ismail Challenges Rickson, Ink Panther Deal, Black Belt magazine, June 1999 to the point Keith Vargo from the Black Belt magazine stated, "One thing is certain: Royce Gracie is no longer the messiah of unarmed combat he once was."Keith Vargo, Royce Gracie is Only Human, Black Belt magazine, April 1999

After the match, Ismail challenged Rickson again, but the latter was declared inactive in the sport. Royce's side tried then to negotiate a rematch, which was accepted, but according to Ismail, they withdrew from the proposition after several months. Rickson later criticized Ismail, calling him an "average fighter" and stating "I never felt like he's someone I have to respect as a fighter."Robert W. Young, Rickson Gracie: The Legend of No-Holds-Barred Fighting Speaks Out on the State of Grappling Arts, Black Belt magazine, March 2001

Wallid was also famous for his personal enmity with Ryan Gracie. 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 fighting in a bar.

The incident had deep repercussions. Carvalho's coach, Antônio Lacerda a.k.a. Mestre da Morte, declared himself prideful of his trainee's act and actually paraded through the city with the bloody gi jacket of Ismail. 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,Wallid Ismail, revista Tatame, 1995 but Mehdi himself dismissed this version and assured that the fight was fair.Georges Mehdi, "O depoimento do Prof. Medhi à revista Kiai nº19 - ano 4", 1995