Black Combat Arts Institute.
HISTORY · BRAZIL
Capoeira Entered the Sporting Arena Through Two Doors at Once
6 MIN READ
At the end of the 1920s, capoeira underwent a double sportivisation: it fought jiu-jitsu in the ring, and it organised its own competitions.
WHY THIS ARTICLE
Sportivisation is told as a single, late process. The thesis shows two simultaneous movements in the Sudeste of 1928 onward — the confrontation with jiu-jitsu and the internal push to autonomise as a ring sport.
Two processes at once
At the end of the 1920s, in the Sudeste — São Paulo and Rio — the now-Brazilian capoeira entered a double process of sportivisation. On one side, capoeiras, fervent defenders of the national weapon, confronted Japanese jiu-jitsu professors in numerous competitions; the two disciplines disputed the title of most effective method of self-defence. In the duels formatted by the jiu-jitsu professors, the capoeiras were roundly beaten — to the point, in Rio, of making the best of them disappear from public space.
The push to autonomise
On the other side, at the same moment, driven by the rise of ring sports — English boxing and wrestling — competitions of capoeiragem were organised, in a will to autonomise the discipline. In Rio these were crossed by frank oppositions between popular and elite capoeiras.
Why it matters
The 1928–1953 arena is not one story but two braided together: a defeat imposed from outside, and an ambition pursued from within. To collapse them is to miss how capoeira was pulled toward the ring from both directions.
SOURCES
La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles (1905–1984), thèse de doctorat, Université des Antilles, 2020 (Part II — La capoeiragem dans l'arène du combat, 1928–1953: the double process of sportivisation).
IN THE CORPUS
→ The Defeat That Erased Rio's Best Capoeiras
→ The Master Who Trained Capoeiras to Beat Jiu-Jitsu
→ Capoeira Scored Like Savate, One Announced Touch at a Time
HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
MALO, Olivier. Capoeira Entered the Sporting Arena Through Two Doors at Once. In: Black Combat Arts Institute — Articles [online]. No. 81. 2026 [accessed date]. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/articles/capoeira-entered-the-sporting-arena-through-two-doors-at-once. Adapted from the author's doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020.