Mixed martial arts fighter Ryan Gracie was arrested on Friday for mugging and hitting a 76-year-old man in the city of Sao Paulo, according to the local press. 

The athlete is a member of the Gracie family, which got internationally famous for developing the so-called Brazilian jiu jitsu.

The 33 year-old fighter allegedly attacked the retired man, who lived in a building next to his own, in the Itaim Bibi district, Sao Paulo's south zone. After injuring the victim's left hand with a kitchen knife, Gracie stole his car, informed the police.

While driving, he crashed into a phone booth and ended up hitting the vehicle against a road rail. Gracie left the car behind and tried to steal a van, but the driver managed to get rid of him.

After that, stated the police, he used the knife to try to steal a motorcycle from a courier, who hit his helmet on the fighter's head, while other bikers came to offer help. They held him and called the police.

The chief of the precinct where Gracie was taken stated that he will undergo tests to identify the presence of any drug in his organism. In 2000, he was arrested for stabbing a person in a fight in a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro.

The Gracies are also the founders of mixed martial arts tournaments, which started when the family's fighters defied fighters of other martial arts to prove the efficiency of their jiu jitsu, adapted from the original Japanese jiu jitsu. In order to include all the different styles, the challenges had no rules.

Source: news.xinhuanet.com