Geo Omori was born in Tokyo in 1898 and joined the Kodokan at age 9. He earned his black belt at 17 under Tokugoro Ito. He emigrated to Brazil in 1925 and opened the 'Paulista de Jiu-Jitsu' academy in São Paulo in 1928. By 1931, his main academy was in the Edificio Martinelli, Brazil's first skyscraper. He was a pioneer of vale tudo, featured in a 1928 New York Times article. He fought Carlos and George Gracie to multiple draws and publicly stated that Carlos was not truly instructed by Maeda. His student Luiz Franca founded the non-Gracie Fadda lineage still active today through Nova Uniao and GFTeam. Omori died suddenly from food poisoning on March 2, 1938 at age 40, and his rivalry with the Gracies led to his near-complete erasure from the BJJ origin story.