Maeda is actually considered the founder of Judo in Brazil (judo Brazil's webpage has/had links about him). There was also another Japanese immigrant there before him though...
at anyrate, Maeda taught a lot of people in Brazil.
The thing is, you and I can learn BJJ from Superman himself, but are YOU going to fight MMA? If not, you are just another one of hundreds of students. Even if you get a black belt in BJJ, if you don't fight MMA, AND you don't teach MMA, are you passing on Maeda's/Helio's/Carlos's, etc. legacy?
Maeda, and similar people that Kano sent around the world (guy who's name was sent to France was also great), were fighters. Fortunately Helio is passing this legacy on.
A couple of misconceptions have developed along the way though (in my non-credentialed opp only though).
1) Kimura was not sent to Japan specifically to beat Helio. The person that Helio beat prior is said to not have even placed at the All-Japan's, so he wasn't the #2 man, and Kimura was retired from active judo comp. (and probably had already refused to return those flags from that Emperor tournie and pissed off the Kodokan...). Kimura was in Brazil to make money from what has been posted before. Along the way he had a match with Helio...
2) BJJ and Sambo, while having a strong origin in judo, are defintely different arts than judo NOW. However, both have tried to conceal this at various times...ie. Helio did not discover "leverage". Maeda was SMALL, he used leverage too. End of the day, can you learn to fight with a shovel or how to throw elbows from the mount at a judo school (if you can, score!)?
3) Maeda taught a LOT of people in Brazil. Carlos Sr.'s role in developing BJJ seems to have been marginalized (in all of the old Gracie photos, you see both Carlos and Helio with similar belts and the rest with black belts) in the history we were told. The UFC was, unfortunately, started about 1 year after both Carlos Sr. and Kimura died (going by memory, could be off)!
4) Just as how the Gracies were able to "refine" judo, so are judokas or sambists able to "re-refine" their groundwork. It should come as no surprise if BJJ became a world wide sport (a real one) if the top team came from Japan, Russia, France, Germany, etc. They would LEARN groundwork the way the rest of the world learnt throws and started to beat the Japanese. It isn't rocket science (although teh Japanese still win the most in judo)...BJJers picked up leglocks pretty damn fast, didn't they? Might take a decade or two, but it would happen.
In the meantime, train in what you love...and RIGHT NOW, Japan is sending (at least once) their judo team to Brazil to train! That should tell you guys something...namely that Brazil ROCKS at groundwork. But now that the Japanese know this, wait 10 years and check again...people are people, but some countries put a lot more money into this than others.