History of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

When Mitsuyo Maeda, a highly decorated judoka and jiu-jitsu practitioner arrived in Brazil in 1914, he met an influential businessman named Gastao Gracie, who helped him get established. Gracie’s son, Carlos, soon developed a keen interest for the jiu-jitsu that Maeda was instructing at the time, becoming one of Maeda’s leading students. Carlos began teaching jiu-jitsu from his home, under the watchful eye of his younger brother Helio, who was considered too ill and fragile to train the art. Helio began to adapt the art to better suit the smaller person, and was soon teaching his style, which later became known as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Later, Helio would become recognised as perhaps the main founding father of BJJ, competing against legends such as Hidehiko Kimura, and passing his knowledge to his growing family. His sons, Royce, Rickson and Royler had tremendous success in Vale Tudo (no holds barred fighting) tournaments, Royce winning the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championships, proving that this style of Jiu-Jitsu when used against any other single martial art, is the most effective fighting form in existence.

To prove to the world that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was the most complete fighting art, the Gracies set up what is now known as the “Gracie Challenge” matches. The purpose of this was to show that a skilled Jiu Jitsu practitioner is more than capable of defeating a master of any other martial art, by closing the striking distance, and using grappling techniques to take the fight to the ground, where a kickboxer, kung-fu fighter, boxer or karate master would be akin to a fish on dry land. The Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, usually Royce, Rickson, Royler, Rorion or Rener Grace, would then proceed to attain a dominant position on the ground, strike to soften the opponent, and lock on a punishing submission hold, for example a choke or an arm-lock, forcing the opponent to submit. If the other martial arts practitioner was not convinced he was beaten fairly, the Gracie in question would simply beat him again, fairly and soundly, until both were convinced of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s dominance in an all out fight with no rules. Many examples of Gracie challenge matches are available on the internet today, and the Gracie’s still maintain an open challenge for anyone of another discipline to test their art against Jiu-Jitsu. As Rorion Gracie himself once said, “Jiu-Jitsu is the only self-defence system that effectively addresses ground grappling, the most important, yet the most neglected aspect of any real fight”.

Wanting to take the Gracie Challenge to a world-wide audience, Rorion came up with the idea to televise a huge martial arts tournament named “The Ultimate Fighting Championship”, which has now achieved huge global popularity under the direction of Dana White and Frank and Lorenzo Fertita, and has become more commonly known as the UFC. The idea behind the tournament was to see which martial art was the most effective in a real no holds barred, one on one fight. Sumo wrestlers, hapkido instructors, ninjitsu black belts, professional boxers, street fighters, even NFL superstars all came to test themselves in what was then the greatest fighting arena in existence. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s representative was Royce Gracie, one of the slightest brothers in the family, weighing about 175lbs. The champion of the family, Rickson, had been dominating tournaments in Japan, and the Gracie’s decided to use Royce, as a real example that a small, frail man, with good technique, could defeat even the biggest wrestler or sumo fighter. Royce went on to dominate the competition for a further 4 UFC’s and became known as one of the fathers of MMA (mixed martial arts), encouraging everyone to begin training Jiu-Jitsu.