The Passing of the Torch
1925 - Carlos Gracie establishes the first "Academia Gracie" (Gracie Academy) where he teaches the techniques he learned from Japanese Jiu-Jitsu master, Esai Maeda.
1952 - Carlos passes the torch to his brother, Helio Gracie, when he assumes command of the Gracie Academy.
1989 - Helio passes the torch to his eldest son, Rorion Gracie, when he establishes the first Gracie Academy in the United States.
2007 - Rorion passes the torch to his eldest sons, Ryron and Rener Gracie, and authorizes the launch of first ever Global Training Program through which the pure techniques, principles and training curriculums, found exclusively at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy, will be made available to students around the world.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Gracie Jiu-Jitsu?
In the late 1920s, Helio Gracie began modifying the traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu techniques to accommodate his frail physique, with the objective of developing a system that would enable him to defend himself against larger opponents. After years of refinement, Helio proved his art’s effectiveness by routinely defeating larger and stronger opponents some of whom outweighed him by as much as one hundred pounds. As a result, Helio Gracie’s jiu-jitsu quickly became the new expression of jiu-jitsu in Brazil, overshadowing the traditional system.
In 1967, the first Federation of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil was established, under the guidance of Helio Gracie, in order to host recreational competitions for practitioners of the art to test their self-defense skills in a safe setting. An unintended by-product of this development was a shift away from jiu-jitsu for self-defense to techniques and applications tailored to the rules of the sport. The excitement and fun of competition coupled with the prestige that accompanied tournament victories drove the vast majority of jiu-jitsu instructors to focus entirely on preparing their students for tournaments. They dedicated their training sessions to developing techniques that would lead to victory based on the point system, rules, and weight classes that governed sport jiu-jitsu. Unfortunately, their focus on the game undermined the art’s effectiveness because most of the sport jiu-jitsu techniques had little or no applicability in a real fight and worse, by perfecting them a student would develop reflexes that could be counter productive in a street self-defense situation. As a result, Helio Gracie resigned from the federation.
Rorion Gracie, Helio’s eldest son, was determined to share his father’s pure jiu-jitsu with the rest of the world. In the 1970s, he came to the United States and immediately noticed that most Americans had no appreciation for jiu-jitsu’s effectiveness. The few Americans with knowledge of martial arts confused Helio’s methods with the traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu that had already come to America in the 1950s. So, Rorion trademarked the name “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” to emphasize the important distinction between Helio’s art and the Japanese version.
Rorion spent years leading a one-man campaign to open the eyes of American martial artists to the beauty, simplicity, and effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He concluded that, despite his tireless and constant efforts, he needed a more powerful and visible way to demonstrate the superiority of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu over all other martial arts. In a characteristically bold and novel move, Rorion created the Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC) in 1993. The spectacle shocked the martial arts world as they witnessed Gracie Jiu-Jitsu’s leverage based techniques repeatedly defeat larger, more athletic opponents armed with a wide variety of martial arts skills. The worldwide demand for Helio Gracie’s art spurred many sport jiu-jitsu practitioners to leave Brazil in order to capitalize on the increased demand for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instruction. Due to legal restrictions on the use of the trademarked name “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu,” these instructors began using the name “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” as an alternative.
The influx of sport jiu-jitsu instructors, many of whom were members of the very large extended Gracie family, led to the establishment of numerous jiu-jitsu schools all across the United States. Nearly all of these schools claimed to teach the same jiu-jitsu that was created by Grand Master Helio Gracie and used by Royce in the UFC when in fact they were teaching a version of the art that was modified specifically for sport competition. Students hoping to acquire the realistic self-defense skills they saw in the UFC flocked to these schools and often trained for several years before they came to the disappointing realization that what they were learning had very limited street applicability.
Although Brazilian and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu both trace back to Grand Masters Carlos and Helio Gracie, today, the term “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” represents a version of their art that is designed for sport competition, whereas “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” represents the most complete and purest form of the art designed and practiced entirely for self-defense in accordance to the principles of the Grand Masters.
Today, the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy and its Certified Training Centers are the only organizations that are fully committed to the preservation and perpetuation of pure Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Any school or individual claiming to teach or practice “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” while failing to adhere to the techniques and principles established by the Grand Master is ruining the integrity of his art and should be reported.
