A History of Jiu Jitsu: Final

A History of Jiu Jitsu Part Four: Sport Jiu Jitsu, Going to America and the UFC

Carlos and Helio Gracie took Japanese Judo and molded it to fit their frailer bodies, moving an evolution that started with Samurai and now needed to be brought to the world. (See Previous Article )

Jiu Jitsu had already taken Brazil by storm, turning the Gracies into minor celebrities, but the Gracies knew for their martial art to really take off they had to go to America.

In 1978, Helio’s oldest son, Rorion, traveled to Los Angeles to start sharing Jiu Jitsu. Turned down by every local martial arts academy, Rorion taught lessons out of a garage.

This period is full of great stories that I don’t have the time to share, but I highly recommend an interview done by Fightworks with Richard Bresler, Rorion's first American student, who met Rorion by selling him a water bed.

The interview is in episode #195 Jiu-Jitsu takes root in the USA and is just a fantastic listen describing everything from being roommates with Rorion to watching the Gracies give lessons to Chuck Norris.(http://thefightworkspodcast.com/category/interviews/ )

As Rorion’s school took root he was frustrated that Americans seemed to think Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, due to its lack of striking, was a weak martial art.

Rorion traveled the LA area challenging schools, eventually taking his students to a Traditional Jiu Jitsu school founded on the principles of Kano Jiu Jitsu, where Rorion’s blue belts defeated the black belts of the school.

In 1980, determined to prove that Jiu Jitsu was effective, Rorion held The Gracie Challenge, an open invitation to any martial artist in California to test themselves against Jiu Jitsu.

Rorion, along with the other Gracies and Bresler, defeated everyone in the tournament. (Videos of these challenges can be seen on YouTube.)

In 1989, the Gracie Challenge had created enough local buzz for Rorion, along with brothers Rickson, Royce and Royler, to open what today is known as the North American headquarters of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Rorion along with his brothers still teach at the school based in Torrance, Calif.

While prevalent in Southern California, Jiu Jitsu as a martial art was still unknown to much of the nation.

Remembering the effectiviness of the Gracie Challenge and the turnout of not just challengers but spectators Rorion, in conjunction with businessmen Art Davie and Robert Meyrowitz decided to start a martial arts tournament that pitted different styles against each other.

Together they called their tournament the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and on Nov 12, 1993 UFC 1 was held.

There was debate over if Rickson or Royce should represent the Gracies.

Rickson had greater size and was more skilled than Royce, but Rorion picked Royce because of Royce’s skill in the closed guard and to show that a smaller fighter, using Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, could defeater larger opponents.

Royce submitted every opponent he faced, winning UFC 1 and becoming a star in the new birthed sport of MMA. The result was a global awaking to the effectiveness of Brazlian Jiu Jitsu and the demand for instruction grew like it never had before.

Meanwhile in Brazil, Carlos Gracie Jr was focused on organizing the rapidly growing Sport Jiu Jitsu community, and after the debut of the UFC it was inundated with a wash of new American schools. In an effort to help organize the rapidly growing number of competitors and schools, Carlos established the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF).

In 1996, the IBJJF held their first World Championships. While other organizations have held world championships, the IBJJF tournament winners are the only ones referred to as Jiu Jitsu World Champions.

Carlos also standardized the belts of Jiu Jitsu schools: white, blue, purple, brown and black and standardized the amounted of time between stripes and promotions. Along with establishing weight classes for competitions, he also started the Gracie-Barra Academies in an attempt to unite the Gracie schools under one banner, but there are still Gracie schools that prefer to stand alone.

Today, Jiu Jitsu is defined by rivalries of thousands of schools, the greatest being Gracie-Barra and Alliance Jiu Jitsu.

While the great modern champions of Deminan Maia, ‘Jacare’ Souza, and Roger Gracie would seem to be the best place to leave this there is one more aspect to tell.

In the mid-1900s the U.S. Army called Helio Gracie to come demonstrate Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. After his demonstration the Army adopted it as their official hand-to-hand art.

Its effectiveness in the recent Iraq Wars and other conflicts prompted the Army to ask Rorion and Rener Gracie to come assess the Army’s progress with BJJ in Jan 2010. It is also rumored the U.S. Marine Corp is looking to adopt Jiu Jitsu, considering its success with the army.

So we leave Jiu Jitsu exactly where we found it, on the battlefield.