6 reasons to train Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu

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Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was created in the early 1900’s by brothers Carlos and Helio Gracie. In the early part of the 20th century, Helio’s brother Carlos Gracie studied Japanese Jiu-Jitsu under Mitsuyo Maeda (known in Brazil as Conde Koma, or the “Count of Combat”). The system that Maeda taught was a modified version of pre-World War II jujutsu, with a heavy focus on ground techniques.

Carlos Gracie taught these techniques to his younger brothers and to his older sons, and they, in turn, taught their brothers, sons, nephews, and cousins. The Gracies began to open academies to teach others, and Jiu-Jitsu soon became the family business. Carlos knew that the system his family was developing could surpass any contemporary martial art in realistic combat. To prove this to the rest of the world, he issued the “Gracie Challenge.” This was an open invitation to fight anytime, anywhere, regardless of style or size. The tradition of the open challenge has been continued by his family and students, who have consistently demonstrated the superiority of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu throughout the world.

As a young man, Helio was the smallest of the Gracie brothers, and also the most sickly. He was prone to fainting spells, and due to these health issues, Helio was not allowed to train jiu-jitsu. Instead, he spent much of his time watching and studying the techniques that his brothers taught in class. At the age of 17, Helio was called on to teach when Carlos, the instructor at the time, was not available for one of his student’s lessons. Carlos arrived later offering his apologies, but the student assured him it was no problem and requested that he be allowed to continue training with Helio. Carlos agreed, and Helio became an instructor.

Helio soon realized that even though he understood the techniques in theory, in reality, they were much harder to execute. With his smaller size, Helio began to feel that he just did not have the brute strength and athleticism required for many of the Jiu-Jitsu techniques. He began adapting the moves for his particular physical attributes, and through trial and error, he learned to maximize leverage and minimize the force needed to execute the moves. From these experiments, he created the more streamlined and universal art that we now know as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, thus coming closer to the goal of the “the gentle art.”

Until the 1990s the Gracie family remained largely unknown in the U.S., despite their reputation in Brazil. Aside from rumors about the “Gracie Challenge” and grainy VHS tapes showing some of their victories over opponents from other styles, the Gracies, and their style were still generally shrouded in mystery.

Looking for an opportunity to showcase their art on a larger stage, the Gracies, along with other investors, began to develop the concept of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). They sought to create a martial arts tournament that would replicate true combat as closely as possible, and thus determine which style was the most effective. The UFC was to be a tournament in the truest sense, requiring fighters to advance through several rounds of matches in one night. There were to be no weight classes and no time limits, only biting and eye-gouging were forbidden, and wins could only come by knockout or submission.

The concept finally came together in 1993, and the tournament was set to air live on U.S. pay-per-view. Competitors from several different styles enlisted to represent their arts, which included Sumo, Savate, Shootfighting, Boxing, Karate, and others. Rickson Gracie, the family’s most proven fighter, was expected to be the logical choice to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but his younger brother Royce, at a slight 175 lbs., was deliberately chosen to show that the techniques could be used to defeat much larger opponents.

In the U.S. at the time of the first UFC, grappling arts were a distant second in popularity to striking arts. It was expected that strikerswould dominate the competition, and Royce was generally considered to be an underdog. In spite of these doubts, Royce was able to impose his will and his game plan on his opponents, who often found themselves out of the match as soon as the fight hit the mat. He sustained very little damage, dished out even less to his opponents (despite opportunities to do so), and ended each of his fights cleanly by submission. Royce won three straight fights to capture the tournament crown that night, and in the first few years of the UFC, he went on to accumulate 11 wins by submission and was the tournament champion of UFC 1, 2, and 4.

Royce’s victories drew attention to the effectiveness of not only Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in particular but grappling in general. The early UFC tournaments were largely contested by fighters who specialized in only one aspect of combat and grappling proved to be the most effective single strategy. Interest in grappling arts surged, and in turn, grapplers sought to maintain their edge by training in striking arts. Today’s mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes train in several different disciplines, and with this cross-training and the implementation of standard rule sets, the look and style of MMA fighting has changed; however, a foundation in jiu-jitsu is still considered an essential element for any serious competitor.

Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is a true martial art for self defense. The main difference traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is an emphasis on self-defense. With sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu geared more towards point competition, there is a large commonality of techniques between the two. There is also wide variety of ideals in training in different schools, the utilization of technique versus how much to attempt to overpower an opponent being one of the greatest variables between them.

Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds which are also found in numerous other arts with or without ground fighting emphasis. While the self-defense uses these principals it also incorporates closing the distance to clinch and possibly take down when striking and weapons training. The premise is that most of the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are somewhat neutralized when grappling.

Training methods include drills in which techniques are practiced against a non-resisting partner and isolation sparring where only a certain technique or sets of techniques are used against near full resistance. Physical and mental conditioning is also an important part of learning the system.