Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

A relatively new martial art/sport known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) started off as a mixture of Judo and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. BJJ has been rapidly evolving since it's birth in Rio de Janeiro during the 1920's, and has revolutionized the modern MMA scene unlike anything that had been seen before. Traditional BJJ is practiced wearing a gi (which is similar to a Judo gi) and belt. The fundamental strategy behind BJJ is to take the opponent down, establish dominant ground position, and finish the opponent with either a choke or joint-lock submission. One of the most basic principles of BJJ is to use one's entire body against an opponent's single joint (elbow, knee shoulder, ankle, etc.), enabling a smaller fighter to defeat a larger one.

It was in 1914 that one of the world's greatest Judo practitioner and ground fighter, Mitsuyo Maeda, arrived in Brazil. At that time in Japan, Judo was also referred to as Kano Jiu-Jitsu or just Jiu-Jitsu. In 1917, a 14 year old boy named Carlos Gracie decided to start training Jiu-Jitsu under Maeda after watching one of his demonstrations. In 1921 Carlos' family moved to Rio de Janeiro. At the age of 17, Carlos started passing Maeda's teachings to his brothers Osvaldo, Gastao, and Jorge. The youngest of the brothers, Helio, was too young and sickly to train with them but started to learn by watching. After overcoming his health problems, Helio started to develop what would become the modern day BJJ techniques. Helio and Carlos Gracie are regarded as the founders of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

After competing in several submission Judo competitions, Helio fought the Japanese Judo player Masahiko Kimura. Kimura who was regarded as the best Judo fighter in the world outweighed Helio by at least 50-75 lbs. Helio survived for an extremely long time against Kimura before being submitted in an arm-lock (the specific lock is known today as the “kimura”). After the fight Kimura asked Helio if he could train under him to learn the principles of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Throughout the 20th century, the Gracie family increased its focus on ground fighting and further refined the techniques, competing in many Vale Tudo matches (an early form of MMA).

It was in the 1990's that BJJ exploded onto the international scene. Royce Gracie (Helio's son) won the first, second and fourth Ultimate fighting Championship. Royce's mastery of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu techniques dominated all other styles of martial arts in the competition, submitting opponents of various sizes and backgrounds with ease. Today, almost 20 years later, Jiu-Jitsu (or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as it is referred to in the United States) has spread like wildfire throughout the U.S. BJJ in some form is incorporated into the fighting systems of almost every MMA fighter. BJJ is regarded as the dominant martial arts style for ground fighting and submissions. More and more MMA fighters emerge who are black belts (or close to it) in BJJ. Top MMA fighters like BJ Penn, Antonio Nogueira, Anderson Silva, and Diego Sanchez, are all BJJ black belts.

It usually takes 8-10 years of consistent training to get to black belt in BJJ. The belt progression is as follows: white – blue- purple- brown – black. There is no set number of techniques or amount of time which determines one's belt rank. Instead, their understanding of the techniques, as well as their proficiency in live sparing (also known as rolling) determine one's belt rank.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Demonstration video:

Rickson and Royler Gracie BJJ Demonstration video: