Brazilian Jiu Jitsu History

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu History

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport and self-defense system that focuses on grappling, especially on the ground although competition fights begin with athletes standing.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was developed during the 1920s when Mitsuyo Maeda taught Luis Franca and Carlos Gracie the ground techniques of Judo known as Ne Waza . Maeda had gone to live in Brazil after traveling the world spreading Judo.

It is said that he had trained Sumo when he was young and that he became a student of Jigoro Kano after knowing about  the successes of Judo.

On his trips he made demonstrations and accepted challenges from wrestlers, boxers, practitioners of Savate and other martial arts. He arrived in Brazil in 1914.

It is said that Carlos Gracie, the eldest of Gastão Gracie's sons, saw a demonstration by Maeda at the Teatro Da Paz and decided to learn Judo. Maeda accepted him as a student and Carlos learned the master's techniques for a few years, then passed them on to his brothers, starting the Gracie lineage of Ju Jutsu.

Although Brazilian jiu jitsu is mostly associated with the Gracie family name, another lineage developed from Maeda with another Brazilian disciple: Luis Franca . This transmission line is known for having representatives such as Oswaldo Fadda who gave rise to teams such as Nova União  and  Grappling Fight Team .

It is also said that Hélio Gracie gradually developed  Gracie Jiu Jitsu as a softer and more pragmatic form of judo focused on ground fighting, due to his difficulties in being able to execute judo techniques with larger and stronger opponents.

In general, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu promotes the use of joint locks and chokes (due to pressure on the carotid arteries) both in its kimono and grappling modality, and blows with the hands or legs are not allowed.

The objective of the fights is to cause the opponent to surrender using one of these techniques, if at the end of the time stipulated for each category and level (this is in competitive tournaments) none of the fighters has managed to make the other one surrender, the winner is decided through a scoring system that values ​​specific actions and which in BJJ are known as passing the guard, sweeping, mounting or taking the back.

Rise and popularity of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Although Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was gaining popularity in Brazil, it was not known worldwide and began to be practiced significantly outside of Brazil until Royce Gracie demonstrated the virtues of the martial art in the Ultimate Fighting Championship , a tournament that in its first editions faced specialists from different martial arts.

In the first three editions, Roy Gracie obtained clear and forceful defeats submitting his opponents without hardly using punches, which triggered interest in Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Currently many Brazilian jiu jitsu champions and practitioners fight in the UFC with great demonstrations of the power of this martial art.

Some of the most notable are Anderson Silva , Demian Maia , Fabricio Werdum , and Roger Gracie. More recently some other high level bjj athletes like Ryan Hall, Garry Tonon and Marcus Buchecha have started a career in MMA.

Since 1996, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Championship began to be organized every year in Brazil until 2007, when it moved to California, United States.

Other important tournaments are the ADCC,  the Pan American and the European championships.

There are several documentaries on the history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but perhaps the best known, with a lot of archive material is Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Action.