| The history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a rather storied | | | | also teaching his art to those willing to learn. And, quite |
| one that dates back well into the early part of the 20th | | | | honestly, many people in the martial arts looked down |
| century. Actually, the art's lineage extends further back | | | | on grappling. This is why it was tough to sell some on |
| than that. The parent art of Kodokan Judo and in | | | | the success of the system. |
| particular, the ground grappling component of the art. | | | | Minor skirmishes and challenge matches helped |
| One top practitioner of the art in Japan was a judoka | | | | establish the effectiveness of the art. Rorion did have |
| and traditional jiu jitsu master named Mitsuyo Maeda. | | | | a well publicized win over kickboxing champ Ralph |
| Maeda was expelled from the Kodokan for | | | | Allegra. This helped further the popularity of the art in |
| prizefighting and ended up traveling the world. He | | | | the US. Rorion would soon bring his brother Royce and |
| ended up in Brazil which had a large Japanese | | | | Rickson to the US as well as his cousins the Machado |
| population. Maeda taught several students his form of | | | | Bros to southern California where they all started to |
| ground grappling self defense. One such student was | | | | teach the art. However, it was their involvement in |
| a man named Carlos Gracie. Gracie would become a | | | | challenge matches that drew the most attention. |
| stellar practitioner and would teach his brothers. Most | | | | Rorion eventually launched "The Gracie Challenge" |
| notably, he taught his brother Helio the art. | | | | which was a $100,000 challenge to martial artists to |
| Despite being small in stature, Helio became an | | | | defeat any Gracie brother. Promoted heavily in the |
| excellent and popular practitioner. While he was known | | | | martial arts magazines, these challenge bouts greatly |
| for winning challenge matches against bigger and | | | | enhanced the popularity of the art. This would lead to |
| tougher opponents, he was also known for his | | | | the development of the Ultimate Fighting Championship |
| commitment towards promoting the health and spiritual | | | | on PPV which was a commercialized arena event |
| benefits of the art. Helio would teach his children the | | | | that brought the Gracie Challenge to its greatest stage. |
| art and all of them achieved great success in their | | | | Royce Gracie was the rep in the bouts and he easily |
| own right. The oldest son, Rorion, had a lifelong dream | | | | defeated the challenges he faced. This further |
| to export this new form of jiu jitsu to the United States. | | | | expanded the popularity of the art as more and more |
| He did exactly that and did so in a manner that | | | | people began to study it. |
| exceeded all expectations. | | | | In time, amateur submission wrestling and BJJ |
| Rorion Gracie moved to the United States in the late | | | | submission competitions were added to give |
| 1970s and started to teach his family's form of jiu jitsu. | | | | practitioners the ability to ply their skills safely. This |
| Contrary to what some may believe, the path to the | | | | further added to the art's popularity. You could say |
| top was a slow one. Rorion needed to work scores of | | | | that the end result of all this is that BJJ is the most |
| odd jobs in order to support himself, including working | | | | popular martial art in the world today. And it does not |
| as an exra for television and film productions, while | | | | look like the popularity will ever yield. |