Brazilian Jujitsu Background

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art that has clear roots in the Japanese art of Judo but has since developed into its own unique and highly effective martial art. BJJ is a grappling-based martial art that historically prioritised self-defence and ‘real’ fighting, and delivers this through ground fighting (Ne-waza) and submission techniques (Katame-waza). Over three decades, BJJ has grown from a martial art that was largely unheard of outside of Brazil, to one of the most popular and widely practiced martial arts in the world, with millions of practitioners from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

The history of BJJ is rife with mythology, marketing ploys and outright fabrications. For decades everyone’s understanding of the history of BJJ was based on the stories propagated by Helio Gracie and his eldest son Rorion Gracie (b 1952), in their effort to dominate and spread their families art. Helio was marketed as the founder and creator of BJJ. His role was significant; however, not as singular as claimed. Sorting the truth from fiction has become easier over the last few years with the publication of several new histories of BJJ including Roberto Pedreira’s Choque series of books, an interesting PhD dissertation by Jose Cairus titled The Gracie Clan and the Making of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, and Robert Drysdale's excellent books, The Rise and Evolution of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, and Opening the Closed Guard. This history is a brief account leaning on the above sources, but for greater detail please check out the references above.

To give the Gracie family their due, they are instrumental in the development, spread, and popularisation of BJJ. It just didn't happen as simply and succinctly as it has been commonly described over the last 60 years.

Judo is the modern evolution of more traditional Japanese martial arts. It was developed and popularised by Kano Jigoro(b 1860, d 1938) in the late 19th and early 20th century. Judo formed out of several schools of Jiu-jitsu but was also influenced by western philosophies, catch wrestling and educational theories. Kano’s efforts as a young man to repackage martial arts as a vehicle for self-improvement revolutionised the martial arts from that point forward. The end of Bushido could have meant the end of Japanese martial arts. Judo, with its focus on ‘the way’ (the ‘do’ in Judo) provided another path through which martial arts and their practitioners could travel. Judo was originally a true mixed martial art with strikes and locks within the early teachings as well as the throws that are synonymous with the art today. Judo first slowly moved towards a more throwing focus, then as the sporting side of the art achieved domination and broad international reception all but the throws and pins were removed from the art by the middle of the 20th century.

Brazil was a popular destination to impoverished Japanese early in the 20th century because of its supportive immigration laws and financial opportunities. Judo travelled to Brazil as early as 1908 amongst the waves of Japanese immigrations, and the teaching of Judo to native Brazilian's began shortly afterwards. Brazil for a time held the largest population of Japanese born immigrants in the world and the popularity of Judo in Brazil up to today is a reflection of that populations influence. 

In the 1920’s Carlos Gracie (b 1902, d 1994) trained under a Brazilian Judo practitioner Jacintho Ferro who learned his art from one the early Japanese immigrants and fighter, Mitsuyo Maeda (b 1878, d 1941). Several prominent BJJ linages emerged from this school, including the Gracies, Donato Pires dos Reis and Oswaldo Fadda (b 1920. d 2005). Donato started an academy in Rio in 1930, inviting both Carlos (b 1902. d 1994) and Jorge (George) Gracie (b 1911, d 1991),  to join him as assistant instructors. The Gracie’s eventually took over the school in 1932 when Donato relocated for work. Fadda became the most prominent trainer outside of the Gracie Academy in Rio sparking a fierce rivalry between the two Schools that helped further evolve the art and the rules under which they competed. Fadda is also well known in Brazil for running free BJJ training for the children and poor of Brazil. It has been argued by many that Fadda was more broadly known in Brazil for Jiu-jitsu than Helio was prior to the popularisation of the Gracie name in the late 90’s. 

Carlos and his brothers George, Helio (b 1913, d 2009), Gastao, and Oswaldo all went on to deliver Jujitsu training in Rio and other parts of Brazil. Unlike his brothers who remained in Rio, George travelled and taught extensively across Brazil, competed in challenge matches and gave demonstrations. Many schools today can track their linage to George who was a formidable and fearless fighter and charismatic instructor. Carlos and his brothers in Rio did much to try and popularise their brand of martial arts including performance fights (including fixed matches like modern WWE), challenge matches and tournaments, including bouts against local Japanese Judoka. Unlike Kano who forbade challenge matches and earning money from fighting, the Gracie’s were determined to test their art against allcomers. Pivotal to the growth and evolution of the Jiu-jitsu over this period was competition. Other martial artists such as the Ono brothers, Fadda, and Valdemar Santana active in early mixed martial arts (MMA) competition in Brazil pushed the evolution of fighting competition in the region. Judo, Capoiera, catch wrestling, freestyle wrestling and boxing all provided both challenges to and techniques for inclusion within Jiu-jitsu.

It is argued by Drysdale in his history that a number of factors led to the brothers resisting an affiliation and subordination to Japanese Judo, instead branding themselves Jiu-jitsu as Maeda often did and later their own brand of Gracie Jiu-jitsu. Factors include their Brazilian pride and fierce independence, a desire to prove themselves against other martial artists, and Judo’s ban against such fighting. Logistically, their training spaces were ill suited to training throws, a lack of good matting and small training spaces also may have pushed the Gracie’s towards a more ground based system even prior to Judo’s shift towards sport. The Jiu-jitsu the Gracie’s practiced in the 20’s and 30’s was of the pre-war, self-defence ilk. The sportification of Judo had begun in the 1930’s despite some resistance by Kano. After WW2, Judo rapidly evolved further into a sporting art in a world hostile to anything Japanese and militant. The shift was complete by the mid 50’s. The Gracie’s throughout this time steadfastly adhered to their self-defence focus for training. A real fight didn’t end with a clean throw, it continued until one person submitted or was unable to continue. This dogged focus on reality differentiated what the Gracie’s practiced and adopted within their system.

Training at the Gracie Academy was entirely private self-defence classes targeting the elites of Rio. Carlos’s son Carlson (b 1932, d 2006) became the representative of the Gracie Academy in challenge matches after his uncle Helio retired. Carlson competed extensively in an early form of MMA through the 1950’s and 60’s and developed his own views of what did and didn’t work in the realities of a fight. After a disagreement with his uncle Helio, Carlson opened his own academy in Rio that instituted the first group classes for Gracie BJJ, and pioneered a competition focus for training both in an early form of MMA and competitive Jiu-jitsu. His students dominated both scenes for many years, and most contemporary competition teams can trace their lineage to Carlson. Carlson’s impact on both competition BJJ and MMA cannot be overstated. 

Rolls Gracie (b 1951, d 1982) is another name often overlooked in the evolution of modern BJJ. Rolls began his life at the Gracie Academy before moving to train with his brother Carlson at his academy. Quickly Rolls began taking on his own students and sharing the use of the building with his brother creating two competition teams in the one space. This proximity and friendly rivalry spurred both brothers and their teams on. Rolls’s impact on BJJ was his eagerness to cross train and lean on the expertise of boxing, wrestling, sambo, and judo to enhance his jujitsu. Unlike Judo with its fixed cannon of techniques, the Jiu-jitsu trained in Brazil was always open to new ideas, techniques and approaches if they worked. Rolls took that openness to the next level through his extensive cross training and athleticism.

Carlson’s teaching style was to let his students roll and he would provide advice and adjustments real time. Rolls was known for being very technical and his classes would likely resemble the group classes commonly found across the globe today. A mix of technique followed by rolling. Unfortunately Rolls died young in a hang-gliding accident at the age of 32 cutting his impact on BJJ short. His brother Carlos Gracie Jnr (b 1956) took over the management of his gym upon Roll’s death. Carlos Jnr became an influential member of the Gracie family and the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu community. He was instrumental in the creation of the International BJJ Federation (IBJJF), developing BJJ competition rules, judges and ranking systems that modernised and popularised BJJ competition. 

Rorion Gracie (b 1952), the son of Helio Gracie immigrated to the US in 1978 with the hope of spreading Gracie Jujitsu. Unfortunately for Jujitsu and Rorion, the US population had grown up on a diet of Bruce Lee, The Karate Kid and Chuck Norris. The grappling approach of BJJ found it difficult to compete with flashiness of the striking arts despite its effectiveness. Rorion resorted to the ‘Gracie Challenge’, a marketing ploy started by his uncle Carlos, whereby they ‘dojo stormed’, walking into a rival’s dojo (generally a striking martial art) and challenging the instructor to a fight in front of all their students. After defeating the instructor who would have no practical answer for defending against a grappler, they would market Gracie Jiu-jitsu to stunned students in the room. The videos from these matches were also widely distributed to help publicise Gracie Jiu-jitsu and can be still found on Youtube. 

Rorion with his brothers Royce, Rickson and Royler opened the first US Gracie Jiu-jitsu Academy in Torrance California in 1989. Inspired by the Gracie Challenge Rorion created the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to publicise the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-jitsu to the population of the US. Royce Gracie (b 1966) as the smallest of the Gracie brothers was selected to represent the art in the UFC. With a carefully curated fight card excluding wrestlers that might present some difficulty for Royce, the fight night ran in 1993 with Royce winning each of his fights in convincing fashion and propelling Gracie Jiu-jitsu into the limelight. Royce went on to win UFC 2 and UFC 4 in the following years.

The shift from Gracie Jiu-jitsu or Jiu-jitsu to a generalised term of BJJ came about when Jiu-jitsu was exported to the US. Just as there’s no such thing as Mexican food in Mexico, Brazilian’s referred to their art as Jiu-jitsu not Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. The Gracie specific title and its use has been the subject of much infighting including a lawsuit between Gracie family members. BJJ has no fixed cannon of techniques, principles or practices that are standardised across the thousands of academies across the globe. The open and creative approach to the art, combined with an expanding of the competition framework, and a technology that allows for the rapid viewing and distribution of ideas has triggered a rapid evolution in the art. Despite this evolution, and perhaps because of it, a tension between the traditional self-defence approach to BJJ and the sporting application has emerged. Techniques that have no self-defence application such as ‘butt scooting’, and ‘Deep Half’, have entered the lexicon of ideas. Only time will tell which approach will prevail long term.

The history of BJJ in Australia can be traced back to the early 1990s and a gradual boom after the success of Royce in the UFC. One of the earliest and most influential BJJ pioneers in Australia was John Will, who began training in BJJ in the late 1980s with Rigan Machado (b 1966) and went on to become one of the sport's leading instructors and early competitors. John is recognised as one of the finest instructors globally in BJJ, and is part of the ‘dirty dozen’, the first twelve non-Brazilians to receive their Black Belt in BJJ. Michael Armstrong, the founder of Rogue BJJ, received his black belt from John Will in 2017. Another prominent Australian martial artist of the 90’s and early 2000’s was Chris Haseman an early MMA pioneer. Chris fought matches in Russia, Japan, Australia and the US, as well as training the next generation of Australian MMA stars. Chris’s background was in Japanese Jiu-jitsu and catch-wrestling, as well as being influenced by BJJ. Michael Armstrong also trained with Chris and extensively with his assistant instructor Wayne Williams in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

In the years after the launch of the UFC, BJJ continued to grow in popularity in Australia, with new academies and training centres opening up and more and more people becoming interested in the sport. The growth of BJJ in Australia was also aided by the rise of MMA globally and the recognition of BJJ as one of the core disciplines in the sport. Many Brazilians immigrated across the globe, including Australia, to open their own academies and teach the populations desperate for access to BJJ. BJJ is now arguably Brazil’s biggest export. From 2008 to 2011 the founder of Rogue BJJ trained with one of those early BJJ migrants out of Brazil, Professor Eduardo Dias. Dias is a black belt under Romero Cavalcante and Roberto Traven. Romero being one of only 6 black belts awarded by Rolls Gracie before his untimely death.

Today, BJJ is a well-established and thriving community in Australia, with tens of thousands of practitioners and hundreds of academies and training centres throughout the country. There are over 15 academies in Canberra alone all continuing to evolve, promote and grow the art we know as BJJ.