Brazilian jiu jitsu schools can trace their roots to the early 1920s when the Gracie family began to learn jiu jitsu from a master visiting from Japan. Gracie Jiu-jitsu developed from the teaching Helio Gracie and his brothers received into a discipline that would allow a smaller fighter to best a bigger and stronger one. Helio continued to adapt the martial art techniques so that they became even more efficient and soon he was earning the respect of those around him.
As he became more proficient, Helio launched the early stages of Gracie Jiu-jitsu in a series of high profile competitions. In spite of not necessarily claiming victory in these bouts, Helio won acclamation for lasting considerably longer than anybody thought he would have the ability to against more powerful and more qualified foes. In 1951 he fought Masahiko Kimura, then seen as the best jiu jitsu fighter in the world. Kimura claimed that if the bout lasted longer than three minutes, then Helio would be proclaimed the champion; Helio lasted for thirteen. In 1955, the longest match in the world took place when Helio fought off a fighter twenty years younger than him and forty pounds heavier for three hours and forty minutes.
When Rorion Gracie, Helio's son, left Brazil to bring Gracie Jiu-jitsu to the United States, he intended to continue his father's legacy. The Gracies intended to create jiu-jitsu institutes to share the martial art methods that they had adapted after decades of intense study with the rest of the population, and America was the ideal place to do so. Despite the fact that Rorion initially struggled in setting up his Brazilian Jiu jitsu academy, he gained increasingly larger numbers of students mainly by issuing the Gracie challenge. This was a call to any combatant of any branch to meet him in hand-to-hand combat in order to see whose branch was more powerful.
World-wide recognition would come in the 90s. Gracie Jiu-jitsu was represented by Royce Gracie at a soon to be famous mixed martial arts tournament called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Defeating opponents much larger and stronger than he was, Gracie made it to the top spot by forcing the other fighters to tap out after he used various submission techniques to subdue them. If this was not enough, he did it two more times, winning not only the championships but the hearts of those involved in the martial arts world.
As a result of these steps over the years, of hard work and a willingness to commit entirely to the martial art, Gracie Jiu-jitsu has earned the spot as the most famous and one of the most respected disciplines in the world. Who knew that when Mitsuyo Maeda came to Brazil to share his master's teachings in 1914 that he would be setting off a chain of events that would lead to jiu jitsu gracing the top of the martial arts world less than one hundred years later? - 31491
As he became more proficient, Helio launched the early stages of Gracie Jiu-jitsu in a series of high profile competitions. In spite of not necessarily claiming victory in these bouts, Helio won acclamation for lasting considerably longer than anybody thought he would have the ability to against more powerful and more qualified foes. In 1951 he fought Masahiko Kimura, then seen as the best jiu jitsu fighter in the world. Kimura claimed that if the bout lasted longer than three minutes, then Helio would be proclaimed the champion; Helio lasted for thirteen. In 1955, the longest match in the world took place when Helio fought off a fighter twenty years younger than him and forty pounds heavier for three hours and forty minutes.
When Rorion Gracie, Helio's son, left Brazil to bring Gracie Jiu-jitsu to the United States, he intended to continue his father's legacy. The Gracies intended to create jiu-jitsu institutes to share the martial art methods that they had adapted after decades of intense study with the rest of the population, and America was the ideal place to do so. Despite the fact that Rorion initially struggled in setting up his Brazilian Jiu jitsu academy, he gained increasingly larger numbers of students mainly by issuing the Gracie challenge. This was a call to any combatant of any branch to meet him in hand-to-hand combat in order to see whose branch was more powerful.
World-wide recognition would come in the 90s. Gracie Jiu-jitsu was represented by Royce Gracie at a soon to be famous mixed martial arts tournament called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Defeating opponents much larger and stronger than he was, Gracie made it to the top spot by forcing the other fighters to tap out after he used various submission techniques to subdue them. If this was not enough, he did it two more times, winning not only the championships but the hearts of those involved in the martial arts world.
As a result of these steps over the years, of hard work and a willingness to commit entirely to the martial art, Gracie Jiu-jitsu has earned the spot as the most famous and one of the most respected disciplines in the world. Who knew that when Mitsuyo Maeda came to Brazil to share his master's teachings in 1914 that he would be setting off a chain of events that would lead to jiu jitsu gracing the top of the martial arts world less than one hundred years later? - 31491
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Brazilian jiu-jitsu is gaining in popularity these days. With its ground tactics as well as its holds, it is a favorite martial art of many of the UFC fighters.
