Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) gyms are sprinkled throughout Lakewood and Denver. In some neighborhoods there is are barely five blocks between these gyms. Although there are scores of these schools between Denver and the Front Range, 90% of them have one thing in common: they do NOT teach self-defense.
Gracie jiu jitsu came to the U.S. on one plane ticket- Rorion Gracie's. Rorion is Grandmaster Hēlio's oldest biological son. He came to the U.S. in 1978 with a life dedicated mission to spread Gracie jiu jitsu. Rorion, like his father, taught jiu jitsu for self-defense.
Rorion promoted Gracie jiu jitsu self-defense through many initiatives. One of the simplest was the challenge match. Gracie would invite martial artists from other styles or just street fighters to come and fight him in his garage. Although he defended himself from and subdued hundreds of challengers, this method of trying to convert martial artists one at a time was not very efficient. Later these matches would be cataloged on VHS recordings and marketed as "Gracie In Action" videos in martial arts magazines. Many of these videos are on Youtube today.
No videos held a candle to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993. Rorion Gracie was a core creator of the UFC. Rorion placed his youngest brother, Royce Gracie, as the representative of the Gracie style. Royce was under 180 pounds and maybe the least physically imposing of any of Hēlio's sons. This modest body size made his victories over professional fighters (all 20 or more pounds bigger than him) all the more impressive as a statement about the effectiveness of jiu jitsu.
After that first UFC pay-per-view, the popularity of Gracie jiu jitsu exploded with nuclear unstoppability. Rorion's Gracie Academy in Torrance, California would never be the same.
*It is noteworthy that Royce used Gracie jiu jitsu self-defense techniques to control and win most of his professional fights.
The Gracies have been teaching jiu jitsu in Brazil since 1925. By the early 90's when the UFC press hit, there were generations of black belts in Brazil, many of them seeing an opportunity to go the U.S. and cash in on the surge of popularity started by Rorion and Royce. Most of these instructors had come up in Brazil under Carlos Gracie Jr., Carlson Gracie, and their brothers and cousins. These instructors were the sons of Carlos Gracie- Hēlio Gracie's oldest brother.
For unknown reasons, the lineage of Gracie's who trained under Carlos Gracie, tended to be the group that molded jiu jitsu into a competitive sport. At some point in the evolution of BJJ under Carlos Jr., and Carlson, students just started competing in grappling contests with rules, time limits, weight classes, age groups, etc. Beginners are not required to learn self-defense at all at most of these gyms, and belt promotions are based largely on performance in sport competitions.
Another possible explanation for the absence of self-defense in BJJ is the American appetite for competitiveness. Drilling self-defense techniques is not as exciting as two alpha-males just getting on the mat and going 100% against each other. The absence of a demand for self-defense likely empowered sport BJJ to thrive with the masses as a sport. I have also noticed that some sport BJJ instructors try to sell sport techniques as being applicable to self-defense. While this may be arguable at higher belts, beginners are not likely to be able to use sportive moves effectively in a real-life violent encounter.
Fortunately, most Gracie jiu jitsu schools in the U.S. that follow the lineage of Helio Gracie and his sons (Rorion, Royce, Rickson, Royler, and Relson) have retained some degree of self-defense in their teachings.
Lakewood Jiu Jitsu Academy follows the lineage of Grandmaster Hēlio Gracie, his son Rorion, and his grandsons, Ryron and Rener. We teach the martial art of jiu jitsu with an emphasis on self-defense and close quarters survival skills to students in the Lakewood / Denver area.
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