BRAZILIAN JUJITSU

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position from which to strike or submit an attacker. The system is based on the ideal of a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique to defend themself from a bigger, stronger assailant. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Sparring and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.

The art began when Mitsuyo Maeda, a master of Japanese Judo, emigrated to Brazil where he taught his system to Carlos Gracie, who passed it on to his younger brother Helio. The brothers trained many of their sons, who now carry on the family tradition today. The Gracie family continued to develop the system throughout the 20th centrury, often fighting vale tudo matches (precursors to modern MMA), during which it gained its focus on ground fighting and refined its techniques.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu came to prominance in the United States when Royce Gracie won the first three Ultimate Fighting Championships in the earlier 90s. It has since become a staple art for many MMA fighters and is largely credited for bringing wide-spread attention to the importance of ground fighting. Sport BJJ tournaments continue to grow in popularity worldwide and have given rise to no-gi submission grappling tournaments, such as ADCC.