Steven Kuo posted on January 27, 2010 23:57
Gracie Jujitsu is one of the worlds most recognized martial arts and has been labelled as the most effective martial art to date. The martial art was founded by Helio Gracie together with his brother Carlos. It was first taught to them by a Japanese jujitsu instructor Mitsuyo Maeda in the early 1900’s and the art was first called Kodokan Judo.
It was originally taught to his brother Carlos, since Helio was said to be a very frail and sickly child and was advised by the doctor to refrain from physically taxing activities. He learned by memorizing the moves he saw while watching his brother practice and teach classes. By trial and error, he took something that he memorized and adapted it to work for a person his size and to something that was practical using leverage and technique instead of speed and strength as the Japanese would do it. This gave birth to what is known today as Brazilian Jujitsu.
Helio started teaching by accident. He was at his brother Carlos’ dojo and it so happened that Carlos was late for practice. One of the students asked Helio is he could substitute for his brother and Helio successfully taught him the techniques instinctively and by memory. This student later asked a late and very apologetic Carlos if he could continue learning under his younger brother and that’s how Helio’s teaching career started.
He started creating waves in the sport and has participated in 19 professional fights in his career. His first win was over professional boxer Antonio Portugal in 1932. The fight only lasted for 30 seconds. He won 10 out of these 19 fights with 7 draws and two defeats from Japanese great, Masahiko Kimura and Valdemar Santana.
Today, the world of Brazilian Jujitsu is being dominated by the famous members of the Gracie family with names such as Carlson Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Rickson Gracie, Royler Gracie, Rorion Gracie and the list goes on. All in all, there are about 50 active practitioners of their breed of martial art who represent their family with their most recent champion being Roger Gracie. He holds the title for the Confederação Brasileira de Jiu-Jitsu World Super Heavyweight and Pan-American Open Weight titles and the ADCC heavy weight and open weight champion
Rorion Gracie is known to be one of those responsible for founding UFC, one of the fastest growing sports of mixed martial arts fighting today. Talking about the most famous member of the Gracie family, which would be no less than Royce Gracie who is the winner of the first 3 of 4 UFC tournaments.
This Brazilian Martial art continues to grow and is continuing to attract membership from martial arts practitioners all over the world. It is a fact that Gracie Jitsu has made a great impact in how Mixed Martial Art fighting has evolved today. Being a competitive martial artist, you wouldn’t be a well rounded fighter if you don’t have a background on jujitsu which is considered to be a must learn aspect in your fighting arsenal.