Warm Ups
Rickson Gracie Not A Fan Modern BJJ ‘Dilution’
Mixed martial arts (MMA) pioneer, Rickson Gracie, doesn’t sound too happy about the current state of jiu-jitsu. According to the 64-year-old proponent of Gracie Jiu-jitsu, the sport has veered away from its roots and now favors strong and athletic competitors.
“The dilution is already beginning because it’s becoming a very athletic sport. You know, it doesn’t favor the weak the way it’s supposed to favor them,” Gracie told Andy Stumpf (HT: JitsMagazine). “The core of jiu-jitsu, in my vision, is self-defense, not competition. Competition is great for people who like to (compete), but for everyone, you’d love to learn how to survive; how to defend yourself from an attacker, how to protect someone you love.
“Sport jiu-jitsu is growing a lot but I would like to see academies start to become more confident and teach self-defense and empower people, and be able to bring that knowledge for the weak ones.”
I understand the point he is trying to make, but sports evolve, and a prime Rickson Gracie actually dominated the field in part because he was a jacked, physical specimen himself. He was by far the most athletic among his relatives, which is the reason they instead sent the scrawnier Royce Gracie to UFC, to market their brand and push the idea of “weak” fighters overcoming stronger guys.
Much like the earlier days of MMA, jiu-jitsu can still easily be used to overcome stronger but untrained opposition today. Against equally knowledgeable and technical opponents, though, it’ll just be like any other combat sport throughout history, where athleticism and strength matter more, and why weight classes exist.
I wonder his thoughts on Slap fighting
LOL.
I wonder what would happen if you had two people of identical skill levels compete but one was weak and out of shape and one was more conditioned, stronger and smarter?
Someone should do an experiment on this
Serious question: how would you change the ruleset to make it less athletic and score points for the less athletic competitor?
Dear Gracie’s. BJJ is not yours anymore.
Don’t worry, you all made a lot of money. And your kids and their kids will always make money because of your name.
And you are lucky because the art that beat yours, catch wrestling, never caught on.
So be happy.
Agree.
Rickson was arguably the ‘best’ of the Gracie brothers/cousins because he was the most physically fit/athletic.
A wise Karate instructor of mine had a saying he used all the time: “When skill and talent are equal, the better conditioned fighter will win”. He was specifically talking about full contact karate, but it applies to BJJ as well.
IMO Rickson is off-base a bit. The majority of BJJ schools I see have huge kids/teens programs and plenty of regular suburban men and women. There are very few with students who are MMA fighters, so any competition is just regional or inter-school.
THOSE are the weak ones he’s talking about, and they make up the bulk of the membership in suburban BJJ schools.
Yes, the higher level regional/national/international competitions are dominated by athletic people…but that’s what happens.
Indeed sir, good point. Can we also get Ja Rule to weigh in.
Things change over time. So simple yet so brilliant.
The combined record of all Ricksons opponents is 74-63, and he fought a 2-7 AND a 2-6 guy twice.
Without Funaki and his questionable record, the opponents total records are 35-50.
I think he’s just pointing out that the focus is no longer on self defense.
The Gracies do a lot of punch block from guard, how to duck a haymaker and get a clinch, etc. Stuff that might serve you in a real fight.
That’s not gonna be the basics they teach at most Jiu-Jitsu gyms these days
Tbf, royler was giving away 20kgs at least.
But I was ecstatic when Sakuraba broke Renzos arm.
It cracks me up how eager a lot of bjj nerds are to dismiss The Gracies. There’s a lot to learn about the history and hard earned lessons that they brought. Don’t be so foolhardy to think you have it all figured out because you play bjj. There is some truth to the notion that as bjj has evolved in many ways it has become less about effective martial arts and more about being a unique game. I’m no Gracie fan boy, but it’s ridiculous to disrespect Rickson or the Gracie family. There’s plenty to criticize, but only a fool would pretend that they were not pivotal to the biggest evolution in martial arts history and that they don’t have anything to offer in terms of the quest for the understanding of being a well rounded martial artist.
I’ll bet you own a Gracie juice bag.
The special Royce gracie juicy juice edition.