BJJ has taken a whole new life of it’s own in the public sector with the attention it has received with the UFC; but is Gracie Jiu-Jitsu effective as a Self Defense System?
Well it’s obvious that the benefits of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has proven itself in the world of MMA. The art was developed in Brazil by the now famous Gracie family. The Gracie family desired to create a Martial Art that was designed for the average person. After years of development and testing in real-life fight situations, the Gracie family was prepared to demonstrate to the world that their martial art, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, was superior to the other martial arts. Therefore, the Gracie family created the “Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC) in which they challenged the best and toughest martial artists from across the world to participate in a “No Rules” fight tournament. It was time for the world’s martial arts to finally be put to the test. The tournament had no weight classes, and all martial arts were welcome to compete. As their representative, the Gracie family chose Royce Gracie. To everyone’s great astonishment, this rather “non-threatening” looking Brazilian fighter upheld the family honor and proved to the world that his family’s style of groundfighting and grappling was superior to all other martial arts. Royce Gracie won the tournament in awe inspiring fashion, using Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, overcoming fighters of all sizes and martial art backgrounds. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, a.k.a. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was immediately thrust into the limelight and gained world-wide recognition.
There is a ton of hype these days about the UFC and various other MMA organizations. The fight game via MMA is growing by leaps and bounds. However, it must remain in all of our minds that there is a finite number of actual fighters. The popularity of the sport and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is determined by the fans. Therefore, I believe that the exposure these events are receiving will open the door to many “average people” wanting to learn a self defense system. They don’t necessarily want to fight, they want to be able protect them and their families. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu certainly fits that bill.
Notice, it mentioned the “average person”. This is actually an understatement. Actually, the founders of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos and Helio Gracie, were a mere 140-145 lbs. By todays standards, I’d say that is below average in terms of a healthy males weight. They found that taking Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, and applying principles of leverage, tweaking techniques, and using their body weight, versus strength would prove to not only be a good fighting system, but more importantly to them, a perfect self defense system for the average personl
With all of that said: If you were to ask me: “Is Gracie Jiu-Jitsu effective as a Self Defense System, I’d respond that ”Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is the PERFECT self defense system”! Vida Gracie Jiu-Jitsu!
Peace,
Prof. Larry
