RODRIGO GRACIE BIOGRAPHY

Rodrigo Gracie was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to a Jiu-Jitsu master Reylson Gracie. His grandfather Carlos Gracie along with his uncle Helio Gracie are the founders of
what today is know as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. As member of the legendary Gracie family
its no surprise that Rodrigo was introduced to Jiu-Jitsu from early age.

Rodrigo received his black belt from his father Reylson Gracie at the age of 19.
Shortly after Rodrigo moved to California to teach Jiu-Jitsu. He found his way to
New York city, were he was training with his cousin Renzo Gracie. The demand for
Jiu-Jitsu was high so Rodrigo took advantage of the opportunity and opened his own
academy in New York City.

Looking for new challenges and opportunities Rodrigo moved to Los Angeles California where they were welcomed by Rodrigo's cousin Royce Gracie. Rodrigo and Royce have started to train together as well as spend a lot of time as a family. Currently Rodrigo teaches in Torrance, CA. as well as travels conducting seminars all all of Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Networks.

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RODRIGO GRACIE IN COMPETITION

Rodrigo's destiny was predetermined from birth. He was born into to a fighting dynasty. For over 75 years the Gracie family has been in the forefront of the fighting world. When Rodrigo's time came he was ready.

Rodrigo made his Mixed Martial Arts début in a small promotion called VATV 10 - Vengeance at the Vanderbilt with a submission win over Kyle DeMello. Due to injuries that may have ended Rodrigo's carrier he was under the radar for the next two years.

On February 24, 2002 Rodrigo made his return to Mixed Martial Arts by taking out Japanese Doijiro Matsui at Pride 19 Bad Blood in Tokyo, Japan in front of 50,000 spectators. Yuki Sasaki fell victim to Rodrigo at the Pride 24 Cold Fury 3 held in Tokyo, Japan on December 23, 2002.

At the inaugural Pride Bushido Show held in Tokyo, Japan on October 5, 2003,
Rodrigo faced another Japanese star Daiju Takase. Once again the young Gracie came out victorious. Pride Bushido Volume 2 was no exception as Rodrigo defeated the very tough Hayato Sakurai on February 15, 2004.

They say how will one know the sweet taste of victory if they have never suffered defeat.

On November 20, 2004 Rodrigo Gracie faced former UFC Welterweight Champion BJ. Penn in the main event in the K-1/Rumble On the Rock co-promotion held in sunny Honolulu, Hawaii.  After 3 round of fighting BJ Penn was declared the victor by unanimous decision.

Champion is defined as - One who fights; a warrior. And champions never gives up. Rodrigo felt like he needed a change. He moved his family to Torrance, California. There with the help of his cousin Royce Gracie, Rodrigo entered a new chapter in his life and carrier. He started training with Royce,Evaldo Lima and his friend Shawn Williams.

With his new team in place, new contract with K-1 and new life is sunny California, Rodrigo was ready for his next fight. He did not have to wait long as Rodrigo soon faced Kiuma Kunioku fighter with the wealth of experience and formidable record to back it up. Kunioku is #9 rated Middleweight by the Japanese Pancrase Association and a former Pancrase Middleweight and Welterweight Champion.

On July 6, 2005 at the K-1/Hero's event, Rodrigo faced Kiuma Kunioku. After 2 rounds of total domination Rodrigo Gracie was declared a winner by unanimous decision.

Before entering the world of professional fighting, Rodrigo competed in many Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Wrestling Tournaments winning most of them. Some of Rodrigo's tournament accomplishments include:

• 1998 1st Place Winner -  Abu Dhabi Combat Club World Wrestling
  Championships (ADCC) defeating the likes of Carlos Newton, Genki Sudo
  and Karim Barklaev
   
• 4 Time North American Grappling Association Champion
  
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HISTORY OF JIU-JITSU

Jiu-Jitsu, unlike other martial arts, did not evolve from one source or root; instead it has multiple roots and traveled through many Asian countries before its final development in Japan. Bandits constantly assaulted the Monks during their long journeys through the interior of India. Buddhist religious and moral values did not encourage the use of weapons so they were forced to develop an empty hand system of self-defense.These Monks were men of great wisdom who possessed a perfect knowledge of the human body. Consequently, they applied laws of physics such as leverage, momentum, balance, center of gravity, friction, weight transmission and manipulation of the human anatomy’s vital points in order to create a scientific art of self-defense.

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IN JAPAN

In 230 BC the techniques of Jiu-Jitsu arrived in Japan where the wrestling sport called chikara kurabe was developed. The techniques of this art later served as the base of contemporary Jiu-Jitsu.From 230 BC onward, many different schools of Jiu-Jitsu were formed. Empty hand Jiu-Jitsu techniques were incorporated as part of the samurai warrior's training during the Heian period (ca. 784 AD).

In approximately 880 AD, Prince Teijun established the Diato-Ryu Aiki Jujitsu school. The period of Japanese history between the 8th and 16th centuries was covered with constant civil war and many systems of Jiu-Jitsu were utilized, practiced and perfected on the battlefield. This training was used to conquer armored and armed opponents. Many close fighting techniques were created and mastered during this era. In 1532 Hisamori Tenenuchi officially established the first school of Jiu-Jitsu in Japan. In 1559, a Chinese monk named Chin Gen Pinh came to Japan, accompanied with his knowledge and experience of Kempo, known as the “China Hand.” Shortly after, Chin Gen Pinh arrived in Japan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi also migrated to Japan from China, bringing with him Ch-an Fa and Korean Tang Su, a punching and nerve striking skill and method of fighting. These skills were perfected and integrated into Jiu-Jitsu.

In approximately 1603, Japan came to a fairly peaceful period following the formation of the Tokugawa military government by Tokugawa Ieyasu. During this time (1603-1868), the feudal civil wars that had plagued Japan for centuries started to disappear. However, following the adage "living in peace, but remembering war," the practice of jujitsu continued to spread. Forms and techniques displaying weapons skills of fighting began to yield to weaponless styles which incorporated many of the grappling ground fighting techniques of the older styles. The traditions of classical budo (martial arts) required that a everyone should learn a method of self-defense for those situations where weapons could not be used. Universally, these techniques were known as Jujutsu. It has been estimated that there were about 725 recorded systems of jujutsu in vogue during its golden age from 1680 to 1850.The Meiji Restoration of the Emperor replaced the feudal military regime established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603. This happened because growing internal unrest in the middle 1800's convinced the shogun that return of power to the Emperor was called for. During the Meiji period, with the collapse of the feudal system, Japan started to open up to western culture and customs.


The increased immigration of westerners into Japan during the Meiji period caused Jiu-Jitsu masters, who were very secretive with regard to their techniques, to worry about the possibility of westerners, generally bigger and stronger than the Japanese, learning Jiu-Jitsu. As they felt that it would be virtually impossible to hide the Jiu-Jitsu techniques from Westerners, the Japanese decided to break Jiu-Jitsu down into several styles with limited effectiveness in a real fight. The arts of Karate, Judo and Aikido were developed from Jiu-Jitsu. These styles were transformed into sports in order to keep secret the most lethal and street effective techniques.

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GRACIE FAMILY

In the early 1900's, the Japanese government sent to the state of Para, northeast Brazil, a man named Mitsuyo Maeda (known as "Count Koma") to help establish a Japanese colony in the area. He met and become close friends with Gastao Gracie, who was a political figure in the state. He then, used his influence to help Maeda and the Japanese colony. At that time, Count Koma was recognized as the world champion of Jiu-jitsu, in addition to his political skills, so he decided to teach Gastao's
son, Carlos Gracie the art of Jiu-Jitsu.


CARLOS GRACIE

After teaching Carlos the secrets of Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Count Koma returned to Japan. Carlos then found interest by other people in learning the art when he
began teaching private lessons from his house as well as teaching his own brothers, since he was the only one of them to learn the art.  In 1925, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro and opened the first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy in the world. Determined to prove the effectiveness of already developed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos issued an open challenge to anyone who would take him on a no-rules-match. He went on to beat all takers. Carlos also fought in many public events. As he got older, Carlos concentrated more in managing the academy leaving the instruction and fighting for Helio, his 11 years younger brother. By then Carlos started studying medicine and homeopathy since he believed if you have a fight scheduled, you can't afford to be sick and not show up. Carlos became fascinated with the connection between diet and well-being so he started researching the subject and developed the family diet and everyone in the family grew up on the diet from
then on. 

HELIO GRACIE

Carlos would always bring Helio to the academy to watch the classes, but since Helio was a frail boy when young Carlos wouldn't let him participate. So Helio would just watch the entire class, one after another.. After a couple of years he already knew the program inside and out. One day Carlos was late for a private lesson when Helio decided to teach that student. From that day on, Helio became instructor. But Carlos was physically stronger than Helio and had a aggressive style of Jiu-Jitsu around his physical abilities. Needless to say, that would not work for Helio because his weak constitution, so he studied ways to adapt the moves so a smaller, more frail person could use and overcame a bigger opponent. For over 40 years, Helio Gracie dedicated his life on advancing Jiu-Jitsu with the use of leverage where you can multiply your effect your effect may times over, much like you use a jack to lift a car. Helio also fought many no-rules matches throughout his life against mostly bigger opponents and proved once for all that size does not matter in a fight.


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GRACIE FAMILY MEMBERS Royce Gracie Virtual Gracie Reylson Gracie Royler Gracie Crosley Gracie Renzo Gracie Rickson Gracie Ralph Gracie Relson Gracie Gracie Seminars Cesar Gracie Charles Gracie Carley Gracie Rorion Gracie Robin Gracie Gracie Academy in Brazil

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