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In 1914 Mitsuo Maeda (1878-1941) also known as "Count Koma" immigrated to Brazil to help start a colonization project for Japan. He was helped a great deal by a Brazilian politician named Gastao Gracie, whose father George Gracie had also immigrated to Brazil from Scotland. In gratitude for his assistance Maeda taught Jiu-Jitsu to Gastao's son Carlos Gracie (1902-94) who in turn taught his brothers Osvaldo, Gastao jr., Jorge & Helio. In 1925 Carlos and his brothers opened their first Jiu-Jitsu academy. Jiu-jitsu quickly became the family trade and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was born.
As time went on Carlos and Helio refined their art through brutal no-rules fights, both in public challenges and on the streets.
In the 1970's the undisputed Jiu-Jitsu champion in Brazil was Rolls Gracie. He had taken the techniques of Jiu-Jitsu to a new level. Although not a large man his ability to apply leverage was unprecedented. Rolls was the creator of the open guard (spider guard & butter fly guard) He also developed a point system for Jiu-Jitsu only competitions.
After Rolls tragic death Rickson Gracie became the undisputed and undefeated champion with over 400 victories in both competition and street fights.
In the early 1990's Rorion Gracie moved from Brazil to L.A. with the goal to show the world the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. In Brazil vale tudo "anything goes" had been very popular since Carlos Gracie opened his school in 1925.
Then in 1993 the Ultimate Fighting Championships that pitted experts of different styles against each other with very few rules was born. Rorion saw his chance and entered his younger brother Royce Gracie, an expert in Brazilian Jiu-Jitu as one of the contestants.
Royce at 176 pounds dominated the first years of U.F.C. at one event defeating four fighters in one night. Royce at first was given 5 to 1 odds that he'd be K.O.'d in the first three minutes. They were wrong. Convinced this was some unexplainable fluke, the fans turned out in thousands to see Royce fight. In U.F.C. 2 Royce faced opponents that out weighted him by 100 pounds! It was said this time he would go down. They were wrong again! And Royce continued to dominate his opponents. With this the word of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu spread like wild fire and one of the lasting impacts of Royce's early U.F.C. dominance is that almost every successful mixed martial arts fighter now includes Jiu-Jitsu into their training or quickly learns they should have after it's too late!
The innovations and improvements to Jiu-Jitsu incorporated by the Gracie have created a combat style with unequaled success in mixed martial arts competitions.
Since the early days of Carlos and Helio, through the second generation, Rolls and Carlson through the current generation, Rickson, Rorion, Royler, Royce, Ralph and Renzo (among others). The Gracies and their students have experienced tremendous success in open mixed martial arts events and challenge matches that have brought them worldwide recognition that will continue forever.
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