Relson Gracie Demonstrates the Benefits of Jiu-Jitsu

Nicolas Perry 2nd place beginner 10-13 no gi

Jordan Page 3rd place kids no gi

Alec Furr 2nd place in both gi and no gi

Nicholas Morten 1st place beginner welter weight and 2nd place white belt gi welter weight

Matt has only been training three months and this was his first tournament. He ended up competing well and placed third in his gi division. He eventually lost to an opponent well of 250lbs.  Matt weighs in at around 210lbs.   Congratulations to both of these guys for showing that training consistently pays off in the end.

Well the first decade of the millennium is now complete.  And the final year of the first decade was ripe with outstanding performances.  I decided to have one award one individual in the gi, no gi (or submission wrestling) and Mixed Martial Arts fighter. There will also be a female gi and no gi competitor of the year.

Male Gi Gracie (Brazilian) Jiu-Jitsu Competitor of the Year:

ROGER GRACIE

Roger Gracie had the single greatest performance in the history of the Mundials or World Championships which officially had its beginning in 1996  Not only did Roger win the gold medal in his weight class but he also did so in the absolute division.  He defeated everyone he faced by submitting them.  Now that is a tremendous accomplishment in itself but Roger Gracie did one better.  He defeated everyone by submitting them from the mount with two choking (or strangling) techniques:  The cross choke and the ezekiel choke.  Those are the first two chokes I teach from the mount.  The mighty Roger took people down, passed their guards, mounted them and choked away.  The reason this so amazing is that he did this to other world champions.  He did this to individuals that study other practitioners’ techniques and work on counters but they were unable to stop Roger’s technique which is very basic but technical.  Master Relson Gracie says that Roger is one of the few current competitors that utilize his father’s Helio Gracie’s style of jiu-jitsu which is a close guard style.  Relson recently told me that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is not an art that is not supposed to be pretty.  It is suppose to be effective.  Now Roger’s style is not “pretty” in that he does not utilize flashy techniques but it is effective, which is a thing beauty.

A month later Daniel went and placed third, taking home the bronze medal, in the 2009 No-Gi Worlds Championships which took place in Long Beach, California on November, 8^th & 9^th.  Hopefully soon we will be able to have Daniel back at Relson Gracie NC for a seminar.

It is with great sorrow that I report that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Grandmaster Helio Gracie passed away on January 29^th 2009. Helio Gracie, at 95 years, old died the morning of January 29^th at Beneficencia Portuguesa Hospital, in Petropolis, mountain region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Helio was buried Thursday afternoon, at 5:00 pm, at the Chapel of the Petropolis municipal cemetery. This writer cannot put into words Helio Gracie’s impact and influence on the martial arts world. Simply put if Helio did not exist, none of us would be practicing this beautiful art of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Helio Gracie’s jiu-jitsu is the jiu-jitsu that allows a small person the ability to defeat a larger, stronger and faster opponent. I remember two years ago in a training session with Relson, Helio’s second oldest son, and he said that his father still trained at then 94 years old. Relson said that he could not believe how his father could still get on the mats and train at his advanced age. That statement from Relson truly described his father. Helio Gracie is jiu-jitsu. Helio is survived by his wife Vera, and children Rorion, Relson, Rickson, Rolker, Royler, Royce, Rherica, Robin and Ricci.

2004 – 2005
Stanly County Tough Man

Gracie Pro-Am Nationals 2005
Gi Champion

Bud Nationals 2005
Gi Champion, No gi co-Champion

Carolina Cup Tap Factor #1 – #4
Coming soon.

Carolina Cup Battle Scars
Men’s No-gi Intermediate Heavyweight | 3rd: Shawn Conrad
Men’s Blue Belt Absolute | 3rd: Shawn Conrad

This month’s featured fighter is probably the hardest working guy we know. Shawn Conrad.

Shawn competes in almost every regional tournament in NC. His personal commitement to training and self improvement are impressive. Shawn generally arrives to every class earlier for personal weight and bag training prior to gi or no gi Jiu-Jitsu class. Never one to pass up an opportunity to roll, Shawn also makes for an excellent training partner.

Shawn was recenlty awarded the rank of blue belt.

In 1952, the Gracie’s opened Academia Gracie at Avenida Rio Branco, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This original academy operated for 30 years. The following year, on March 28, Relson was born into the most influential martial arts family of the modern era. Ten years after the commissioning of Academia Gracie, Grandmaster Helio Gracie held the world’s first Gracie Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Gurilandia Clube, Botafogo. Relson competed in this historical event at the age of 10 and was the Brazilian National Champion in both his own weight class and the open division for an unprecedented 22 years! His record and domination of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu earned him the name “Campeao,” Portuguese for Champion. Relson’s accomplishments did not go unnoticed.

His knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu soon became a commodity within the Brazilian martial arts community. In 1975, at the age of 22, Relson was approached by Rio’s Secretary of Sport Jose Morais and Manaus Senator Artur Vigilio, a Reyson Gracie Black Belt. They proposed that Relson open his own academy. This was the beginning of the academy at Ilha Clube Jardim Guanabara (ICJG), Relson’s first Jiu-Jitsu academy. In addition to teaching Tuesday and Thursday evening classes at the already well established Academia Gracie Humaita, Relson taught at ICJG on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. The following year brought another joyous event in Relson’s life, the birth of his first child, Karina Gracie.

In the years to come, the notoriety of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu grew, and in 1978 Academia Gracie relocated from its original location to Flamengo in Rio. The academy would develop students here until 1985. 1982 capped off the birth of his second child, Rishna Gracie and Relson’s and Rickson dominance in the black belt division in tournaments. Relson continued to dominate the 83kg weight division while younger brother Rickson did the same in the 77kg division. Their Jiu-Jitsu superiority showed as they repeatedly closed out the open weight division as well, sharing 1st and 2nd place.

In addition to their supremacy in Jiu-Jitsu competition, the Gracie’s have demonstrated their martial arts mastery in Vale Tudo, Portuguese for “Anything Goes.” Decades before Mixed Martial Arts events were held, these no holds barred wars were being waged in the stadiums of Brazil. Grandmaster Helio Gracie was one of the first in a long line of family members who proved their mettle in the ring. He is regarded as one of the first sports heroes of Brazil. Carlson Gracie was next to uphold the family honor in the Vale Tudo events. He retired from Vale Tudo after his last fight with Valdemar Santana in 1970. Due to the Gracie’s domination in Vale Tudo, for over the next ten years there were no challenges to the Gracie family in the professional Vale Tudo arena.

However the challenges did not slow down on the street. Relson, along with his brothers and cousins defended the Gracie name in the ultimate arena, the mean streets of Brazil. Even in true “no holds barred” matches, where it was often a matter of survival, Relson and the Gracie family maintained its dominance and proved that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is the most effective style.

On April 25, 1980, the torch was officially passed to Rickson Gracie when he defeated Casemiro “Rei Zulu” Nascimento Martins by rear naked choke. Rei Zulu suffered a similar fate at the hands of Rickson again in January of 1984 during their second encounter. Relson trained Rickson for both events in anticipation of fighting Zulu himself, but later acquiesced to Grandmaster Helio’s wishes for Rickson to make his debut as the Gracie family champion.

In 1985, Relson moved from Rio de Janeiro to Monterey, California at the request of Pedro Sauer’s older brother Carlos. There Relson taught at the Eseline Therapy Institute for a year and a half. During this time Relson’s third child and first son Rhalan Gracie was born in 1987.

Shortly after Rhalan was born, this time at the request of Carlos Valente, Relson set his sights on spreading his family’s art to Hawaii. In June of 1988 he moved to Honolulu where he was destined to build a Jiu-Jitsu empire in a place where the sport was relatively unknown. Two years after his arrival in Hawaii, Relson was blessed with his fourth child, Kailani Gracie, while he laid the ground work and foundation for his own competition team.

In the pre-UFC years, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was relatively unknown outside of Brazil. Relson taught out of his garage in the evenings after a hard day’s work in the construction industry. However, the effectiveness and benefits of Jiu-Jitsu soon spread throughout the island of Oahu, and in the same year he expanded his classes to Studio 4, in the Athletic Complex of the University of Hawaii at Manoa to meet the demand. He would instruct at this location until 1996, all the while continuing to teach out of his garage.

Just as his father held the world’s first Jiu-Jitsu tournament, Relson organized the first tournament outside of Brazil in Honolulu in 1992.

The following year, older brother Rorion Gracie launched his brainchild of bringing Brazilian “Vale Tudo” (literally “anything goes” matches), the precursor to modern Mixed Martial Arts, to the United States and the rest of the world. The Ultimate Fighting Championship was created and launched the career of the now legendary, Royce Gracie. However prior to UFC 1, Royce was just Rorion and Relson’s little brother. Relson along with his brothers were tasked with training and making sure that Royce was prepared for one of the most momentous events in martial arts. Relson’s style was and is still ideally suited to this limited rules type of combat. Royce displayed their father’s Jiu-Jitsu to perfection as he took on three masters of different martial arts styles to win the first official mixed martial arts event in the United States. As we all know, Royce went on to win three of the first four events and is now a martial arts legend. However, with the advent of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, many of Relson’s lethal techniques are no longer legal under the current rules.

In Brazil, a historical event in Jiu-Jitsu occurred in 1996: the first official World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships (Campeanato Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu), held at the Tijuca Tenis Clube in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The following year, Relson Gracie brought a team from Hawaii and became the first team outside of Brazil to close out a division at the Worlds. Two of Relson’s students, Kendall Goo and Kelly Matsukawa, took first and second place in the Adult Blue Belt Pessidissimo division. Through Relson’s hard work, Hawaii had captured the most medals in the World Championships outside of Brazil. After the changes in the rules, Relson felt tournaments started to steer Jiu-Jitsu away from the principles that his father had created it for. Relson decided to place less emphasis on pushing his team to compete and refocused on the true essence of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

After being in the islands for 8 years, the official Relson Gracie Main Academy was opened on Waialae Avenue in Honolulu, Hawaii. It remained in Waialae until 2000 when the Academy moved to its current location at 844 Queen Street. That same year, the Relson Gracie Team joined forces with Gracie Humaita and placed in every division at the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Florida: 1st in the Female and Master/Seniors divisions, 2nd in the Juvenile, and 3rd in the Adult.

Relson continued to host tournaments as well. The Relson Gracie National Jiu-Jitsu Tournament has been held annually in Columbus, Ohio since 1997. Due to the success of his inaugural National tournament, Arnold Schwarzenegger approached Relson to start the Arnold-Gracie World Submission Championships, also held in Columbus, has grown rapidly since its inaugural event in 2000. Between 2005 and 2008, participation increased from 1200 to 1800 competitors.

In 2004 Relson turned over the daily operations of his Main Academy to one of his black belts in order to free up time to travel to the academies within his growing association that has spread throughout the country. The following year, Relson was blessed with his fifth child, Kaena Gracie.

The Gracie’s are confident that they have created the best form of self defense in the world, and as a result they have been constantly tested by countless individuals ranging from martial arts masters to street fighters in the mean streets of Brazil. Relson was more than happy to not only defend the family name, but also prove the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Relson’s ferocious fighting style quickly garnered him the reputation that, of all the Gracie’s, he was the last one you wanted to test yourself against. The only Vale Tudo matches of Relson’s caught on film is featured on the video documentary Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Action 1. This fight against a Karate master can be seen below.

Upon graduating with a degree in Psychology, he move from Chapel Hill and began working for the department of correction in 1996. He then began training in aikido, the style made famous in America by Aikido expert/actor Steven Segal, which is know by its joint locks, dynamic throws, and circular movements. Phil studied this style for two and a half years.

In the summer of 1996, he was introduced to the jiu-jitsu by James Hodges of Rockingham , North Carolina . Hodges was a 4 th Degree Black Belt in Jukido Jiu-Jitsu as well as East Coast Kick Boxing Champion. This form of jiu-jitsu has a grappling style similar to Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, except it doesn’t have the open guard flow of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Phil studied with Sensei Hodges until he received his black belt. At that time James Hodges retired from teaching and asked Phil to take over his instructional duties.

The year was 1997 when Phil was first introduced to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He attended a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu seminar by the great Rickson Gracie. Rickson had just competed in the Pride fighting championships. Phil was amazed by the flow and use of leverage the techniques offered by Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Phil immediately joined the Rickson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Association. Rickson began competing in Mixed Martial Arts/Vale Tudo competitions and made so much money doing this, that unfortunately he stopped teaching seminars across the United States . This was disappointing because he wanted to train directly with Rickson Gracie.

Then there was an advertisement in Black Belt magazine for a Relson Gracie seminar, hosted by Jay Dennis, in Georgetown , South Carolina . Phil attended this seminar and any seminar that Relson taught within driving distance of North Carolina . Phil eventually received his blue belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu from Relson. Relson then offered Phil a chance to join the Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Association. He gladly accepted. Now a Relson Gracie brown belt, Phil has attended and trained with some of the world’s best Jiu-jitsu masters and practitioners such as: Relson Gracie, Rickson Gracie, Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Rolker Gracie, Rodrigo Gracie, Carlos Machado, Ricardo Almeida, Flavio Almeida, Daniel Moraes, Gordo, Sidney “Tita” Batista, Caique, as well as other great practitioners. He also complements his training in various striking arts such as training in a hybrid form of Thai boxing suited more for Mixed Martial Arts/Vale Tudo and not a pure Muay Thai boxing match.

Phil not only wants to keep improving his jiu-jitsu technique and game. He does this by attending as many seminars and training with anyone that he can. He also tests his jiu-jitsu techniques by actively competing in jiu-jitsu and submission grappling tournaments. Phil also wants to spread this highly effective art to others. He does this by offering plenty of classes and making his teaching schedule flexible. He also keeps the classes affordable so that anyone can train. He does not want anyone to not train because they cannot afford it.