Issue 006

August 2005

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Mixed Martial Arts

When a skinny kid named Royce Gracie entered a caged arena in Colorado on November 12, 1993, no one expected that what he would go on to do would have such an effect on the world of professional fighting. His actions left a legacy that is impossible to deny, and his performance was responsible for kick-starting a revolution in the way martial arts were trained. 

Until that night the world had been pretty much ignorant of the effectiveness of grappling-based martial arts. Force-fed a long and utterly tasteless diet of badly dubbed kung-fu movies and Hollywood haymakers, the modern generation had been brainwashed into believing that fights could be won with flying, spinning kicks or one-punch knockouts. When the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) came along, years-old misconceptions were destroyed overnight, and suddenly everyone was talking about a new way to win fights — on the floor. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had arrived, and soon many, many people were to know about it. 

HISTORY

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a style of fighting that deals with one of the three areas of combat found in MMA (the three areas being stand up, clinch and ground). BJJ is by no means the only effective grappling art seen or used in MMA, but it is certainly the most popular and the most effective of all submission arts. 

When Count Koma (the emissary of Kano, founder of judo) went to Brazil he met a wealthy family of Scottish descent named the Gracies. He went on to teach them techniques from the Japanese arts of judo and ju-jitsu, and it wasn’t long before the fighting bug had bitten this large, extended family. Developing and refining the techniques they had learnt, the Gracies (headed by patriarchs Carlos and Helio) infused their own experiences and ideas into their way of fighting. Through much experimentation, they successfully developed their own distinctive art — that of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 

The similarities between traditional Japanese ju-jitsu or judo and BJJ are great, but the differences are numerous. The key areas of difference lie in their respective tactics and methodologies. Helio was far smaller and weaker than his brothers and, observing that the majority of fights ended up on the floor, refined what he had been taught of the principles of leverage and superior technique over strength into a style that revolved around out-grappling an opponent. While this may sound very similar to that of the art of judo, and there are arguments that BJJ is nothing but old judo, the difference between the two was that Helio emphasised grappling, or newaza, over stand up fighting. By focusing on the ground fighting aspect of grappling, BJJ has generally become known as a ‘floor-fighting’ art. 

Helio Gracie went on to market BJJ through a series of self-publicity stunts and opened a series of popular academies. He threw out challenges left, right and centre to martial artists of other styles, inviting them to test the effectiveness of their arts against BJJ. He also engaged in early Vale Tudo (MMA) fights, as did his younger brother Carlson (widely regarded as the best of the Gracie fighters). 

By creating a family tradition of beating up hapless martial artists, Helio went on to train his numerous sons in the family style, and put them forward for matches as well. Some of them (such as Rolls and Rickson) fought legitimate Vale Tudo matches in Brazil, and while the majority of the adult Gracies had dabbled in fighting in Vale Tudo fights, they still considered themselves BJJ players. 

In the 1980s a number of Gracie family members moved to America in search of fresh pastures. Rorion and Rickson were first to go over, followed by Royce and others. Learning the lessons taught to them by their father, they carried on the tradition of issuing challenges to other styles, but could not gain the publicity or recognition they desired. Rorion, ever the entrepreneur, managed to build up a series of contacts that led to a Brazilian-style Vale Tudo contest being held, and the UFC was born. 

The story of the first UFC is well-known. Held on Pay-Per-View and widely distributed on video, the UFC employed some questionable marketing tactics and drew both curious interest and heavy criticism. Regardless of the events surrounding the UFC or MMA competition in the early days, the Gracie family mission was complete. Royce Gracie had gone on to beat a bunch of ‘mulleted’ chumps and was declared winner of the tournament with nary a scratch on him. 

The use of BJJ in as close to a real fight as was allowed told the world that not only is grappling often far more effective than striking, but also that a guy on his back isn’t necessarily losing a fight. It didn’t take long before everyone realised that this ground-fighting lark was pretty useful, and it opened the door for grapplers of all styles to enter MMA competition. Before long judo-ka, Sambo players and wrestlers were all keen to get in on the action, and they enjoyed varying degrees of success. As a result of BJJ being so effective in early MMA competition, grapplers went on to dominate MMA competition for the next few years, first in the form of BJJ’ers, then followed by wrestlers. 

?STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF BJJ IN MMA

The classic BJJ fighter is a grappler who employs tactics based around leverage and body control. He may engage in striking until an opportunity for a takedown arises, but his whole game plan will revolve around trying to take the fight to the floor where he can control and submit his opponent. Bieng able to take almost any body part and apply a submission, he is able to fight from both top and bottom position. BJJ grapplers are generally highly adaptive, innovative in their approach to applying tactics and opportunistic in their nature when attacking for submissions. 

The one thing that sets BJJ aside from other grappling arts is the use of the guard. The ‘closed’ guard is when a fighter is lying on his back and has his legs wrapped around his opponent’s torso. There are numerous opportunities for him to control, reverse and submit his opponent from this position. Numerous variations of the guard exist, such as the ‘open’ guard (when a fighter does not have his legs crossed around his opponent’s torso), the ‘spider’ guard (using the feet to control the hips/arms) and many more. 

The ability of BJJ players to fight from almost any position on the ground makes them very dangerous, but there are limitations to their style. A fighter who is able to show good anti-takedown skills, demonstrate good submission awareness and defence, and is skilled in using ground ‘n’ pound from within the guard is a tough match for a BJJ fighter. 

BJJ fighters will generally use a strategy of positional dominance to control and submit his opponent. A traditional BJJ strategy will be to take the opponent down, look to pass the guard, shift from one pin to another before settling into the ultimate goal — the mount. Modern BJJ fighters, especially those from a sport BJJ background, may actually prefer to fight from underneath their opponent from the guard. 

A BJJ fighter with a good guard is a highly dangerous opponent, and many fights can be won from this position. If, when attempting to take an opponent down, they fail, they will often change tactics and draw their opponent down to the mat and take them in their guard. Many fighters have become wise to the perils of the guard though, and as the guard offers as much opportunity for the person on top to attack as it does the person on the bottom, many BJJ fighters from a sport BJJ background have found their ‘open’ style of guard may not be best suited to MMA competition. 

A good BJJ player will often have a large repertoire of techniques but will favour only a few. They will perfect their favourite techniques so that they are able to apply them from almost any position and with an innumerable amount of set-ups. 

CONCLUSION

After the first couple of UFCs, fighters realised that BJJ should become an essential part of any MMA fighter’s arsenal. While every MMA fighter understands the necessity for cross training in BJJ, it is not necessary for every fighter to become highly proficient in it. Aside from learning basic grappling skills, the main focus for a non-BJJ fighter is the need to understand how it works so that they can effectively combat it in competition. Fighters who are good strikers must understand how to defend submissions or regain their feet from the floor if they are to have any hope of knocking out their opponent. 

When Royce Gracie’s BJJ was used in the UFC no one knew the knock-on effect it would have, but it is right to say that it was directly responsible for kick-starting a major paradigm shift in the way we view martial arts and fighting. While it is known that there were pioneers in Japan who were also engaging in various types of MMA fights around the time of the first UFC, it was BJJ that was the catalyst for the development of a new breed of combat sport. It is safe to say that without BJJ there would be no MMA as we know it today.