What is brazilian jiu-jitsu?

The aim is to neutralise your opponent using ground techniques to obtain a dominant position, or using submissions (joint locks, strangleholds, muscle compressions) to force your opponent to surrender (without having to strike a single blow).

Initially developed as a system of self-defence, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was revealed to the world with the first mixed martial arts combats organised in the United States, establishing itself as an effective way of overcoming a stronger adversary by bringing the combat to the floor. Since then, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has developed as a sport in its own right with competitions and federations around the world.

At the beginning of the 1900s, Mitsuyo Maeda, a pupil of Jigoro Kano, was sent to Brazil to promote and teach Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. On his arrival in Brazil, he was welcomed and supported by a politician named Gastão Gracie. In thanks for the help he received to establish himself in Brazil, Mitsuyo Maeda taught Jiu-Jitsu to Carlos and Hélio, Gastão's two sons. Hélio, being particularly small, quickly understood that by applying certain concepts, floor-based combat allowed him to greatly reduce the impact of a difference in size between two adversaries. Together with his brother Carlos, he developed a system using the floor-based techniques and guarding himself by positioning his legs between himself and his adversary.

Carlos and Hélio had several sons who were all trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Several of them took on challenges to prove the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu through multiple mixed martial arts combats. Following the Gracie's victories through these events, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took off and has now developed into a world-famous sport in its own right.