RIP Grand Master Helio Gracie.

Founder and Grand Master BJJ 10th degree red belt Helio Gracie passed away yesterday at his home in Brazil.

On Tuesday morning Grand Master Helio Gracie was tanning at his ranch in Brazil, and on Thursday morning at 9:15 he passed on due to natural causes. His legacy will survive forever in all members of the Gracie Family, jiu-jitsu practitioners around the world, and all those who have benefited from the revolution he began.In his final years, the creator of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu often spoke of his satisfaction with his life’s work. He openly stated that he had accomplished everything he had set out to do, displaying his preparedness for the transition into the afterlife.The Grand Master believed that such a transition should be seen as a positive step in one's spiritual evolution. In a recent interview he declared: “I’ve already told my sons that when I die I want there to be a party. No drinking, no debauchery.”

In one of his final magazine interviews the Grand Master expresses his concern for the future of Jiu-Jitsu:

“The Jiu-Jitsu that I created was designed to give the weak ones a chance to face the heavy and strong. It was so successful that they decided to create a sportive version of it. I would like to make it clear that of course I am in favor of the sportive practice and technical refinement of all athletes, whatever their specialty may be, as well as good nutrition, sexual control, avoidance of addictions and unhealthy habits. The problem lies in the creation of a sport-oriented Jiu-Jitsu, based on rules and time limits, which benefits the heavier, stronger, and more athletic individuals. The primary objective of Jiu-Jitsu is to empower the weak who, for not having the physical attributes, are often intimidated. My Jiu-Jitsu is an art of self-defense in which rules and time limits are unacceptable. These are the reasons for which I can’t support events that reflect an anti Jiu-Jitsu.”

-Grand Master Helio Gracie (October 1, 1913 – January 29, 2009)

History of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

If you are not familiar with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, here's a short intro. There's a lot to be said about BJJ and to make it shorter I'll start with this video showcasing the roots of BJJ. Check it out, it's well spoken and very informative if you dont have any previous knowledge on what BJJ is all about.




This is the definition of BJJ as found on Wikipedia:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting, it is a derivative of early 20th century Kodokan Judo, which was itself then a recently-developed system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu) of Japanese Jujutsu.
It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant using joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat an opponent. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as 'rolling') and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.

I recommend you to spend 10 minutes of your time to read the full article, you will pretty much learn all that needs to be learned when starting up with BJJ:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Jiu-Jitsu

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