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GJJ VS BJJ

By Benjamin Strusnik, June 20, 2022

There are some distinctive similarities between GJJ and BJJ, as both Martial Arts descended from Helio Gracie's combative systems. GJJ or more commonly known as Gracie Jiu Jitsu was the founding Martial Art that has spawned many BJJ academies worldwide. Both Martial Arts have the same system of grappling that uses a highly complex series of technical movements, control positions and high calibre transitions that leads to submissions like choke holds, arm locks and leg locks.

What This Article Covers

Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is just like the difference between japanese and brazilian jiu jitsu, as Gracie Jiu Jitsu symbolises many of the older traditions in Japanese Jujitsu. The Gracie philosophy highlights the necessity for self defense aspects, as the art was designed for hand to hand combat. Gracie Jiu Jitsu is taught to many law enforcement agencies through the rise of the Gracie University's combatives program. The art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has steered towards a more definitive sports orientated version. The popularity of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments worldwide has become exponential in both Gi and No Gi disciplines of the art.

Widely considered the greatest competitor every produced by the Gracie Family, Roger Gracie is here with his complete championship winning Closed Guard System from BJJFanatics.com

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THE ORIGIN OF GRACIE JIU JITSU

The origin of Gracie Jiu Jitsu dates back to the early 1900’s in Brazil. The story began with Gastao Gracie who lived in Rio de Janeiro, he was the proud grandson of George Gracie. In 1901 Gastao Gracie decided to settle in Belem do Para in northern Brazil, where he became a prominent business partner of the American Circus in Belem. In 1916, the Italian Argentine Queirolo Brothers facilitated circus shows in Brazil, during their shows they introduced Mitsuyo Maeda, a Martial Artist teaching Japanese Jujitsu and Kodokan Judo.

Gastao Gracie became friends with Mitsuyo, and in 1917 he helped him establish a Japanese community in Brazil. Mitsuyo would teach his concepts to his countrymen as they would deal with real life conflicts. Mitsuyo was continuing to teach Martial Arts out of the Da Paz theatre in Rio de Janeiro and by late in 1917, Carlos Gracie who was the eldest son of Gastao Gracie, watched a Judo demonstration by Mitsuyo Maeda. Carlos wanted to learn Judo so he was introduced to Maeda by his father. Mitsuyo Maeda felt he owed thanks to Gastao so he accepted Carlos as his student. Carlos Gracie would excel in Maeda's teaching as he mastered many of the Japanese legends concepts.

The art of Judo and Japanese Jujitsu was then passed down to more Gracie clan members, Carlos and his brothers Oswaldo, Gastao Jr., George, and Helio all began learning the finer points of the Martial Art. Helio Gracie was a lot smaller than his brothers, even though he was a competitive swimmer and rower he struggled with many of the techniques. Helio would then develop his own system based on leverage and specific body movements in order to submit his opponents. Helio would master his craft as he monopolised local vale tudo events in Brazil. Through their competitive rise, the Gracie men allocated power and influence with which they sought to promote Gracie family members within the vale tudo community. Helio taught many of his sons and nephews the Gracie way which was the birth of Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

THE ORIGIN OF BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU

The birth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu began in the United States of America, as the Gracie clan travelled to the US to spread Gracie Jiu Jitsu. At the time Rorion Gracie was the manager of the family, and his control of the money and the allocation of who fought who, became frustrating to some. In particular Rixon Gracie grew tired of Rorion's control after being underpaid throughout many of his submission wrestling vs bjj fights in Japan. Rixon was an undefeated champion and was the clear choice to take the Gracie clan to the next level through fighting on the big stage in America.

The stage was set and the Ultimate Fighting Championship would become the pinnacle of Martial Arts, as the contest would see which art was the best. Rorion became worried about Rixon's popularity in Japan, so he invited Royce Gracie to take the centre of the octagon. Although Rixon was not happy he was extremely content to coach Royce for the tournament. Royce was somewhat nervous as he had not fought at this kind of level before, but due to his brother's guidance he grew confident he could win. After Royce won the event and secured international fame for the Gracie family, Rorion refused to pay both Royce and Rixon.

Rixon Gracie was now understandably frustrated as he decided to break away and start his own academy. Rixon was enjoying his new freedom, as many other Gracie members including Renzo Gracie began their own migration to the US. As a result of this, Rorion grew enraged and began filing lawsuits against his family for trademark infringement. Many of the Gracie's were now unable to use the term Gracie Jiu Jitsu, so they adopted the new name of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

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HOW HAS GJJ AND BJJ EVOLVED

The evolution of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has seen a significant rise in academy memberships worldwide. BJJ has received international stardom through many talented superstars like Roger Gracie, Marcus Almeida, Marcelo Garcia, Royler Gracie, Gordon Ryan and Andre Galvao. With both gi or no gi bjj disciplines available, many practitioners are lining up to learn this incredible Martial Art. BJJ has become heavily sports focused as the rise in competition worldwide has reached new heights. The growth of No Gi BJJ or submission grappling has redlined, and many premier competitions like Quintet, Polaris and ADCC have come to the forefront. The art itself has evolved past the point of Helio's old traditional BJJ, as the combination of wrestling, judo and bjj have all come together into a more potent form of Martial Arts.

Gracie Jiu Jitsu has evolved in its own game style down the same path as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Many Gracie fighters are still heavily focused on winning IBJJF Worlds and ADCC competition. The major development within the realms of Gracie Jiu Jitsu is the self defense aspect. In the US the Gracie University is run by Rener and Ryron Gracie who are the sons of Rorion Gracie and the grandsons of Helio Gracie. Gracie University has the philosophy that self defense is the most important aspect of Jiu Jitsu. The Gracie clan have created an online curriculum for many students to learn the art, and they offer many programs for civilians and law enforcement, as they deal with real life conflicts and highly stressful situational training exercises.

SPORTS BJJ VS SELF DEFENSE GJJ

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition has achieved significant notoriety over the course of the last twenty years. Many athletes are paving the way and competing on the world stage of grappling. In this day and age No Gi grappling has become increasingly popular as household names like Gordon Ryan, Craig Jones, Mikey Muscamesi and the Ruotulo brothers have succeeded in their pursuit for international fame. Many prestigious events like Polaris, Quintet, Submission Underground, Who's Number One, ADCC and Fight 2 Win have begun filling seats at a tremendous level. The sporting aspect of BJJ has become mainstream in comparison to the self defense aspect of the art.

BJJ tournaments are all different, as they may use various types of layouts. Some use an elimination style of event, where others use a round robin scenario or a submission only style. In most events a points system is used, where competitors will score points for positions like mount, back mount, back control, side control and knee on belly. Other scoring methods are takedowns, sweeping or passing the guard. All BJJ tournament matches are officiated by a referee and will all have different time durations for individual ranks, like five minutes for a white belt all the way to ten minutes for a black belt. Some tournaments will allow all leg locks submissions including knee reaping, where others won't, and in all tournaments slamming an opponent or striking is strictly prohibited. The international success of many of these tournaments are fast becoming exponential as the ever growing fan base is rising.

The rise of Gracie self defense in the United States has become extremely popular. Civilians all over the US and the world are all logging into the Gracie University's online curriculum. Learning how to defend yourself or the life of a loved one is the most important facet in this modern generation. The increase of crime, violence and death across the world is frighteningly high, as many people are looking to master hand to hand combat self defense. The Gracie University has become one of the front runners in tactical self defense systems as they are heavily entrenched with various organisations across the United States of America.

The Gracie University has created many different self defense programs to cater to many Americans and people across the globe. They offer beginners the Gracie Combatives course which is the 36 most important self defense techniques they will need to know. Another great course is the Women's Empowered course which is the world's leading self defense program for women, based on the proven principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The Gracie's also offer a junior combative course for children as well as an instructor's course for adults, so they can best help their children achieve the Gracie standard of self defense principles. The evolution of the Gracie University has brought Gracie Jiu Jitsu into the 21st century, and is building as the pioneers for tactical combative self defense systems.

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HOW DOES BJJ STACK UP AGAINST GJJ IN A TRAINING SENSE

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has become heavily focused on the sporting application, which means the training is more specialised for competition. Many of the principles that are taught coincide with the ruleset of a competition process. Although this kind of training is still outstanding and has incredible upside in terms of strength, fitness and martial arts ability, it does lack in critical street application. Nowadays BJJ has become a hybrid of many other forms of Martial Arts, like the combination of judo, sambo, jiu jitsu and wrestling has helped shape what the modern game looks like today. A typical training session in BJJ will consist of a specific series of technical based movements that all relate directly to different parts of the curriculum. An instructor will then teach two or three techniques, before students will partner up and practise all the movements. The last aspect and arguably the most important, is the rolling time which is how a practitioner will be able to battle test their development within the art on a regular basis.

Training in Gracie Jiu Jitsu has a far wider variety of tactical movements. The whole philosophy enables a direct approach to self defense as opposed to a sporting aspect. Students from a broad range of life will come together to utilise the combative techniques that the Gracie ideology is based upon. Training sessions use the same series of warmups as BJJ, with differences only coming due to different instructors and a different philosophy. In GJJ the techniques are more comprehensive and are practised for longer, they will also adopt a more stringent series of tactical maneuvers which are designed to help a person fight off an attacker. Many practitioners of Gracie Jiu Jitsu will attest to the mastery and proficiency that the art form possesses.

GJJ VS BJJ: WHO WOULD PREVAIL IN A CONTEST

This kind of fight happens on the world stage all the time, as many competitors from each Martial Art do compete. It is very hard to say that BJJ would defeat GJJ because of international wins in IBJJF or ADCC, as the format uses a sporting ruleselt. When we are talking about proper GJJ vs BJJ, then the dynamics change as Gracie Jiu Jitsu is a form of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but they differ in a number of ways.

Roger Gracie is a 10X World Champion in BJJ. Grab his complete closed guard system at BJJFanatics.com

GJJ aims to teach anyone to defend themselves against bigger and stronger opponents, regardless of age, size, gender or fitness. BJJ uses the same techniques, but is designed more for the sport of grappling and is usually more beneficial to the stronger or more athletic competitor. In saying this, Gracie Jiu Jitsu fighters definitely do have the advantage over their BJJ cousins.

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