JimFormation

The Old Man died yesterday. He was 95-years-old. He died in his sleep in a hospital. He’d gone to the hospital several days before complaining of stomach pains.

The Old Man is Helio Gracie, the father of modern jiu-jitsu. I’m not going to get into a lengthy biography here, but you can find out most everything that you’d want to know by reading his 2001 Playboy interview.

The point I hope to make is that the jiu-jitsu I’m learning today is not the jiu-jitsu that The Old Man started developing 75 years ago.

I started training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in the late-1990′s. This was before Helio Gracie’s son, Royce Gracie, took on and defeated all comers in the first Ultimate Fighting Championship; thus establishing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as a fighting style where a small man can overcome the size and strength of a big man.

When I started studying there were only one or two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools in the United States. One was The Old Man’s oldest son’s, Rorion, school in Torrance, California. The other was his nephew’s, the Machados, school. I don’t remember where the Machado’s school was originally located.

Helio Gracie training with his eldest son, Rorion. Helio is 94-years-old.

Here in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, we didn’t have schools as much as we had clubs. Some of us had picked up bits of instruction here-and-there and were sharing it with each other in places like Steve Maxwell‘s Maxercise gym in Philadelphia and Dave Lentz‘s Professional Karate Academy in Red Bank, NJ. I was training at Dave Lentz’s club and going to Philadelphia when Royce Gracie came out from California to hold classes.

(An Aside: I assume that we weren’t unique. There were probably loose jiu-jitsu clubs forming all over the United States. Certainly after Royce’s success in the UFC clubs formed and instructors emmigrated from Brazil to the United States to teach.)

Craig Kukuk, the first American to get a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, moved from California (where he was learning jiu-jitsu from Rorion) to New Jersey and began teaching at Dave Lentz’s school. There he led small group of about 20 or 25 students. I was one of those students.

The jiu-jitsu I was learning from Craig was one person removed from Helio. That person being Helio’s eldest son, Rorion. (As a matter of history, Craig travelled to Brazil to get his black belt — to the school that Helio founded.)

Helio and Rorion’s jiu-jitsu (brandnamed: Gracie Jiu-jitsu) was a no-nonsense self-defense/fighting discipline. There were few sportive qualities. It was about how not to get punched and how to get into a position where you can either “punch without being interupted” or end the fight by choking your adversary out, breaking one of his bones, or tearing out one of his joints. It was simple, direct, and efficient. Undiluted.

I trained for only two or three years and quit. I had attained the rank of blue belt (there being only five belts in jiu-jitsu). I quit for several reasons: 1) my job situation changed and I was commuting an hour-and-a-half to work (the school was 30-45 minutes from home), 2) Craig had a falling out with Rorion, and 3) I felt that I was no longer learning how to defend myself and was only learning to counter my fellow students.

I quit in 1994 or 1995, I’d taken it as far as I wanted. Over the years I still trained with my brother-in-law, Nelson, who was my partner in the beginning years — he continued training and now wears a brown belt. Recently, seeing the popularity of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu increase, I decided to stick my toe back in the water.

For the last two or three weeks, I’ve been going to a local Brazilian Jiu-jitsu school. The instructor’s lineage to the art comes from the other side of the family: Helio’s older brother, Carlos. Carlos’s jiu-jitsu was much more athletically-minded and relied more on strength and agility. His students gravitated toward sporting competitions like jiu-jitsu tournaments and no-holds barred matches. And I can see the difference.

The difference is best highlighted when you consider the admonitions the instructors give during live training, now compared to fifteen years ago.

Now you hear my instructor and senior students typically yelling:

20 seconds! The round is going to end in 20 seconds! You’re behind! You need the points! Go for a reversal or sweep! Take a chance on the submission!

15 years ago, Craig typically warned:

Where are his hands! Be careful; he can hit you! You don’t want to be hit; no one is punch proof!

No strength! No strength!

This was driven home when I read this quote from The Old Man, released by Rorion, as part of his eulogy:

“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.” (Emphasis mine.)

Nelson warned me. He said, “It’s different now, Jim.”

It is different. I prefer Helio’s jiu-jitsu.