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The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

grantland.com

21–30 of 116 posts

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#22

What a fantastically designed and executed site! I love the attention to detail all the way across the responsive sizes. Great work.

except if you are half way and resize the window, then maximize - it fails (chrome on windows 10)

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#23
post #19

For some reason, these stories always leave out that UFC 1 was organized by a Gracie with pretty much the goal of showcasing Gracie JJ. UFC 2 (I think? or was it 1 already?) even had a half-time 'ceremony' where Rickson gave Helio a 'lifetime award' of some sort - while booed by the audience; and rightfully - that was clear self-promotion and put a shadow over the objectiveness of the whole event. In that light, the…

> For some reason, these stories always leave out that UFC 1 was organized by a Gracie with pretty much the goal of showcasing Gracie JJ

Second paragraph:

In 1993, Rórion Gracie founded the Ultimate Fighting Championship as a way to spread Gracie jiu-jitsu to North America, inspiring the rise of mixed martial arts.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#24
post #4

Fascinating history. It's strange to see what the various jujitsu-descended arts choose as their comfort level with injury. The traditional jujitsu ryu had lots of maming / killing techniques, which have been taken out and readded depending on the art: Judo focused on making a very safe art that could be applied full-intensity in a sporting context. Aikido focussed on making a purely defensive art. Then Gracie jujits…

Cagefighting came into existence as a way to test the efficacy of traditional martial arts. So much of what is taught is complete rubbish ("lethal techniques" that only ever practised against compliant opponents, etc.). All the beautiful movements and choreographed dancing of traditional martial arts fly out of the window when you face a skilled fighter that is trying to hurt you. The fighters know exactly what they…

> Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was born in the favelas, any martial art that was not brutal would be of no use there.

Do you know the difference between martial arts and martial sports?

Fundamentally if there is competition, it's a sport ergo they don't teach you the lethal techniques. Also differentiate between lethal and brutal.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#25
post #4

Fascinating history. It's strange to see what the various jujitsu-descended arts choose as their comfort level with injury. The traditional jujitsu ryu had lots of maming / killing techniques, which have been taken out and readded depending on the art: Judo focused on making a very safe art that could be applied full-intensity in a sporting context. Aikido focussed on making a purely defensive art. Then Gracie jujits…

Judo focused on making a very safe art that could be applied full-intensity in a sporting context.

Just to be clear, Judo was created by taking only those parts of Jujitsu that could be actually practiced at full power and strength. It wasn't about creating a sporting variant.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#26
post #4

Fascinating history. It's strange to see what the various jujitsu-descended arts choose as their comfort level with injury. The traditional jujitsu ryu had lots of maming / killing techniques, which have been taken out and readded depending on the art: Judo focused on making a very safe art that could be applied full-intensity in a sporting context. Aikido focussed on making a purely defensive art. Then Gracie jujits…

A Gracie practitioner once told me that he felt MMA was safer than boxing for the competitors' long-term health. His explanation was that boxing matches typically run much longer and involve many more head strikes per match than MMA matches, which means the boxers are more at risk for brain damage.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cagefighting came into existence as a way to test the efficacy of traditional martial arts. So much of what is taught is complete rubbish ("lethal techniques" that only ever practised against compliant opponents, etc.). All the beautiful movements and choreographed dancing of traditional martial arts fly out of the window when you face a skilled fighter that is trying to hurt you. The fighters know exactly what they…

> Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was born in the favelas, any martial art that was not brutal would be of no use there. Do you know the difference between martial arts and martial sports? Fundamentally if there is competition, it's a sport ergo they don't teach you the lethal techniques. Also differentiate between lethal and brutal.

There's a lot of vitriol between people who practice different styles, with a lot of guys from traditional styles (karate, tae kwon do, kung fu, etc.) claiming combat sports are worthless in a Real Fight (TM) because it's just competition. Completely inaccurate in my experience - people who compete in full-contact combat sports will almost always beat the people who don't, other things being equal. The techniques don't have to be lethal to completely destroy your opponent, and BJJ was made for choking people out or breaking their limbs so badly they literally cannot continue the fight. Not to mention there's a plethora of illegal techniques ranging from neck cranks to spinal locks, removed from competition because they're far too dangerous and can kill or paralyze you. The best tournament practitioners are a lot more likely to know these and be able to apply them than people who sit around theorizing about them.

But there's still a lot of big ego'd guys who can't fight and like to impress and intimidate people with statements like, "This technique is far too dangerous for me to actually demonstrate, but I could use it to destroy sport fighters any time I wanted! Don't make me hurt you to prove it." It's a lot of BS, and easier to perpetuate because grapplers can still beat you without hurting you that bad, whereas if you challenge a boxer and he caves your face in people don't get right up and say, "One more try, I can do better next time!"

One of my best MA memories was getting my ass kicked in 5 seconds by a guy half my size who was only using one arm because the other was broken in a recent grappling tournament. Don't fall into the "combat sports aren't real" mentality. BJJ, judo, and wrestling guys will mess you up if you're not trained in how to defend against them.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#28
post #4

Fascinating history. It's strange to see what the various jujitsu-descended arts choose as their comfort level with injury. The traditional jujitsu ryu had lots of maming / killing techniques, which have been taken out and readded depending on the art: Judo focused on making a very safe art that could be applied full-intensity in a sporting context. Aikido focussed on making a purely defensive art. Then Gracie jujits…

I will be the sole responder who agrees with you that promotions like the UFC cross the line in terms of acceptable injury to fighters. Most professional MMA fighters with a few years in have severe debilitating injuries. I am not talking about a bad knee of slipped disc, I am talking about severe chronic pain and brain damage, something that is the inevitable result of the kind of punishment they deal with. Just loo…

One might argue that MMA crosses the line in terms of acceptable injury, but it would be quite unfair to single the sport out as "the sport that crosses the line".

Boxing, Kickboxing and Football are arguably as bad as MMA in regards to brain damage, and many other sports in regards to chronic pain of some sort.

Calling MMA out specifically on this issue is a convolution of the perceived violence and the degree of injury. (I don't care if fighters bathe in each other's blood, as long as the blood stems from a cut)

The problem is that protecting the fighters is not simply a matter of adding Headgear (you can get knocked out easily with headgear as well btw) in fights, as a lot of fighters accrue their injuries in training.

If it would be only the fight that could cause harm, I would argue MMA would be safe. But the lifestyle of a fighter as a whole is extremely unhealthy.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#29

What a fantastically designed and executed site! I love the attention to detail all the way across the responsive sizes. Great work.

Couldn't agree more, I see that it's actually just built on top of Wordpress too which is pretty impressive. Great design - very captivating.

Re: The Gracie jiu-jitsu story

#30
post #4

Fascinating history. It's strange to see what the various jujitsu-descended arts choose as their comfort level with injury. The traditional jujitsu ryu had lots of maming / killing techniques, which have been taken out and readded depending on the art: Judo focused on making a very safe art that could be applied full-intensity in a sporting context. Aikido focussed on making a purely defensive art. Then Gracie jujits…

I will be the sole responder who agrees with you that promotions like the UFC cross the line in terms of acceptable injury to fighters. Most professional MMA fighters with a few years in have severe debilitating injuries. I am not talking about a bad knee of slipped disc, I am talking about severe chronic pain and brain damage, something that is the inevitable result of the kind of punishment they deal with. Just loo…

Can you link the info about GSP forgetting the last 6 months, didn't hear that one.
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