In a powerful statement addressed to the martial arts community, Grand Master Reylson Gracie, a 9th-degree red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and son of the legendary Carlos Gracie Sr., has raised serious concerns about the current state of Jiu-Jitsu instruction.
Gracie, known for his dedication to preserving the authentic Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style, penned a passionate essay on social media, calling for a return to the art’s roots and criticizing what he sees as a diluted version of the discipline being taught in many schools today.
The Grand Master’s message comes as the Gracie family celebrates its centenary, marking 100 years since the development of their revolutionary martial art. In his statement, Reylson Gracie emphasizes the importance of maintaining high-quality instruction and the true essence of the art form.
One of the key issues highlighted by Gracie is the prevalence of what he terms a “mutilated” version of Jiu-Jitsu, which he claims represents only about 30% of the complete art. He expresses particular concern about instructors who may be prioritizing profit over proper technique and those who misrepresent their qualifications.
Gracie also takes aim at tournament champions who transition into teaching roles without the necessary skills to be effective instructors. He draws a clear distinction between being a skilled competitor and possessing the ability to impart knowledge as a master.
The Grand Master’s critique extends to training methods as well. He condemns practices such as using students to demonstrate techniques, arguing that this approach can hinder the development of proper muscle memory for real-life situations. Additionally, he criticizes schools that keep students at the same belt level for extended periods, suggesting that this may be a tactic to generate more income.
Reylson Gracie’s statement serves as a wake-up call to the Jiu-Jitsu community, urging practitioners and instructors alike to recommit to the art’s fundamental principles and techniques. He emphasizes that without a solid foundation and true understanding of the discipline, the legacy of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu risks being lost.
Full statement:
Warning from Grand Master Reylson Gracie to all Martial arts practitioners
For this centenary of the Gracie Family, It has come the time to make amends and to amplify your vision to what is happening in the world of martial arts. My mission in this life is very simple: to save the martial art style developed by my father Carlos Gracie and by my uncle Helio Gracie. I will go to any lengths, overcome any obstacle and destroy any barrier of reality to see that my idea is realized.
And which idea is this? The idea that martial arts should not be at all taught if it is not of high quality. The idea that any man holding students back for the motives of undue profit or to hide the true aspects of the art should be severely penalized for this practice. The idea that instructors and masters should be prepared to endure any hardship in life to become good enough for their students and that if it is otherwise, they do not deserve such title. The idea that martial arts, as any objectified and durable work by mankind, is bigger than life as it gives immortality to those that improve it (by remembrance) and to the important teachings left in the world to all that will come after you.
To preserve humanity’s remembrance of what we do now, it is necessary that we improve ourselves today.
My specialty is all kinds of Jiu-Jitsu. Those who do not deal with Jiu-Jitsu can still participate and shall learn on the same timeframe as the others. With my program, there is literally no need for familiarity with Jiu-Jitsu basics. Please, all of you must understand that there is no “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” (this is just a name to avoid copyright issues). There is only Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and it makes me very upset to see that nobody has been teaching it correctly for decades. It makes me even more upset to see people that come from Brazil on a low level belt and change it for a higher level one (most commonly a blue belt puts a black belt) when they arrive in the United States. By doing this, they‘ve been fooling the American people for too long, teaching a mutilated set of techniques which does not amount for even 30% of the whole. By spreading this “snake without head” Jiu-Jitsu, they are killing martial arts.
Being the champion of a tournament does not make anyone a good instructor. A master can be a fighter but a fighter cannot be a master. A general can be a soldier but a soldier can’t be a general. There are lots of people in this country that put students to do their jobs by erroneously using pairs of students as well as people teaching and giving instructor/master certification online. When an instructor puts a student to do their job playing the victim on a pair, for example, it breaks their correct automation for real life scenarios. Also, there are people who wear the badge of inefficiency with pride by providing students with slow learning regimens that trap them into near-endless half decade cycles in the same belt level, and for this they charge low but for more time, generating income while keeping students longer than necessary. In the bigger schools, they overload the number of students, forcing each instructor to take care of 20 or 30 pairs of students at a time, making it not only inefficient but ineffective teaching (and these are but a few of the worst).
This kind of behavior destroys any art, for it creates a “domino effect” that takes these mistakes from school to school, person to person, spreading around the art as something ineffective, inefficient, commonplace and mutilated. You and your students cannot have conviction and find meaning in your skills and philosophy if the first is sloppy and the second is a lie. And without meaning, my friend, you and your art will be forgotten. This forces me to understand a very sad reality: in most places, instructors and masters are extinct and what they teach resemble more a volleyball or basketball trainer rather than a real master.
For this reason, I invite you to see, through my techniques and wisdom, that everything in this letter is true. It has been 100 years since the art began being developed. I will not let it die now. Help me spread it the right way. You owe it to yourselves, to your students and to the whole of martial arts to see this through!
In good faith,
Reylson Gracie
