Erik Paulson‘s martial arts education did not follow a single lineage. By his own count, he trained under roughly 45 different coaches over the course of his career, a list that includes figures such as Royce Gracie, Rickson Gracie, and the Machado brothers, alongside Dan Inosanto, and dozens of others across boxing, Muay Thai, Filipino martial arts, and wrestling.
That breadth shaped his belief that growth in the martial arts comes from staying open to instruction wherever it appears, a mindset he calls “white belt mentality.”
Paulson’s introduction to the Gracie family began in 1986, when he trained with Rorion, his brother Royce, and Rigan Machado. On a day Royce could not train him, Machado stepped in to teach ground work exclusively, which was the part of the system Paulson wanted most.
Rorion and Royce’s self-defense curriculum emphasized standing scenarios first, with ground work introduced later, so Paulson began splitting his private lessons between the brothers, taking self-defense instruction from Royce and Rorion and ground-focused sessions from Rickson.
That arrangement did not sit well with Royce. “Royce actually gave me the ultimatum and said, ‘You’re either with my brother or you’re with me. You can’t play on two teams at the same time,'” Paulson recalled during an interview.
He pushed back, arguing he should be able to train with both, especially since he was also working at the Inosanto Academy and in Redlands.
“Why can’t I train with all three guys? Do I have to keep everything secret?”
At that time, the answer was yes. Royce compared it to buying textbooks for college, telling Paulson not to share paid-for knowledge with training partners the way he wouldn’t hand his books to classmates for free.
When Paulson asked how he was supposed to improve without pooling knowledge with a roommate on a home mat, Royce was direct.
“No, you cannot share any of this information. The only way you get better is you take more private lessons,” he told him.
Paulson notes that this philosophy doubled as a business approach for the Gracies at the time, when private lessons ran $40 for a half hour.
Paulson ultimately chose to stay aligned with the Gracie side of his training, a decision that placed him at the center of jiu-jitsu’s early spread outside Brazil.
