Kyra Gracie is an icon in Brazilian jiu-jitsuwho won three ADCC gold medals and five IBJJF World Championship titles between 2004 and 2011. Her journey to the top was fueled by her determination to compete for her right to train in a male-dominated sport.
Kyra Gracie is the granddaughter of Robson Gracie. She was raised in a conservative family in Rio de Janeiro, where martial arts were considered a male pursuit. Surrounded by her uncles Ralph, Ryan, and Renzo Gracie, Kyra faced constant pressure to abandon her passion for BJJ.
Kyra recalled during a recent talk at WebSummit in Rio de Janeiro as per MMAFIghting: “The best spot on the couch back home was for the champion. Who chose the food? The champion. If there was any debate in the family about anything, the champion had the final word. I said, ‘Well, I guess I’ll have to become a champion to have a voice here too. I’ll follow these footsteps.’”
Kyra began training at a young age and started her amateur career at just 11. The taste of victory was a powerful motivator.
Gracie stated: “Winning made me really happy. I was a very shy girl, and that was when this feeling flourished inside of me. ‘I can do it too,’ you know? I discovered myself as the woman I am today, evolving in areas I needed to evolve, my weaknesses.”
Despite the ambitions of BJJ founders Carlos and Helio Gracie to globalize the sport, women had no place in their vision. Kyra’s decision to pursue combat sports was met with resistance from her family.
She explained: “I had to fight to be able to fight, because when I decided to become a fighter, my family said, ‘Kyra, forget about it, women aren’t supposed to do this, go do something else. We’ll protect you. It was always like that. ‘You have many uncles and cousins, we’ll protect you.’”
“When you live in a place where they repeat that over and over again, you end up believing in it. I was that person that believed that only men could go somewhere in fighting.”
The family’s protective stance mirrored the broader societal belief that martial arts were unsuitable for women. Kyra’s mother was forced to quit jiu-jitsu. Witnessing her mother’s forced exit from the sport left Kyra questioning her own future.
She continued: “There was a point where my mother had to quit doing jiu-jitsu. She got to blue belt and then had to stop. She was prohibited from training by my uncles because that wasn’t the ideal path for a woman. And when I saw my mom quitting, I thought, ‘Damn, do I have to stop too? But I like it so much. What do I do now?’ But I was so young, 12, 13 years of age, and they thought I would eventually quit along the way.”
“When I saw my mom quitting, I thought, ‘Damn, do I have to stop too? But I like it so much. What do I do now?’”
Nevertheless, Kyra persevered. She began collecting gold medals at the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals and IBJJF Pans from ages 13 to 18, making history as a black belt.
Kyra’s journey was fraught with challenges, including financial disparity and sexism in the sport. She stated: “Women weren’t valued within the family. First they are prohibited [from training], and then if you win, it’s like, ‘Cool.’ But if a man wins, ‘Wow, that’s awesome, he should represent the family. The great champion.’ There wasn’t much incentive.”
“And then you go to competitions. While men made $50,000 as champions back then, women made $2,000. That didn’t even pay for my supplements.”
These disparities only fueled her determination to prove her worth. She went on to say: “[While it] demotivates you, I started using it as fuel. ‘I’ll prove them wrong.’ You train so much and have no recognition, no money. When I was going to teach seminars, I would hear, ‘But you’re a woman, we’ll charge less [for fees]. You’re a woman, not many people want to attend it.’ The environment still is very sexist and you have to break so many barriers.”
Kyra Gracie made history as the first woman in the Gracie family to earn a jiu-jitsu black belt and the first woman inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame. Although she retired from grappling in 2004 and considered transitioning to MMA, she ultimately chose to focus on building a successful career as a gym owner. Today she runs two branches of Gracie Kore in Rio de Janeiro, with nearly 1,000 students.
Gracie stated: “I’m the only woman to run a jiu-jitsu school in Brazil. I’m glad I continued, because when you have a woman in a place of power, regardless of the area, you inspire other women. I see a many women train jiu-jitsu now, I see their daughters train jiu-jitsu. Girls that are self-confident, that look you in the eye and know how to speak. That’s more important than jiu-jitsu, because that gives you self-confidence.”
