About BJJ

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using joint-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit. The art was based on early 20th century Kodokan Judo, which was itself then a recently-developed system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu) of Japanese Jujutsu.

It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as ‘rolling’) and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has been made more popular since Royce Gracie of the Gracie family won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993, submitting all of his opponents with ease. There are now a multitude of schools around the world, with different emphasis on Gi and No Gi Jiu Jitsu as well as its application in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.