Defining The Carlson Gracie Style of Jiu-Jitsu & The Best Representative of the Carlson Gracie Style

The purpose of this writing is to help define the Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style as compared to Helio Gracie’s approach.  As an experienced jiu-jitsu student from both schools on thought, I would like to express my observations of Carlson’s approach and Helio’s.  Both styles influence my teaching methods to this day and at the end of this analysis, I would like to pick a couple of historic jiu-jitsu fighters that are the best representatives of the Carlson Gracie style.

When I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the Internet was just beginning and Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was the first Gracie family member on the Internet!  It was really funny because in 10^th grade during business class the teacher was teaching us about the Internet.  The context was: This is the Internet and the benefits of it.  At the end of the class, the teacher let me look up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was the 1^st on the web.  I can remember the bulldog logo to this day on the computer screen.  My jiu-jitsu instruction and beginnings at the time was at a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy affiliate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  In 1995, Steve Maxwell was one of the first instructors in the whole state of Pennsylvania to teach Brazilian style Jiu-Jitsu, and he was one of a handful of instructors on the East Coast of the US teaching this style as well.  At the time, Relson Gracie was at Maxercise Sports & Fitness every two months to teach us Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  We were learning the real Gracie Jiu-Jitsu from Helio Gracie’s second son when Relson at to town; moreover, Steve as always going to Torrance, California to visit the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy to learn from Rorion Gracie and Royce Gracie.

My first trip to California was when I was in 11^th grade during the summer months.  The purpose was to only train Gracie Jiu-Jitsu with Royce Gracie for a two week period.  During my senior year, I went to school to take two classes each day: Philosophy and English because I had earned all of my credits to graduate high school.  I think I had to take physical education once a week too.  Each day I would take my two classes in the morning, and by lunch I was in Philadelphia on my work study training Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  What a senior year it was?  As I got more experienced in Jiu-Jitsu, this same year I traveled to Hawaii to compete in a competition and learn at Relson Gracie’s academy.  I was being exposed to lots of different styles of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at this time.  In the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu magazines from Brazil, I would always see Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu fighters.   My favorite to watch on VHS tapes was the 1996 and 1997 Black Belt Absolute division World Champion Amaury Bitetti.   Amaury was a monster on the mats.  His physique was muscular like Rickson Gracie’s on the television.  In the magazines, Amaury fought vale tudo matches and had the Bad Boy Sponsors on his gi.  He was a tough guy which I thought represented the Carlson Gracie Academy well!

Amaury Bitetti

It was no surprise to me that when the Carlson Gracie Team fighters started to fight on Pay-Per-View matches on Extreme Fighting Championship 1, 2 and 3 and on the old “In Action” tapes that they were more aggressive compared to Royce Gracie’s example in the Ultimate Fighting Champion.  As a student, I was learning about the style Gracie Jiu-Jitsu; to be self-controlled, patient, to use technique, leverage and strategy.  This was the approach of the Helio Gracie Jiu-Jitsu system.  When I learned directly from Helio, Rorion and Royce Gracie after high school when I moved to California on a one way ticket and $1000 dollars in my pocket, for over two years in the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instructor’s program: I revised my basic skills in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  6 days a week I would learn Helio Gracie’s teaching methods.  I practiced details in application of waiting for my opponent to make a mistake so I could use timing to overcome my struggles.  And at the end of my training at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance and over this period five years into training Gracie Jiu-Jitsu since I started, I weighed 140 lbs and earned my purple belt from Relson Gracie.  However, just before reaching the FAIXA ROXA level, I went to Brazil to compete in the world championship as a 4^th degree blue belt.  I was ready to learn about Jiu-Jitsu as it was practiced in Rio de Janeiro!

PART II

Arriving in Brazil and training in the academies was a stock to all of the training I received up until this point in my journey.  The first time I rolled with a black belt in one of the schools, he looked at me and asked what I was waiting for when we were in a position.  He was in the 100 kilos position on top of me, and I was doing exactly as I had been taught: To wait for my opening and time the simple escape.  When the black belt looked at me and told me to move, I started to understand just what type of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu I was going to face at the World Championships just weeks away.  There was going to be a time limit and this clock needed to influence how I would train for the next several years in the academy when I got back to the United States.

I returned two years later to Rio to train with Saulo Ribeiro (a multiple world champion & Royler Gracie Black Belt) for over one month at the purple belt level.  It was during this time I would practice the competition style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the mindset that would go along with it much deeper.  I walked away from all of this experience simply being able to teach and practice both schools of thought.  And it was at this time that I would make the change and travel to San Diego, California to begin my formal instruction under Prof. Rodrigo Medeiros of the Carlson Gracie Team and co-founder of the BJJ Revolution Team.  My practice had brought me to the Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style, and I was excited to see what is was all about!

I started training at PB Fight Center in San Diego, California in 2004 over a three month period under Prof. Rodrigo Medeiros.   My training at this Carlson Gracie academy came after the suggestion of my friend Rose Gracie who had convince me to return to California after a four year period because I was studying for my bachelor’s degree at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.   Rose told me to go to San Diego and train with Medeiros, and I was very happy I did because I had a three month period to train before completing my last course at college in the Fall.

Walking into a new academy and team with a brown belt on was no easy task.  I had this brown belt for over three years on my team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; however, this was a new place with new eyes looking about me as a target.  I welcomed the challenge.  Very quickly I found my place on the team and there where many nights where other jiu-jitsu fighters and wrestlers came in to the academy to try to beat everyone in the room.  These were the fun nights that reminded me of my blue belt days when on Saturdays there were grappling challenge matches.  Nonetheless, the wrestlers and drop-in jiu-jitsu guys that wanted to train hard had a difficult time during those summer nights.  I was putting in my dues to eventually join the team the right way!

During the morning training sessions, I had the most mat time with Prof. Rodrigo Medeiros.  We would train and after talk about jiu-jitsu in Brazil with Carlson Gracie Team – The Champion Factory!  It was in my opinion that the Carlson Gracie Team was the best Jiu-Jitsu Team in the early 1990’s.  I wanted to know what was the secret to the great success in how Carlson Gracie produced many of the best jiu-jitsu fighters such as: Amaury Bitetti, De La Riva, Alan Goes, Murilo Bustamante, Mario (The Zen Machine) Sperry, Carlo Barreto, Wallid Ismail, Ricardo Liborio, Roberto Duarte, Rey Diogo, Cassio Cardoso, Carlson Gracie Jr., Marcelo Alonso, Bolao, Maneco, Clovis, Crezio Chaves, Julio “Foca” Fernandez, Marcos Soares, Conan, Rosadao, Rinald Santos, Parrupinha, Toco, Renato Tavares, Ricardo Arona, Paulao Filho, Rodrigo Minotauro, Rogerio Minotauro, Braulio Cassalared, Vitor Belfort and other great fighters!  Prof. Medeiros would talk about creating the competition team environment and the in house matches for the best two competitors in the weight division to represent the Carlson Gracie Team at the next tournament.  Rodrigo would tell me about how the Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style was the “warrior” jiu-jitsu.  Constant movement, pressure and creating opportunities instead of waiting around for a mistake to occur were principles to put into practice.  With all of my background experience up until this point, I found this approach effective for competitions, and finally at the end of the summer Prof. Rodrigo Medeiros asked me if I wanted to join the team.  Originally, I declined only saying that I wanted to return to Philadelphia to finish college and see if any of the politics there had died down.

When I returned to Philly, I found to sad to see all of my old teammates had opened up new academies under different teams.  My original jiu-jitsu teacher Steve Maxwell was no longer teaching jiu-jitsu regularly as his commitments to personal training around the world were calling his name.  I felt that I was only senior student at a dying academy.  After graduation, I was asked to begin my own jiu-jitsu program local to where I was living in Pennsylvania.  This was my opportunity to affiliate with a new team.   I remember speaking with Royce Gracie about it over the telephone, and he asked me if I wanted to join his new association.  I simply told him I was honored for him to let me; however, Rodrigo and his students really took care of me over the summer.  Furthermore, Rodrigo had already asked me to join his team.   Royce wished me the best of success and that if this was my decision he gave me his blessing.  In 2004 I joined the BJJ Revolution Team under Rodrigo Medeiros.  Two years later and after almost 12 years of training jiu-jitsu, I graduated to Black Belt.  On that day, Rodrigo told the room of students that I had joined the team the right way!

Part III

I enjoy understanding principles to teach jiu-jitsu students and comparing curriculums from both schools of thought when it comes to the topic of Helio Gracie Jiu-Jitsu X Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  Recently, I asked a Nova Geração Black Belt to define Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  Here is how it played out like this:

Always smash and pass the guard…haha…It’s kind of complicate because I saw a different Carlson Gracie.  I didn’t see back in the day.  What I understand about that is: He always tried to show all the secrets that the Gracies used to hide.  Carlson put non-Gracies to beat everybody and for him it was really important the competition team.  Back the days was really hard to get belts from him.  Some guys took 7, 8 and 9 years as a blue belt.  About style…I know that the guys from there are guard passers Liborio, Murilo, Wallid, Sperry…

I have to mention that during the summer I spent a Rodrigo Medeiros’ academy I was always being coached to come up off my back and to pass the guard.  My instruction was on becoming a top fighter with strong guard passing skills and better conditioning.

Carlson Gracie has been said to be the first Gracie to teach the full range of Jiu-Jitsu techniques to students outside the Gracie family.  I can’t think of a better way to define the old school Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style than to hear it from his mouth.  Below is an interview taken and translated by O TATAME Magazine before Carlson Gracie’s passing:

O TATAME Magazine: Interview with Carlson Gracie.

“Living Legend”

Translated by: Tatiana Santos (Asst. to Mr. Carlson Gracie)

T: How is the relationship with your family? What do you think of the accusations that Reylson made against you?

CG: Reylson is mentally retarded, crazy, and should be in a mental hospital. I have no answers for a famigerado (asshole, troublemaker). About the rest of the family, everything is fine right now. Even though there are little things that I don’t agree with. But in the ring, I don’t care. My Jiu-Jitsu is completely different from theirs, my technique has nothing to do with “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.” I AM CARLSON GRACIE and that’s the way it is in the ring. Whoever shows up on the way in, is going to have to fight against my fighters.

T: What’s the reason for your disagreement with Helio Gracie?

CG: I have nothing against him, the only problem is that he’s going around telling lies, you know what I mean? He goes around saying that his sons are the biggest & best fighters in the world and that they discovered the invincibility. His students lose everything here in Brazil. OK, Royce did well in the U.S. He beat everyone there, but no one knew anything then. Here in Brazil, I’ve never seen Royce win ONE championship. He lost to everyone. He lost to De La Riva, who was so much smaller than him. He tapped out to Paschoal. He’s a good fighter but never won anything here. He’s not this “phenomenon” that they talk about.

T: And Rorion? How is your relationship with him nowadays?

CG: The problem with him is that he trademarked the name “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” in the U.S. but he’s not going to keep me from using “Carlson Gracie”. Like I said, I want nothing to do with “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu”. I am “Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” . Nowadays, the “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” is old. They say that strength doesn’t count, but it does. Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference if the opponent didn’t know anything. If the opponent knows something, then the strength starts to count. Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is a combination. It’s endurance, technique, etc.

(Prof. Sergio “Bolao” De Souza going to an armlock) Carlson Gracie Team

I leave it to you to think about the differences between Helio Gracie’s Jiu-Jitsu verses Carlson Gracie’s Jiu-Jitsu.  At the beginning, I also said I would list the best representative of Carlson Gracie’s style.  From what I understand about the history of the Carlson Gracie Academy in Brazil and from watching years of tournament footage, I pick Prof. Sergio “Bolao” De Souza!  You pick yours, and remember to respect both schools of thought as you develop a third: Your own expression!

My best,

Prof. Tony Pacenski
2nd Degree Black Belt
BJJ Revolution TeamO