Ralph Gracie is the son of Robson Gracie and brother to Charles Gracie, Renzo Gracie and the late Ryan Gracie. In his life he’s seen drastic changes in jiu-jitsu.

“If you look at 40-year-old Jiu-Jitsu, 30, it’s not even half. Today is very different. It was something more elitist, in Barra (da Tijuca), Copacabana, today it is worldwide. The amount of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners today is enormous. I think the only thing missing today is focusing more on the self-defense part, ” Ralph said to Tatame.

Ralph blames most black belts for abandoning teaching self defense nowadays:

“That was it, the competition. People are more looking at the part of what you can earn and the prizes, not what you can earn in life. Unfortunately, you look at the fighters, the guy is a black belt, a world champion and does not know how to get out of a different tie. The guy grabs the back and rolls across the floor? I think this is what is lacking today, more personal defense within the Jiu-Jitsu that we accompany, “concluded Ralph.

Ralph Gracie currently has four academies in the San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco, Mountain View, Berkeley, and Dublin) and two in Orange County (Anaheim and Chino Hills); the largest of these being the San Francisco Academy. Kurt Osiander, who has been studying under Ralph Gracie for 17 years, is currently head instructor at the San Francisco Academy. Notable instructor, and 4th degree black belt, Luis Eduardo Fraga, has been head instructor at the Berkeley Academy since 2007.

Ralph’s gauntlet is very scary:

Interestingly Kurt Osiander, most famous of his instructors has released a self defense video – but few and far in between with one notable being from 2012: