Grand Master Reylson Gracie – a 9th-degree red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and son of Carlos Gracie Sr. – has voiced serious concerns about the current state of Jiu-Jitsu.

The Gracie shared an essay on social media, calling for a return to the roots of the art and criticizing what he believes is a watered-down version being taught in many schools today:

I will go to any lengths, overcome any obstacle and destroy any barrier of reality to see that my idea is realized.

And which idea is this? The idea that martial arts should not be at all taught if it is not of high quality.
The idea that any man holding students back for the motives of undue profit or to hide the true aspects of the art should be severely penalized for this practice.

The idea that instructors and masters should be prepared to endure any hardship in life to become good enough for their students and that if it is otherwise, they do not deserve such title.

The idea that martial arts, as any objectified and durable work by mankind, is bigger than life as it gives immortality to those that improve it (by remembrance) and to the important teachings left in the world to all that will come after you.

He is upset that nobody has been teaching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu correctly for some time already:

t makes me even more upset to see people that come from Brazil on a low level belt and change it for a higher level one (most commonly a blue belt puts a black belt) when they arrive in the United States.

By doing this, they‘ve been fooling the American people for too long, teaching a mutilated set of techniques which does not amount for even 30% of the whole.

By spreading this “snake without head” Jiu-Jitsu, they are killing martial arts.

The Gracie also emphasized the importance of proper belt grading, as well as the harm of improper one.
He then finished with:

You and your students cannot have conviction and find meaning in your skills and philosophy if the first is sloppy and the second is a lie.
And without meaning, my friend, you and your art will be forgotten.

This forces me to understand a very sad reality: in most places, instructors and masters are extinct and what they teach resemble more a volleyball or basketball trainer rather than a real master.

Read the entire statement here.

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