Exciting times for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Earlier this week, the BJJ world went crazy when Gracie Academy/University’s Rener Gracie posted a picture of himself with his uncle Rickson Gracie in what seemed like a business lunch.
Rener stated:
Good lunch and great collaboration with uncle @ricksongraciejj! First person to guess exactly what we were discussing gets an ALAVANCA t-shirt! #jiujitsunited
The meeting was surprising as 2 years ago, with all the controversy following Rener Gracie’s statment that ‘learning Jiu-Jitsu online is even more effective than in the academy’ (see article here), Gracie University was forced to change it’s grading policy. Blue belts would not be given online anymore.
Instead, Ryron and Rener introduced a modification. Effective June 1, 2014, where students who complete the Gracie Combatives program from home, and pass the Blue Belt Test via the Video Evaluation Process (no need for any live rolling , just demonstrating techniques), will earn a Gracie University “Technical Blue Belt.” To earn the Official Gracie Academy Blue Belt, students must pass an extended hands-on evaluation with Ryron, Rener, or an authorized Gracie Academy representative at a Certified Training Center. In class white belts at Gracie Academy still are not allowed to have live rolling sessions as Rener and Ryron see it as too traumatic and the number cause of students giving up on Jiu-Jitsu. This means that their in class students are promoted to blue belts sometimes without having endured a tough sparring/rolling session.
Rickson Gracie explained in interview with Tatame, that it was him who convinced his nephew Rener Gracie to stop promoting students online.
Rickson on online promotion and Gracie University:
“It’s absurd. There can be no online belt promotion. After I read an article on Rener Gracie talking about Gracie University, saying that he promoted online students to blue belt, I had a confrontation with him. I said that if he continued to do this, I would denigrate his image, saying that he was a charlatan. And after that, he reconsidered, and thought that the idea did not make sense anymore. The blue belt is the most important Jiu-Jitsu. White to blue, it is the stage of enlightenment. The blue belt needs to be a confident guy that is a tough guy that can handle an aggression. And for that, he can not get a belt over the Internet.”
So what was this week’s meeting about and what happened? BJJEE talked to sources close to the situation. As everybody knows, Rickson totally disapprove of Gracie Academy promoting students to blue belt who do not have sparing experience, especially the online ones.
The GA program Gracie Combatives gives the technical knowledge to apply the movements in a choreographed self defense scenario and the student gets his blue belt without training jiu jitsu vs jiu jitsu. They learn it at a GA or GU (online) and do the test at a Gracie Academy certified training centre where someone plays the street agressor and the student needs to defend himself.
Right now, Rickson and Rener are negotiating the possibility to change this promotion model and to only issue a blue belt after the student really gets though by rolling.
Does Rickson have enough influence to convince his nephew Rener to change their very lucrative business model?
Do we need a governing body in Jiu Jitsu to regulate questionable promotion system?
The Pedro Sauer connection
The meeting was bound to happen. At the beginning of the year, a coral belt under Rickson Gracie, Pedro Sauer joined forces with the Gracie Academy/University.
This means that all Pedro Sauer academies will be urged to become ‘Certified Training centres’. They will be tied to the Gracie Academy and follow the same curriculum.
This meeting coincided with the rebirth of Rickson Gracie’s highly promising Jiu-Jitsu Global Federation which is planning an epic Conference in Long Beach, California June 6th, 2016 The Carpenter Performing Arts CenterLong Beach State.
It is stated as the biggest event in the history of Jiu Jitsu. Bringing the global Jiu Jitsu community under one roof, with the principal objective to unite our forces, preserving our culture while developing our sport and education, to strengthen our industry as a whole
Opening ceremony keynote speaker President Rickson Gracie will be sharing 2016 JJGF news updates. “For our martial art to grow in size and quality we need to organize our industry and work together.”
Gracie University business model
Rener Gracie together with his brother Ryron, is the creator of the controversial Gracie Online University. He is Rorion’s son and grandson of Grandmaster Helio Gracie. Gracie University was launched after the death of Helio Gracie.
Gracie University has more than 119,000 active students (source)in 196 countries offering tailored self-defense programs for men, women, and children. At an average cost of 35$/ month, it is estimated that the website makes 6 million dollars/ year (since not all members are paying- there is a free trial).
With the growth of Gracie University, the controversy is mostly about the fact that they deliver a ‘technical blue belt’ to members who learn over the internet and send in footage of them drilling the techniques. This is the only BJJ website that actually delivers belts in the mail. Many prominent members of the BJJ community have publicly criticised Gracie University: Royce Gracie, Kron Gracie, Murilo Bustamante, recently Royler Gracie and Robert Drysdale who recently stated on his instagram that Rener and Ryron were dragging Helio Gracie’s legacy in the mud.
