Gracie Jiu Jitsu

The phrase Gracie Jiu Jitsu is often used interchangeably with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. However, Rickson Gracie, the most revered of a family lineage that has produced such champions as Roger Gracie, Renzo Gracie, and Royce Gracie, has recently began a quest to reintroduce the original art form prioritising self defense and real world survival over the more recent sporting derivatives led by the IBJJF and teams who tend to specialise more in in non-striking competitions such as Gracie Barra and Caio Terra. Whilst at SBG Global HQ here in Portland we have arguably the most successful BJJ competition team in the state, having produced two black belt world champions, our global achievements in MMA with SBG UFC Champions such as Forrest Griffin (SBG Athens) and Conor McGregor (SBG Ireland) can be linked to our founder Matt Thornton’s 30 year relationship with Rickson Gracie, training both in LA at Rickson’s academy and also for a week of training here in Portland with Matt. We’ve shown as an organisation that its possible to train the original Gracie Jiu Jitsu for self defense and MMA, combine that with striking and clinch, and still enjoy success in the IBJJF or No Gi styles of submission wrestling and the ADCC. Henry Akins, a world renown Gracie Jiu Jitsu instructor in his own right led coaching at Rickson’s academy for 12 years and has recently joined the SBG family, where he has further strengthened the understanding of the original training methods gleaned under Rickson Gracie.