The Braziian Jiu-Jitsu Revolution – The early days of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

While Jiu-Jitsu evolved to never achieved levels of technical development on ground fighting in Brazil, all over the other disciplines like Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Judo became really popular due to Hollywood movies and the Olympic games. While those martial art styles have great techniques, they are restricted to just one aspect of real combat and only work under a set of rules that ensure the circumstance in which the techniques are effective. Generations of martial artists spend many years learning one aspect of fighting (i.e. striking, or take down, or pinning) believing that would be sufficient under real combat situations.
In 1993, that assumption faced its most challenging test when Rorion Gracie put together the First Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a contest between athletes from different martial art styles. The world was shocked when a lighter and apparently weaker Royce Gracie defeated all his opponents by fighting mainly on the ground using choke holds or joint-locks to make there opponents give up (Tap Out) the fight.
Suddenly, martial artists from all different backgrounds realized if they did not know Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, all they knew about fighting was worthless against a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter.
That realization triggered what many call the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu  (BJJ) revolution in martial arts. A big shift of focus and training towards ground fighting followed.

Globalization of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Such an impact in the martial art world caused a gigantic demand for Brazlian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) instruction on all corners of the planet. Qualified Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) Black Belts were invited to many different countries to teach seminars to many who were intrigued by this dominating fighting style that they never heard or saw before.
By this time Gracie Barra already had dozens of Black Belts built through a program that valued all aspects of training: self defense, take downs and ground game. These well rounded instructors and athletes had were offered opportunities to teach abroad and many of them followed settling down in different countries.
One of the first GB Instructors to teach abroad was Master Roberto Maia in the city of Boston Massachusetts. Others followed like Master Marcio Simas in Orlando, Florida, and Professor Eduardo Lima in Tampa Florida.
Later, many Gracie Barra Black Belts contributed for the globalization of our sport. It is worth noting though the contributions of Prof. Marcelo Resende in Australia, Prof. Ze Radiola, Master Mauricio Robe, Prof. Vinicius Dracolino Magalhaes, and Prof. Aldo Caveirinha Janoario in Europe, and Prof. Nao Takigawa in Japan.