Tag: jiu-jitsu

The calf slicer submission is one of the most painful submissions to get caught in. If you’ve ever had the misfortune of being stuck in a calf slicer, you know just how miserable it is. 

Here is everything you need to know about the calf slicer submission. Below are detailed setups for the calf slicer and tips for successfully locking in the submission.

Who Created The Calf Slicer? 

The calf slicer is a compression lock that is taught within nearly all forms of grappling. No one person can be given credit for developing the submission since it’s been used for centuries.

Just like with leg locks, compression locks like the calf slicer were frowned upon for decades. Particularly for lower ranked BJJ students, who could easily injure their training partners.

But in recent years, bicep slicers and calf slicers are now being practiced more. Gyms like 10th Planet have really made some innovations with these compression locks and popularized their use.

Today, we even see calf slicers in MMA from time to time. It’s great to see these compression locks being used more as Jiu Jitsu and grappling as a whole continues evolving.

How Does The Calf Slicer Work?

The calf slicer like the bicep slicer is a compression lock. Meaning that instead of attacking the bone in joint locks, the aggressor attacks an opponent’s muscle.

Driving the blade of your shin or forearm into their opponent’s calf. It feels like a mix of your calf being crushed and sliced at the same time. Which is why they’re called calf slicers or calf crushers.

They are extremely painful to be caught in and not tapping could result in your calf muscle tearing. Once you get caught in a calf slicer, you’ll never want to be stuck in one again..

Legalities

In Jiu Jitsu, many BJJ practitioners frequently ask about the legality of the calf slicer in competitions. For most major federations like the IBJJF, they only permit upper belts to do calf slicers and bicep slicers.

Just like they do with most foot locks like heel hooks and kneebars. If you’re a lower belt grappler, you’ll just have to wait until you are a brown belt to use calf slicers.

Although in MMA, there are no rules against using compression locks or any leg locks you want.

Calf Slicer From Turtle 

Probably the simplest setup for the calf slicer is in the turtle position. Generally when you have an opponent in the turtle position, they assume you want to take their back. But instead, you’re going to attack their leg.

This makes getting a calf slicer rather easy. It starts with getting a leg on your opponent’s near leg. When you do this, your shin is already pressed against your opponent’s calf.

The first way to finish the submission is to grab their foot with both hands and pull their leg towards you. If you want to put more pressure on their calf, use your free foot to push on your foot. Doing this as you pull your opponent’s leg into you puts immense pressure on their calf.

Sometimes, your opponent will try to roll out to escape. All you have to do to counter this is roll with them and finish the submission.

Calf Slicer From Lockdown Half Guard 

The calf slicer from a lockdown half guard is probably the second most simple setup for this submission. It starts from lockdown, where you triangle your legs and hook under your opponent’s foot.

After establishing your lockdown, you’re going to cup both of your opponent’s armpits. Use these holds along with bringing your knees to your chest to lift them up.

This movement gives you the space to slide your body out on the side of your lockdown. Once you cleared your opponent’s arm, switch the lockdown to a figure four, and take your calf slicer.

Always remember to grab your opponent’s foot with both hands when going for the submission.

The Vaporizer From Top Stoner Control

One of the most popular calf crushers from the 10th Planet system, the vaporizer for top stoner control. Top stoner control is what they call the top position, where you place your far knee between your opponent’s legs. Giving you quality control over their movement.

In the top stoner control, your leg between your opponent’s is hooked onto your opponent’s bottom leg. All you have to do is front roll over your inside shoulder to go right into the vaporizer.

Grab hold of their foot with both hands and lock on the submission.

Calf Slicer From Top Quarter Mount

For the calf slicer set up from top quarter mount, you do a similar roll like with the vaporizer set up. Your opponent will be on their side with a quarter hook trying to defend against the full mount.

Turn your body towards their back and where you see the open space is where you’re going to roll. Do a shoulder roll over your inside shoulder and go right into the calf slicer position.

Grab your opponent’s foot with both hands and pull their leg towards you to get the submission.

Calf Slicer From The Truck Position

Another common calf slicer set up from the 10th Planet system is done from the truck position. The truck position is where you have a lockdown on one of your opponent’s legs as you’re holding the other.

It’s a position that sets up many submissions from the banana split, electric chair, and a powerful calf slicer. In the 10th Planet system, there are numerous finishes for attacking the calf.

You can just pull down your opponent’s foot like normal or push on your foot as you pull them in. There’s also the kamikaze, where you triangle your legs together

Whichever calf slicer finish you want is all available from that truck position.

De La Riva Counter To Calf Slicer 

One of the many ways to counter the De La Riva guard is to go into a calf crusher. Start by gripping your opponent’s pants or hold their feet down in No-Gi and do a back step.

After the back step, reach across to hug your opponent’s far leg and lay on your side. This is to control your opponent and keep them from moving.

From this position, your shin is already pressing against their calf from their DLR attempt. To get the submission, lock your hands together, stay close to the hips, and open your knees.

Calf Slicer From Back Control

If you watched the fight between Roman Dolidze vs Jake Hermansson, you saw Dolidze use a beautiful calf slicer. He used this control to set up punches to TKO Hermansson.

From his back, Dolidze underhooked Hermansson’s foot, who was standing over him. When Roman did this, he also brought his outside leg in between Jake’s legs and hooked it on his outside leg.

Place his shin across Hermansson’s calf, triangling his legs, and using this control to sweep him. Once Hermansson hit the ground, Dolidze hugged his quad and locked on the submission. 

Jake was in immense pain, but wasn’t tapping, so Roman flattened him out and finished him with strikes.

Knee Ride Calf Slicer

A great calf slicer set up is from the knee on belly position. Push on your opponent’s shoulders to get them thinking that you’re going to attack their upper body.

When you get them defending their upper body, you’re going to move toward their legs. Take a small back step, grab under their knee with your outside hand, and sit down on their foot.

This movement places the blade of your forearm against their calf as you’re hugging your inside leg. Be sure to triangle your legs, keep hugging your thigh, and lean back to apply the submission.

Do not forget to keep your legs triangled or your opponent can counter with a heel hook.

Important Tips

There’s numerous ways to hit a calf slicer, but the details have to be exact. Here are some important tips to remember.

• Isolate The Leg: All calf slicer set ups start with isolating your opponent’s leg. Without first doing this, you’ll never get a calf slicer.
• Shin/Forearm Against Calf: For the calf slicer to work, either your shin bone or forearm must be pressed against the calf muscle. If you don’t do this, your opponent will be uncomfortable, but they won’t tap.
• Two On One: Whichever calf slicer set up you do, it must be finished with both hands controlling your opponent’s foot. They can muscle out of one hand, but probably not two.

Rolls Gracie was considered the best grappler of the Gracie family, revolutionizing the martial art. He made a huge impact on Jiu Jitsu and grappling as a whole, changing how the martial arts are trained.

Here is the important story of Rolls Gracie and how he changed the BJJ world. Going over how he influenced his students to cross-train in wrestling, various stories, and his tragic death.

Rolls Gracie Growing Up

Rolls is the son of Carlos Gracie, but he was actually partly raised by his Uncle Helio. His father, Carlos, had numerous children, and Rolls was a result of an affair Carlos had. Helio was in his second marriage, and his wife Margarida couldn’t have children.

Like most in the Gracie family, Rolls was raised on the Jiu Jitsu mat. From the time he was a toddler, Rolls was on the mat playing and learning small techniques.

He loved Jiu Jitsu and wanted to do everything he could to improve his skill. When he got older, he began competing in the kid’s divisions. Going on to win every single competition that he could during his time.

Rolls Gracie Begins Cross Training in Judo

By the time Rolls was around 20, he wanted to expand his grappling ability as a whole. He began branching out and learning other grappling techniques to supplement his Jiu Jitsu.

Rolls would first begin learning Judo under family friend Osvaldo Alves. Osvaldo Alves was one of the best Judokas in Brazil during this time.

After spending five years training at the Kodokan in Japan, Alves won two Judo Pan Am Championships. He was also an expert in Judo ground attacks called newaza which he would show Rolls and other Gracie family members.

Rolls Begins Learning Wrestling, and Sambo

Along with Judo, Rolls also began practicing various forms of wrestling. Gracie met a 5x wrestling champ named Bob Anderson through the Colombian Wrestling Federation.

He quickly became friends with Anderson and invited him to stay in Rio de Janeiro to teach wrestling. Bob would teach Rolls numerous No-Gi takedowns that Rolls would pass on to future students.

There was already wrestling in Brazil, but Bob Anderson’s time teaching Rolls would have a huge influence. Rolls would instill the importance of having solid wrestling skills to his future students and not relying on just Jiu Jitsu.

One funny story about the two is when Anderson first met Rolls. He could not believe that Rolls had won the open-class division at the Brazilian wrestling championship.

Rolls offered to spar Anderson and would submit the larger wrestler numerous times in a short time span. Bob could not believe how good Rolls was and gave him the utmost respect after they rolled.

Rolls Gracie’s Competition Career

Much like the legend of Rickson Gracie, Rolls Gracie was said to have never lost a match in Jiu Jitsu competition. He beat literally everyone he could during his era and won every major championship.

Most of the matches weren’t competitive, so Rolls would later just accept challenges for super fights. From 1973 to 1977, he had four different super fights against much larger opponents.

The only opponent Rolls didn’t submit in his competition career was his last one. He competed against a Judoka named Paulo Boca, a Judo champion weighing 90 kg. 

In the match, the two competitors exchanged takedowns before Rolls pulled guard. Boca stayed defensive, which led the referee to give the match to Rolls for being offensive. 

Rolls Gracie Competes in Wrestling and Sambo

Since Rolls didn’t have any competition in Jiu Jitsu, he began competing in wrestling and sambo. In Brazil, he would win the Wrestling Brazilian National Championship in both his division and the absolute division.

Rolls would also begin competing in Sambo since he had already trained in both Judo and submission wrestling. He would qualify for the Pan American Championship in 1979, which was held in San Diego, California.

Once again, Rolls would win gold in both his division and the absolute division. Later that year, Rolls would return to San Diego and compete in the San Diego Wrestling Pan Ams.

He initially wanted to stay in LA with his cousin Rorion during the trip, but Rorion didn’t let him. Rolls would instead stay with his good friend Bob Anderson during the trip and again won double gold.

During this stay, Rolls was offered a job by the LAPD to teach them self-defense. Unfortunately, his Uncle Helio ruled against it as his son Rorion was already teaching in LA. If Rolls had stayed, it would have certainly changed the history of Jiu Jitsu.

Rolls Gracie Goes For The Olympics

In 1980, Rolls attempted to make the Brazilian Wrestling team. He wanted to compete at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

While Rolls’ abilities were unquestionably worthy of being on the team, he didn’t make it. He was met with bureaucracy and an unorganized committee. The fact that Rolls was a Jiu Jitsu practitioner may have also played a part in not getting on the team.

Since he wasn’t allowed to compete, Rolls got his own team together for the 1980 Pan Am in San Diego. He would earn a bronze medal at this event, which would be the last time he competed.

Rolls Gracie’s Journey To Opening His Own Academy 

Rolls first began teaching Jiu Jitsu in the original Gracie Academy under his Uncle Helio Gracie. Although, friction developed between the two as they had different philosophies on Jiu Jitsu and training. Helio also favored his sons over Rolls, which created problems.

He would then ask his brother Carlson if he could teach at his academy in Copacabana. Carlson let his brother begin teaching in his academy for the next few years.

Rolls would then want to go out on his own and open his own academy. His brother, Carlson, gave him his blessing, and Rolls would go on to open his academy.

Needing help to run his academy, Rolls called upon his younger brother Carlos Gracie Jr. to help him. Since the academy was near Carlos’ university, he accepted Rolls’ offer.

The academy would find a lot of success until his sudden passing in 1982.

Rolls Gracie Stories

Even though Rolls died young, numerous stories involving him are still told to this day. Here are some of the most known and talked about.

Rolls Fight Against A Karate School Instructor

There was one time when a Karate school challenged the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school to a fight. Rolls was chosen to fight the Karate school’s instructor. He easily took down the instructor and submitted him in under two minutes.

Rolls Gracie was Supposed to Fight Zulu

Rickson Gracie famously fought the larger and undefeated Zulu when he was eighteen. Helio actually volunteered Rolls to fight Zulu, but Rolls suggested Rickson fight him to prove himself.

Rolls would be in the corner of Rickson for his first fight and actually motivated him to win the fight. Citing, he would kick Rickson’s ass if he didn’t win the fight and fight like he knew he could.

Rolls Beats Up a Famous Surfer 

Rolls had a student named Mario Gomes, who later became the star of many Brazilian novelas. One day, Gomes came to class discouraged. Telling Rolls that a famous surfer named Daniel Sabba and his friends had kicked Gomes off Arpoador beach.

Gracie would later go to the beach with a group of students to discuss the issue. Sabba and his friends immediately tried to fight Rolls and students and were quickly put to sleep. 

This event led many surfers to start training with Rolls at his academy.

Rolls and the BJJ vs Luta Livre Saga

In 1982, Roy and Charles Gracie were beaten up by members of a Muay Thai school during a Carnival event. Hearing that his younger relatives were beaten up, Rolls got his best students and walked to the Muay Thai school.

He embarrassed the Muay Thai instructor. These events are what kicked off the violent BJJ vs Luta Livre clashes during the 1980s and 1990s.

Rolls Gracie’s Strength and Conditioning

What made Rolls such a fierce competitor was his strength and conditioning routine. Along with his Jiu Jitsu training, Rolls also practiced gymnastics, various calisthenics and was an avid surfer. 

He wanted to strengthen his body the best he could for competition while using his body’s natural movements. Rolls’s importance on strength and conditioning would influence his younger family members.

Particularly Rickson Gracie, who is famous for using ginastica and yoga for his strength and conditioning.

Rolls Gracie’s Tragic Death 

In 1982, Rolls Gracie died from a tragic hang-gliding accident at only thirty-one years old. His death broke the hearts of the Gracie family and left his two sons without a father. It has been forty years since the death of Rolls, and he is still deeply missed by his family.

Rolls Gracie’s Sons

Rolls had three sons before he died. Rolles Gracie Jr, Gregor Gracie, and Igor Gracie. They all followed in their father’s footsteps, becoming BJJ black belts, fighters, and later instructors.

Rolls’ Gracie’s Black Belts 

Before his death, Rolls Gracie gave five black belts to five of his original students. These five students were given the nickname “the famous five.”

• Marcio Stambowsky
• Mauricio Gomes
• Romero Cavalcanti
• Nicin Azulay
• Paulo Conde

Rolls actually gave a sixth student their black belt named, Mario Claudio Tallarico, before his death. He was also technically the teacher of Carlos Gracie Jr and Crolin Gracie. But as in Gracie family tradition, Helio Gracie promoted them to black belt. 

The Legacy of Rolls Gracie

Rolls Gracie only lived for thirty-one years but was able to reach legendary status. He was arguably one of the best BJJ practitioners of all-time and heavily influenced future generations. 

Encourage everything from cross-training in other forms of grappling to promoting the importance of strength and conditioning.

His younger cousin, who Rolls influenced, had a great quote about him. “There is an era before Rolls and one after him.”

The Gracie brothers generally receive most of the credit for developing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but it wasn’t just them. One of the most important individuals that doesn’t get enough credit for creating BJJ is Luiz Franca.

Here is the story of Luiz Franca, who played a critical part in developing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Going over who he trained under and who he’d go on to teach that would create non-Gracie Jiu Jitsu academies.

Luiz Franca Start In Judo/Jiu-Jitsu

Luiz Franca Filho grew up in Manaus, Brazil and first began learning Judo/Jiu-Jitsu when he was fifteen. His first instructor was another Japanese Judoka that immigrated to Brazil named Soshihiro Satake.

Franca would train with Satake at the Atletico Clube de Negro, where Satake held his classes. He was an incredibly dedicated student that would never miss one of Satake’s classes.

One of Franca’s training partners was Vinicius Rua, who was former UFC champion, Marcos Ruas’ uncle. A great martial artist in his own right who would become president of Rio de Janeiro’s Judo Federation years later.

Luiz Franca’s Other Teachers

For one year, Franca would train consistently with Satake until he moved to Belem, Brazil. This is where he was said to have trained a short time with Mitsuyo Maeda. The same instructor that was said to have taught Carlos Gracie.

Luiz would spend a short time training with Maeda until he moved to Sao Paulo. Once there, he would train with another person that helped develop BJJ named Geo Omori.

The same Judoka that would later fight  Carlos Gracie Sr. in an exhibition match.

Luiz Franca Begins Teaching In Rio de Janeiro

 After spending a few years moving around and learning Judo/Jiu-Jitsu from the best practitioners, Franca moved back to Rio. Living on the outskirts of the city in a poorer area.

He would then transition to teaching Judo/Jiu-Jitsu to a wide variety of students with different social backgrounds. Everyone from soldiers, policemen, and even those who just did menial jobs.

By offering to teach students that were in a lower social class made Franca highly respected within the area.

He would spend his entire life teaching martial arts in the area for close to six decades. Some of Franca’s students would also have a hand in helping develop BJJ later on.

The Difference Between Luiz Franca and the Gracie Brothers

Those that have a basic knowledge of how BJJ was developed often cite the Gracie brothers, Carlos and Helio. They were actually not the only martial artists that had a hand in developing the martial art.

During the same time the Gracie brothers were prevalent, Luiz Franca was also teaching his own style of self-defense. While the styles of Jiu Jitsu they taught were similar, there were two main things that set the two apart. Who they taught and how they gained publicity for their schools.

High Class vs Low Class

The Gracie family was a more wealthy family that had ties to the most powerful people in the country. Being from a higher social class meant that they would advertise to those that had higher incomes. They lived in a wealthy part of Rio de Janeiro and taught Jiu Jitsu within the area.

Luiz Franca went a much different route with the type of students he taught. He would teach everyone from soldiers, policemen, and normal people that sold food on the street.

Franca also welcomed those from favelas to come train with him. Doing this made him a champion to the poorer communities and beloved to those who trained with him.

Brash vs Low-Key

Another reason more people know the Gracie brothers as innovators of Jiu Jitsu than Franca was their marketing. Helio and Carlos were relentless in proving that their fighting style was effective and superior to all others in Brazil.

This is why they constantly challenged other martial artists and took ads out in local newspapers. They wanted to create a spectacle to get all eyes on their style of Jiu Jitsu.

From what we know about Luiz Franca, he did not take part in any of that. He never fought anyone and resided in only being a teacher.

Franca’s low-key approach would make his name less known to future Jiu Jitsu practitioners. Although at the time, Franca’s name was highly revered by those that knew him.

Oswaldo Fadda

One of Luiz Franca’s best students was a man named Oswaldo Fadda. Master Oswaldo Fadda was one of the many Brazilian marines that learned under Franca when he began teaching in Rio de Janeiro.

What Fadda learned from Franca would be crucial in the development of non-Gracie Jiu Jitsu schools. Like his master, Fadda began teaching to the poorer populations within Rio.

He would teach anyone that wanted to learn in any location that was available to him. Everywhere from beaches to park and oftentimes not even having mats available.

The Gracie family looked down upon Fadda and Franca and thought their style of Jiu Jitsu was superior. Despite the criticism from the Gracie family, Fadda would open his own academy in the early 1950s.

His academy would grow and he would become numerous formidable Jiu Jitsu athletes. Many of them were specialists in foot locks, which was something not practiced within Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Thanks to this lineage from Luiz Franca to Oswaldo, some of the main non Gracie Jiu Jitsu affiliations would form. Including Nova Uniao and GF Team being among them.

The Legacy of Luiz Franca

The legacy of Grandmaster Luiz Franca is not known by many Jiu Jitsu practitioners, but is one that isn’t disputed. There aren’t even any recorded disputes coming from the Gracie family that disputes Franca helping develop Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

He is regarded as one of the pioneers of BJJ and is considered one of the seven 10th degree black belts. Although he never officially received his tenth degree rank(like his student Master Fadda), Franca is still considered one of the pioneers.

Without Grandmaster Franca, the main non Gracie Jiu Jitsu affiliations would not exist. Just like the Gracie brothers, Franca deserves our utmost respect.

Grandmaster Carlos Gracie was one of the pioneers responsible for creating Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He worked for decades to build up the martial art and prove its legitimacy to the world.

Here is the story of Grandmaster Carlos Gracie. Starting from how he was inspired to first learn Judo and then went on to help co-create BJJ.

Carlos Gracie Discovers Judo 

Carlos Gracie grew up in Belem do Para, Brazil and was the son of Brazilian businessman Gastao Gracie. Being the oldest of nine siblings

Growing up, Carlos was a small kid, but he had a big attitude that would constantly get him into trouble. He would constantly get into fights when he was a teen and get kicked out of school.

His father, Gastao, was searching for an activity that would help his son focus and put his energy into something positive. Gastao would take Carlos to a stage show that featured a famous Japanese Judo practitioner nicknamed Conde Koma (Count Combat).

Conde Koma’s real name was Mitsuyo Maeda, and he was actually a friend of Gastao Gracie. Maeda immigrated to Brazil with the help of Gastao and helped set up public Judo demonstrations.

The young Gracie was mesmerized as the smaller Maeda easily threw around bigger opponents. After the show, the Gracies approached Maeda about the possibility of Carlos becoming his student.

Maeda took a liking to Carlos and accepted him as his student.

Carlos Gracie’s Time Training With Maeda

Gracie would train under Maeda for three years, learning Judo from him and his assistant Jacyntho Ferro. During this time, there would be pauses in the training as Maeda had to travel for work.

But when Maeda had a class, Carlos was there soaking up everything he could about Judo. He would become one of Maeda’s most dedicated students.

Carlos Gracie Moves to Rio de Janeiro

Carlos would be forced to stop training with Maeda after three years. His family went bankrupt and was forced to move from Belem to Rio de Janeiro.

His father, Gastao, would open a casino, and Carlos worked as a bouncer for a short time. The two had a bad relationship which led to Carlos quitting and separating from his family.

He would find work doing small jobs but would soon return to training.

Carlos Trains with Donato Pires dos Reis

While working small jobs, Carlos would contact another student of Maeda’s named Donato Pires dos Reis. Donato was working as a self-defense instructor for the special police in Rio.

He invited Carlos to come train with him, and Carlos jumped at the opportunity. This would be the first formal training the young Gracie would receive without any interruptions.

Reis would show Carlos numerous techniques using jujutsu for self-defense. Including numerous submission holds and takedowns. Carlos would become immersed in training and wanted to learn everything about grappling.

Carlos Gracie Teaches His Brothers

Carlos would take what he learned from training and teach it to his brothers so that they could train together. The common story is that he taught his brother Helio, but he taught all of his brothers.

Oswaldo and George being the first two, he would later allow younger brother Helio to participate. While training together, they began tweaking the techniques to make them more ground-based.

Using an early form of the guard to fight off their back, sweeping their opponents, and submitting them. Many of the techniques they took were ground techniques from Judo called “newaza.”

Carlos Gracie Opens His First Jiu Jitsu School

After saving up money, Carlos was able to rent a space and opened a Jiu Jitsu school. It was located at Rua Marques de Abrantes, number 106 in Jacare.

The most common year cited when the school opened in 1925, but some historians say it was in 1929/1930. Either way, the address above is the confirmed location of Carlos’ school.

Carlos would even take an ad out in a local paper to promote the school. “If you want your face punched and bruised, your but kicked and your arms broken, talk to Carlos Gracie at the following address.”

Carlos Gracie’s Fighting Career

Carlos would begin challenging other martial artists to make a name for himself and the martial art he helped create. The first person he would challenge to a fight was Japanese Judoku Geo Omori. A famed martial artist and fighter who also had a hand in creating BJJ.

At first, Omori blew off Carlos but eventually participated in two exhibition matches with him. It was said that Omori agreed to the fights as a favor to Carlos’ father.

After these exhibitions, Carlos would have one documented fight shrouded in controversy. A sportsman and wrestler named Manoel Rufino dos Santos criticized the Gracie family’s legitimacy.

Due to this criticism, Santos and Carlos Gracie would set up a match. Before the fight, Carlos’ teacher Donato Pires took umbrage with his students’ claim of being a direct students of Maeda.

Claiming that Gracie was never a student of Maeda. This statement led to the Gracie brothers assaulting their teacher in front of the America Hotel. The incident, of course, would cut ties between Pires and the Gracie brothers.

The Carlos Gracie vs Manoel Rufino Fight

From written accounts of their fight, Santos would be offensive and keep Carlos defending from his guard. This would go on for the first two rounds of the fight until Santos passed Gracie’s guard in the third.

He would attempt a submission on Carlos, but Gracie would leave the ring to avoid being submitted. When the match restarted, Gracie tried to lock in a guillotine.

The referee separated them, but Carlos claimed that Santos submitted. After the referee consulted with the judges, the match restarted, but Carlos refused to fight. Claiming that he won and Rufino was then declared the winner by the judges.

The Gracie Brothers Assault Manoel Rufino

After the bout, Manoel Rufino was even more critical of Carlos Gracie’s skills. This would lead to Carlos, George, and Helio assaulting Rufino at the Tijuca Tênis Clube on October 18th, 1931.

The brothers would break Rufino’s arm and later be arrested on assault charges. They were arrested and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison but were pardoned by the Brazilian president. A friend of the family.

Carlos Gracie, The Fight Promoter

After the Rufino fight and the chaos that followed, Carlos stepped away from fighting. He would turn his focus on teaching, promoting fights for his brothers and various businesses he had.

For decades, he was the advocate for his brothers that would try to get them fights and promote them. Carlos would be in their corner coaching any time his brothers fought.

Carlos Gracie Creates the Gracie Diet

Throughout his life, he would be bedridden with various illnesses that would keep him from training. He began doing research and found that the cause of his poor health was his diet. 

This led Carlos to create his own specialized diet to help improve his health. Once he implemented this specialized diet, Carlos began to notice immediate effects.

The ailments that kept him in pain had subsided, and he was full of life. Carlos would immediately force his family members to adopt the diet that had improved his health.

Gracie’s diet would, of course, be called the Gracie Diet. Future generations of the Gracie family would also adopt the diet.

Rorion Gracie would publish the Gracie Diet, which became a bestseller.

Carlos Gracie’s 12 Commandments For Jiu Jitsu

When developing Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, wrote down specific rulers for martial art practitioners. They would later be known as Carlos Gracie’s 12 Commandments For Jiu Jitsu.

1. To be so strong that nothing can disrupt your peace of mind.
2. Speak to every one of happiness, health, and prosperity.
3. Give all your friends and family the feeling that they are valuable.
4. Always look at events from a positive point of view, and turn a positive into a reality of life.
5. Think always in the best, work solely for the best and turn positivity into a reality of life.
6. Always be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
7. Forget about past mistakes and concentrate your energies on victories ahead.
8. Always keep your fellow men joyful and have a pleasant attitude to all that address you.
9. Spend all the time you need in perfecting yourself, but leave no time to criticize the others.
10. Become too big to feel unrest, too noble to feel anger, too strong to feel fear and too happy to tumble in adversity.
11. Always have a positive opinion about yourself and tell it to the world, not through words, but through benevolence.
12. Have the strong belief that the world is beside you if you keep true to what is best within you.

Carlos Gracie’s Children

In his life, Carlos Gracie Sr. had twenty-one children with various women. Of those twenty-one children, Carlos Sr. would give eleven of his children black belts.

These are the sons of Carlos Gracie Sr. that received black belts from their father.

• Carlson Gracie Sr.
• Robson Gracie
• Reyson Gracie
• Relson Gracie
• Carley Gracie
• Rolls Gracie
• Rocian Gracie
• Carlion Gracie
• Carlos Gracie Jr
• Crolin Gracie
• Rillion Gracie

The Legacy of Carlos Gracie

Without Carlos Gracie Sr. and his brothers, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu may not have existed, let alone Gracie Jiu-Jitsu or the UFC. Grandmaster Carlos Gracie is responsible for playing a major role in creating what would become a globally practiced martial art. 

If Carlos Gracie did not help develop modern Jiu Jitsu, the martial arts world would look a lot different today.