When did they kiss and make up?

ArmorOfGod

Senior Master
Joined
May 31, 2006
Messages
2,031
Reaction score
39
Location
North Augusta, SC
I vividly remember around 1994-95 when the Gracie craze was starting. I remember the Helio/Rorion/Royce side telling stories how Count Koma taught jiu-jitsu to Helio's older brother. According to those stories I remember, Helio took those moves and changed them to favor leverage over power, thus making the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu we have come to know.

I remember that side of the family kind of shunning the Carlos side of the family saying they were the ones that made "Gracie Jiu-jitsu" and only they could use that name, thus making the Carlos side use the name "Brazilian Jiu-jitsu."

Fast forward to now and I see both sides of the family writing books together and I even see Rorion's website acknowledging the Carlos side.

What happened? When did Rorion get off of his high horse and start liking (or pretending to like) his uncle's side of the jiu-jitsu family?

AoG
 
Rorions motivation was the trademark protection of the name "Gracie Jiujutsu". What he couldn't do was extend it to prevent people by the last name of Gracie from using their own name: "Carlos Gracie Jiujutsu".

Even during the bickering, however, it's important to remember thay remained family, and very loyal to each other. Competitive rivalries certainly existed, but if two feuding/competitive Gracie cousins are out bitching each other out in a bar, and some buncha guys wanders up to start problems, you'll see the 2 cousins side by side to the finish.

The feuding was more obvious as a rumor headline up here in the states. If you got down into Brazil, you'd find them all rolling together on any given afternoon, visiting each others schools in friendly (and sometimes heated) rivalry AND companionship.

D.
 
Back
Top