Going old school – California style: When Gordon Ryan defeated Ralek Gracie at the legendary Torrance Gracie Jiu Jitsu academy on Sunday, I got a chance to talk to jiu jitsu icon Rorian Gracie and some of his students about the early history of Gracie Jiu Jitsu in The United States. Gracie Jiu Jitsu was first taught out of a small garage here in California! There were no schools – it took a long time for the first Gracie's to build a following and work their way up to becoming one of the foremost martial arts in the world. Well, here I am in California, teaching private classes out of…a garage! Ha ha! Looks like things have come full circle!! New school Jiu Jitsu – leg locking 101 – taught old school style out of the garage Here my friends Josh and Chris from @dynamixmma go to work on ashi garami and other skills. Cars replaced by mats and we are ready to go! now it's on to team training as the squad pairs with Keenan Cornelius to get Gordon Ryan ready for EBI 14, Nicky Ryan ready for Fight2Win and Garry Tonon ready for MMA debut some time next year. I always love to take inspiration from the past and love to give credit where ever I can to those who came before us and made our work possible. It's a pleasure to get a small sense of what it must have been like for those Jiu Jitsu pioneers who gave birth to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu here in California and helped make it possible for people like myself to find happiness in the sport.
