One of the most interesting moments of my jiu jitsu year was accompanying Gordon Ryan to his bout with Ralek Gracie at the legendary Gracie Academy in Torrance CA. After the bout, Rorion Gracie graciously showed us around the beautiful dojo, which features many historical artifacts and memorabilia and even a museum! It was fascinating to hear his perspective on the development and changes of the sport and his insights on the early history of Jiu Jitsu in america. When I first began jiu jitsu, Rorion was one of the chief figureheads of the sport. All my life I trained exclusively with my sensei, renzo gracie and had only very sporadic contact with Messrs Rorion, Royce, Rickson and Royler – Helio's side of the first family. Most of the early jiu jitsu students in America will agree with me that early ufc's and “Gracie's in Action” were the major reasons why we got involved in the sport – Rorion was directly involved in both. It was an honor to see the man who had such a profound effect on the history and development of modern martial arts in his dojo. Of course any person who makes major change in the world will have his advocates and detractors – change will always thrill some, appall others and lead to green pastures for some and burnt bridges for others – but I know that I and many others owe him a great deal of gratitude from afar for his efforts to expand the sport and revolutionize modern martial arts. I sometimes wonder if I and many others would even have ever heard of jiu jitsu without his work. It was an honor to be able to show some of the new directions and talents of jiu jitsu in the home of one of the most important historical traditions of the sport.
