SPORTS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2015 Brazilian jiu-jitsu wrestles its way onto world stage

RIO DE JANEIRO: New Zealander Jason Lee lies face down on a Rio de Janeiro floor, his arm twisted in a painful lock. But the 26-year-old couldn’t be happier-it’s exactly what he came halfway around the world to experience. As pastry chefs might make pilgrimages to France or mystics to India, so hardened fighters from around the globe beat a path to Rio gyms to learn Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a formerly obscure martial art that has become an unlikely success story and export. Once restricted almost entirely to the Latin American country, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is one of the world’s fastest-growing forms of unarmed combat, credited with igniting the mixed martial arts or MMA cage fight- ing phenomenon, and popular from the United States to the Middle East and Asia. At the cramped GFTeam academy in a section of northern Rio rarely visited by tourists, Lee is one of four non-Brazilians among the 20 or so men and women grap- pling on the mats. Clearly the gringos-as foreigners in Brazil are teasingly dubbed-didn’t come for the fancy facilities: the gym is open to a noisy sidewalk, has a dodgy toilet, and is so small that fighters literally bounce off the padded walls. The real attraction is simple: more than half of everyone in the room wears the elite black belt. “They refer to this place as the champion factory,” Lee says. A wiry, soft spoken man, Lee was a karate black belt in New Zealand when he stumbled across jiu-jitsu. Less than three years later- BRAZIL: Brazilians practice jiu-jitsu in Rio de Janeiro. Once restricted almost entirely to the Latin American country, after reaching blue belt, stage two in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu is one of the world’s fastest-growing forms of unarmed combat, credited with igniting the mixed martial long haul to jiu-jitsu black-he was suffi- ciently hooked to grab a plane to Rio. arts or MMA cage fighting phenomenon, and popular from the United States to the Middle East and Asia. —AFP “There’s something about jiu-jitsu,” Lee been just as busy. “I have students here kicking banned, there are fewer injuries said. “You fall under the spell.” from Bermuda, Argentina, Iran, France,” than in other martial arts. Rolker Gracie, another of Helio’s sons, said But given that jiu-jitsu’s goal is submis- LEGENDARY FAMILY in an interview, sitting cross legged on the sion through arm locks and choking com- In about 1914, with jiu-jitsu barely green and red mats of his jiu-jitsu school, petitors often end up briefly unconscious- known outside Asia, Japanese immigrant the Gracie Academy, in Rio de Janeiro. ”soft” is a relative concept. At the Rio and jiu-jitsu master Mitsuyo Maeda intro- “I go to Africa for seminars, I go to GFTeam academy, headquarters of a net- duced the sport to Brazil by giving lessons Buenos Aires for seminars, and my broth- work that has spread across Brazil and the to the sons of businessman Gastao Gracie ers go to, Kuwait, everywhere,” Gracie, 51, United States, the air filled with cries and in the Amazon jungle city of Belem. said. “I have a brother living in Spain, a the thwack of limbs against mats. One But it was Gracie’s youngest son Helio- brother in Honolulu, a brother in San Brazilian pressed ice to a huge swelling considered too sickly to take part-who Diego, a brother and two sisters in Los around his eye. would make history. Helio, according to Angeles. And they’re all teaching jiu-jitsu.” “I’ve broken my nose three times and legend, spent years watching his brothers While the Gracies are jiu-jitsu royalty, dislocated both knees,” said Jacob from the sidelines before finally getting a it’s an actual royal, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Mackenzie, a multiple champion black belt chance. When he did, he had a novel idea: Zayed of Abu Dhabi, who has emerged as from Canada who trains at GFTeam. why not adapt the traditional moves to the sport’s biggest new booster. “The training is really hard here. Here suit his weaker physique? The supposed A huge UFC fan, Sheikh Tahnoon creat- there are no tourists or special prices for weakling proved right. ed his own Abu Dhabi Combat Club with gringos.” But getting that Brazilian connec- Experimenting and refining, Helio came annual tournaments featuring prize fights tion is worth the pain. up with techniques that would allow worth up to $40,000, turning the oil-rich After training for years in Brazil, skilled smaller practitioners to dominate emirate into a new capital for the much- Mackenzie, 29, is in high demand as a sem- bigger, stronger opponents-and with that, traveled martial art. The United Arab inar teacher in a dozen countries. “A lot of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ, was born. The Emirates are also the engine pushing the the Brazilians who come over to teach Gracies have since turned the sport into a next wave of expansion, with jiu-jitsu can’t explain the techniques, so being from remarkable family empire. being included for the first time in 2018 Canada and speaking English is a real Arguably the most successful has been Asia Games in Jakarta and, the UAE hopes, plus,” he said. Helio Gracie’s oldest son Rorion, who eventually the Olympics. Lee also hopes to leverage his Rio expe- launched the Ultimate Fighting rience into a career back home. “I want to Championship or UFC in the United States THE ‘SOFT ART’ open a martial arts academy eventually. in the 1990s, kicking off today’s hugely To Brazilians jiu-jitsu is the “arte suave,” Coming here made sense,” he said. “I want BRAZIL: New Zealander Jason Lee popular, multi-million dollar MMA industry. or soft art. Others liken jiu-jitsu to physical to get recognized accreditation so I can (top) practices jiu-jitsu in Rio de But the rest of the extended family has chess and it’s true that with hitting and say: ‘I trained in Brazil.’” —AFP Janeiro. —AFP