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From King of the Ring to Road Warrior
By Scott Shaw

Royce Gracie of the renowned Gracie jiu-jitsu clan came to worldwide attention after winning three Ultimate Fighting Championships, and is credited as one of the key figures who ushered in the rugged sport of no-holds-barred fighting. With his lifelong experience on the mat and his proven record of defeating opponents much larger and seemingly stronger than him, Gracie has made a natural move to the seminar circuit. Today this Road Warrior has an exhaustive worldwide seminar schedule designed to share his savvy ring and self-defense skills with other martial artists. Royce will headline a series of industry-leading seminars at the upcoming MAIA SuperShow in Las Vegas.

            In 1993, 170-pound Royce Gracie stepped into the ring at the Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC). He was, without a doubt, the smallest man in the competition and at the time an unknown competitor in the then new No-Holds-Barred style of ring fighting. Even though the cards were stacked against him, he rapidly defeated all of his bigger and seemingly stronger opponents. This winning streak continued on for two more UFC events and numerous other mixed-martial arts competitions.

            With winning as his calling card, Royce [pronounced, hoyce -- the “R” is pronounced like an “H”.] Gracie has recently moved from the ring on to a very successful career in the seminar circuit. He teaches his seminar students a vast array of reality-based, hand-to-hand combat techniques.

So popular is Royce Gracie today, in fact, that his worldwide seminar schedule is booked two years in advance! He’s also been teaching his art to celebrity students, including Nicholas Cage, Ed O’Neil (of TV’s Married with Children fame) and Guy Richie (famed director and husband of superstar Madonna). Gracie also frequently trains in hand-to-hand combat members of such government and military agencies as police departments, the CIA, FBI, DEA, Secret Service, Army Rangers and Army Special Forces.

With a proven success record in the ring and with his many students, we can look to this man as an inspiration for how to emerge victorious both on the mat and in the business of the martial arts.

Family Ties

            Royce Gracie’s training began at a very early age. As far back as he can remember, jiu-jitsu permeated every level of his life. This was in no small part due to the fact that he hails from an illustrious family of jiu-jitsu aficionados. His father, Helio Gracie, is one of the most celebrated practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the world and each of his brothers and many of his cousins have won their share of jiu-jitsu and No-Holds-Barred competitions. Today the Gracie name is one of the most famous throughout the martial arts world.

On the Mat

            Following in a tradition laid down by his father and older brothers, Royce Gracie began his jiu-jitsu training as a very young child. His father never forced his sons to become involved in the art, however. Instead, he allowed them begin training when they felt that they were ready.

Gracie reminisces that his early training was very similar to most schools of martial arts. He always took group lessons. Within these classes were found the same basic repetitions of techniques that take place in most schools of self-defense. He says that when he took a class from his older brothers or his cousins, they would show a move to the class, then the class would break up into pairs and practice the move.

“A lot of practice, a lot of drills. Practice is what makes you perfect,” Gracie explains. “Just like every other sport. That’s what makes you good. You can’t just go out and fight [and expect to win].”

            The young Gracie entered his first sports jiu-jitsu tournament at the age of eight. Though a far cry from the no-holds-barred tournaments that he helped to make popular 25 years later, he believed that this was a great breeding ground for a young competitor. Gracie states, “There was no punching or kicking. It was more like judo and wrestling,” he explains. “It really taught the young kids how to understand jiu-jitsu and competition.”

Strategy

            When Royce Gracie truly began to train at the competitive level, he states that the essence of his training was strategy. “Just like any other sport, we are going to play strategy on the match. [For example], my coach will tell me, ‘This guy is good on the arm locks, so watch you arms.’”

Gracie admits that when he moved up to the UFC level of competition, his training had to change. “Gracie jiu-jitsu has no strikes. So, I had to begin to mix my training. I had to begin practicing stand-up combat. I studied a little hapkido, a little kickboxing and some boxing.”

Though Gracie has trained in the various martial arts, he never lost his focus on his basis in Gracie jiu-jitsu. What he did was base his combat strategy upon jiu-jitsu and then integrate stand-up fighting into his training. “If I’m fighting a boxer, I set up a strategy to deal with a boxer. A boxer will come at me a certain way, so I train with someone who will fight me like a boxer. That way, I will learn to think like a boxer and can deal with a boxer’s style of attack.”

            Gracie, of course, didn’t limit his training to dealing with just boxers. He applies this same strategic approach to deal with each type of opponent that he may encounter, from kickboxers to wrestlers.

            Gracie credits his own technical foundation for much of his success. “Gracie-style [jiu-jitsu] teaches you to use leverage and technique. From this, I can fight someone much bigger than me. I am not necessarily talking about winning, I am talking about surviving against someone much bigger and stronger than me.”

From the Ring to the Seminar

With his foundation in a lifetime of jiu-jitsu, Gracie has easily moved from the ring to becoming an accomplished instructor. “When I teach a seminar, I teach very much the same way that I was taught,” he states. “I will come in and show an arm lock. I will see what the students know. If most of them can perform the technique, then I understand they possess a basic understanding and we can move on to the more advanced levels. Then maybe I will show them a hip throw. If they are struggling with that, then I understand I must begin with the basics of a hip throw. I always teach a class at the level of my students.”

Gracie says that he always wants each student to come away from his seminars filled with newly acquired knowledge. To achieve this, he demonstrates each technique by various methods in order that the students will fully understand them before they go off and practice.

“For example, I will show a hip throw. Then, I will perform it in show motion a few times and explain the proper method to unleash this technique. Then I will discuss how it should be used in combat. That way, each student truly can understand the hip throw before they go and start practicing it.”

Gracie always integrates the true understanding of self-defense and hand-to-hand combat into his seminars. “When you get in a clinch with an opponent,” he says, “you never want to exchange fire power with him. Let’s assume that he’s one of those guys you punch, break his nose, knock out two of his teeth, and he’s bleeding all over the place. Then he looks at you and says, ‘So, you want to get in a fight?’”

This is why, Gracie warns, you never want to show your power at the outset of the confrontation. “Because, if you have given your opponent your best shot and he can take it, then [you’re going to think], ‘Oh-Oh, what am I going to do now?’

            “Hitting never solves your problem,” he adds. “It’s only going to aggravate your situation -- unless the guy is your size or smaller and you can knock him out with one punch.” For this reason, Gracie always prefers to instruct his students that it’s far better to take an opponent down to the ground with a hip throw or a similar technique and then choke or lock him into submission.

At a Royce Gracie seminar, the students are lead through an evolving process of combative understanding. Gracie will, for example, start by teaching a hip throw. “Then it is practice, practice, practice,” he says. “Once they are ready to move on, I will show them what to do once the opponent is on the ground -- how to effectively lock or choke them. Then, it is practice, practice, practice. Finally, I will teach them what to do if the opponent has gained the upper positioning. I teach the student how to recover and turn the table of the confrontation in their favor. Then it is practice, practice, practice again.”

Seminar Packaging

            Royce Gracie has an extensive seminar schedule. His current schedule stretched forward for the next two years.

            He has various seminar packages for students. First of all, there’s the Royce Gracie Jiu-jitsu Network. This is made up of his long-term students who teach Gracie jiu-jitsu classes at various schools of martial arts around the world. He tries to visit these schools as often as possible. These seminars are generally designed to pass on new knowledge to students who already possess a basis in Gracie jiu-jitsu.

            The next level of training is his open seminars. Here, anyone is invited to participate. At these seminars, students from various styles congregate to learn this exciting system of martial arts. The open seminars commonly take place over a two-day period and last for four hours each day.

            At all Royce Gracie seminars, the students are taught the various Gracie jiu-jitsu self-defense understandings in a progressive manner. By the time they leave the seminar, they each possess a new arsenal of hand-to-hand combat techniques and the understanding of how to use them effectively.

Law-Enforcement Training

            Perhaps one of the most exciting levels of Gracie’s seminar schedule is the classes he teaches for law enforcement and the military. These seminars commonly last one week.

            Royce Gracie has become one of the leading trainers for various U.S. law-enforcement agencies and branches of the military. At the basis of his law-enforcement and military training is the understanding that 95% of all physical confrontations end up on the ground. Law-enforcement and military personally are rarely adequately trained in the advanced methods of ground combat that is the backbone of Gracie jiu-jitsu. With this understanding as a source point, Gracie trains these individuals how to subdue combatants in methods uniquely effective to police and military agencies. He says that the methods he teaches are simple, automatic and rapid.

            Gracie believes that the main problem with the hand-to-hand training most police and military personnel undergo is that they are very reliant upon their weapons. If these weapons are taken away from them in a physical confrontation, or if they drop them, they are not trained how to quickly recover from the loss and effectively defend themselves and disable their opponent solely with hand-to-hand techniques.

            Gracie also understands that most police officers and GIs attempt to overpower their opponents by using brute strength. If the adversary is larger or more powerful then them, they are at a supreme disadvantage and are commonly defeated. With these understandings as a basis, Gracie teaches the students at his law-enforcement and military seminars the concept of “technique over strength,” and how to use leverage to defeat any opponent.

Attitude

            In addition to his training all levels of students in the finer arts of self-defense, Royce Gracie also has developed a new line of athletic apparel with the brand name Attitude. He chose that name, he says, “Because I think everything is based on a person’s attitude. It could be bad. It could be good. You can take it either way,” Gracie concludes jokingly.

            One thing is clear about attitude. That’s a big part of what has driven Royce Gracie to the top of his game -- not only in competition but on the seminar circuit as well. He has spent his lifetime refining his understanding of the martial arts. He has taken on some of the toughest, no-holds-barred competitors in the world, and won. He has taken his long list of martial art experiences and profitably spread his teachings to students across the world. From this, he has extended the Gracie jiu-jitsu legacy to the next generation and, by leading by example, has shown us all how focus, training and dedication can lift us to the top of our own game.

Scott Shaw of Redondo Beach, California, is one of the most prolific authors in
the martial arts industry.

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