Carlos Gracie was possibly the single most important figure Brazilian Jiu Jitsu history as he was the very first Gracie contact with the roots of BJJ (Japanese Jiu Jitsu). Carlos was born on the 14th September 1902 in Belém do Pará, Brazil. He was the first born son of Gastao Gracie (a 3rd generation Scotsman) in a series of 9 kids who were born in the following order:

1st Carlos 1902; 2nd Oswaldo 1904; 3rd Gastao Jr. 1906; 4th Ilka, 1908 (deceased shortly after her birth); 5th Helena 1909; 6th George 1911; 7th Helio 1913; 8th Mary 1915; 9th Ilka 1917

Carlos was a very small boy for his age, but extremely energetic and with a very strong personality. Many say that if he was born in current times he would certainly have been diagnosed as hyperactive. It was this hyperactivity that made his father take him to a gentleman by the stage name of Count Koma. Count Koma (real name Mitsuyo Esai Maeda) was a Jiu Jitsu/Judo representative sent to Brazil by Japan to spread Jiu Jitsu to the world, Gastao took his son to him in the hope that he could learn Jiu Jitsu and release a bit of the extra energy he was prone to have.

Maeda was quite fond of the 15-year-old Carlos Gracie and accepted the challenge of educating this skinny boy in the art of Jiu Jitsu. The teachings of Maeda lasted for the best part of 3 years with interruptions “here and there” when Maeda needed to travel for his duties. In 1921 the Gracie Family was bankrupt and needed to move from Belem do Para to Rio de Janeiro, and that was the last time Carlos Gracie saw his master.

He separated from his father and started working on his own in small meaningless jobs until a friend from the Belem do Para days met him in Rio. He had also trained with Maeda for a short while and knew Carlos was one of Maeda’s best students, so he invited him to train alongside him with the Special Police, a corps his friend belonged to. Inside Police walls is where Carlos started truly testing his Jiu Jitsu skills in No Holds Barred fights performed in closed quarters.

Soon he managed to save enough money to launch his dream: his own Jiu Jitsu academy. This very modest place was set in “Rua Marques de Abrantes” number 106 in the year of 1925. For this amazing challenge ahead, he asked brothers George and Helio to join him. In his first ad at a local newspaper, he wrote: “Se Você quer a sua face esmurrada e arrebentada, seu traseiro chutado e os seus bracos quebrados, entre em contacto com Carlos Gracie neste endereço…” – If you want your face punched and bruised, your butt kicked and your arms broken, talk to Carlos Gracie at the following address…”

In the time of the academy he taught diligently his brothers. He also promoted fights between his academy and other styles of fighting common in Rio de Janeiro such as Capoeira, Boxing and Wrestling in order to promote his academy. His team would consist of himself and his brothers.

Throughout the years Carlos started several other businesses for which he needed to often travel, so he relegated the training of his academies to Helio, his top student and brother. He also opened other academies in Fortaleza and Ceará, Brazil. Carlos Gracie always studied up close human and physical behavior, and throughout the years his studies paid off as he launched the famous Gracie Diet, which is used successfully to this day.

Although Carlos was away from his academy in Rio, he never completely stepped away from the sport and he cornered his brothers in almost every fight of their career. He was regarded as their master for as long as he lived. Carlos died at the age of 92 in the year of 1994, he had 21 children from different mothers, 11 of which he awarded the black belt in Jiu Jitsu. Amongst his sons are 3 BJJ legends in their own right, such as Carlson Gracie, Rolls Gracie and Carlos Gracie Jr (Carlinhos).

Carlos Gracie Junior, also known by his nickname Carlinhos (“little Carlos”), was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 17th, 1956, being one of the sons of Gracie jiu jitsu founder Carlos Gracie (senior), he was raised in his early days by his uncle Helio Gracie and trained at Helio’s academy from a very early age. Although Carlinhos Gracie trained at his uncle’s academy, he always followed his brother Rolls‘s views on jiu jitsu and cross training, often venturing with his brother, to sambo (sombo in the US) and wrestling competitions. Rolls Gracie was the main instructor at the Gracie Academy, and when he left to work with his other brother Carlson Gracie, Carlinhos stayed behind to help run the main Gracie school together with his cousin Rickson Gracie. He spent two years there teaching, but his first steps as a coach came to a halt when he was accepted as a nutrition student at a Rio de Janeiro University. Around the time Carlos Junior enrolled in the University, Rolls Gracie started teaching on his own, separating his jiu jitsu class from his older brother’s class (although they still shared the same facilities). Rolls asked his brother Carlinhos Gracie to come and help him as an assistant coach, and as the University was close to the gym Carlinhos accepted.

When Rolls passed away due to a hang-gliding accident, his students and Rolls’ wife asked Carlos Gracie Junior to be the main coach at the Copacabana academy, an invitation which was accepted by the grieving Gracie. Carlinhos maintained his coaching position at the academy for a few years before he decided it was time to open his own gym in Barra da Tijuca.

Barra da Tijuca was then a very small suburb of Rio de Janeiro, with a tremendous beach, but with weak accessibility to the center of Rio. Every close friend of Carlos advised him that moving to the “Barra” was a bad idea, still Carlinhos went on with the project and so Gracie-Barra began. The name Gracie-Barra was used to differentiate Carlinhos’ academy from his uncle’s.

Even though many said Gracie-Barra was a bad idea, in little over one year the students grew from 20 to 200, most were either surfers or/and local hard men looking for a challenge. With time different jiu jitsu academies started opening all over Rio de Janeiro, many formed by Carlson Gracie’s black belts. Carlos saw a need for organized competition and a credible federation, being the visionary that he is, he created CBJJ – “Confederação Brasileira de Jiu-Jitsu“ which later grew into IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation).

Though there has been some opposition, especially in the early stages of the organization, against CBJJ’s for the lack of a democratic election, lack of prize money for the competitors, or even the overpricing of its competitions, the matter of fact is that many federations have come and gone, and the CBJJ is still standing as the most prestigious and best-organized federation in jiu jitsu and its titles are still regarded as the most prestigious by the jiu jitsu community. In the meantime, in between opening academies and federations, Carlos still managed to produce some of the very best BJJ fighters and coaches the world has to offer and have the most successful BJJ team in History, the one with the most international titles all around.

Carlos Gracie Junior will always be remembered as a true ambassador of the sport/martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and as a token of that status, he was awarded his Coral Belt in 2008, one of the greatest honors there is in the BJJ world.