The sport of mixed martial arts better known as MMA has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years and become part of mainstream culture. Today’s fighters use a combination on muay thai, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu jitsu. Most fighters are either known as a striker, meaning they are better on there feet, or as a grappler, meaning they want to take the fight down to the ground; but to be a true mixed martial artist a fighter must be proficient in both striking and grappling.

The very first MMA competition was an eight man tournament with very few rules with the winner receiving a $50,000 grand prize. The concept of this tournament was to face experts of different types of martial arts like Boxing, Karate, Jiu Jitsu, and Wrestling against each other to see which type of self defense worked the best. The competitors included Art Jimmerson a professional boxer with a 29-5 record, Teila Tuli a 400 pound sumo wrestler, and Gerard Gordeau a karate and savant champion.

The smallest competitor in the competition was 170 lbs Royce Gracie. Royce was a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or BJJ. BJJ was originated by his father Helio Gracie and Helio’s brother Carlos in their home country of Brazil. BJJ was a ground fighting technique that used submissions that attacked opponents joints like there elbows and knees and chokes on the neck to subdue or make them give up. Royce was able to use these techniques to beat much larger men them himself to win the tournament and to prove that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was the best fighting technique in the world. He would go on to win two more of these tournaments proving that it was no fluke.

Today BJJ is taught all over the world and is one of the most popular forms of martial arts. If you are interested in learning BJJ and attend The University of Texas check out the Texas Jiu Jitsu student organization. For the past several years Texas Jiu Jitsu has helped teach the art of BJJ to the students of UT. It is available to any student currently attending The University of Texas.