Normally, they got a lot of responses, and most of the Gracie challenge matches that followed ended up with victories for the Gracie family. They posted the challenge in local Brazilian newspapers and did so with quite a strong language. They issued a challenge to anyone and everyone that wanted to test their skills against their brand of Jiu-Jitsu. And the way they did it in is also unique. That aside, another big truth about the Gracie family is that they popularized Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as such. However, they didn’t do so just because they were good at fighting, but also because they have a wild side to them. They really did revolutionize martial arts forever. Still, one mainstay in all BJJ history books is the Gracie family. Folks like Robert Drysdale are trying to hunt down people that we’re there in the beginning and share the real BJJ history, which is the subject of an upcoming BJJ documentary called “Closed Guard”. At least when it comes to what really happened. As it turns out, we don’t really have the full picture, and the more you dig, the less stuff you’re actually able to find out. The history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a very curious subject. It can be entertaining, dark, violent, or fun, depending on how you look at things. In any case, as influential as they were and still are in the world of martial arts, there is a side to them that does rear its head from time to time. They are often used as examples, hang around in academies, and some folks also bow to them. We all know that the Gracies are “responsible” for the chaos called BJJ that we’re addicted to. And by bunch, I mean a huge bunch as there are more people in that family than some academies have members. The Gracie family is one very interesting bunch of folks.
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