THE NEW FIGHT CLUB
The master offers his head to his students so they can tighten up their choke games. As he invites, then evades, their takedown attempts, he grins like a 6ft 4in schoolboy. “Jiu-jitsu is play-fighting,” he says. “You have fun. At the same time, you learn to fight.” Like Roach and Dern, he speaks of how wanting to do better in training engenders positive lifestyle changes: eating better, sleeping more, drinking less. I hear Edward Norton’s narrator in my head: “Fight Club became the reason to cut your hair short or trim your fingernails.”
The explanation for Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s growing popularity, in Gracie’s view, beyond the fact that you can be any size, shape or age, is that it allows you to engage in a full-blown fight – but without the blows and head trauma. “You still try to win, to control your partner,” he says. “But you don’t have that aggression.” You can go all out, 100%, and if it becomes too much to handle, you can tap out before any lasting damage ensues. “‘The gentle art’ – that’s the meaning of it,” says Gracie, who also fought in the UFC. (There’s a picture of him in the academy’s entrance, smashing another guy’s nose with his fist.) “It’s the only art where you can be gentle with your opponent.”
“Opponent” isn’t quite the right word. In Brazilian jiu-jitsu, you need a willing partner, not just a human punchbag. “You can’t be unfriendly with someone you’re having to learn with,” says Gracie. “That’s why the community is so friendly. Some of the best friends I have in my life came from jiu-jitsu. We try to beat each other up, but in a nice way.” Gracie moved to London more than 16 years ago, and some of his students have been training with him ever since. He’s watched them get promoted in belts and jobs, get married, have kids and open one or more of his 14 affiliates around the country. “You have greater intimacy with people,” he says. “It’s not like you walk into the gym, don’t say hi to anyone, train and leave.”
Brazilian jiu-jitsu builds self-confidence but, crucially, it’s also humbling – even for the great Roger Gracie. “I’m used to losing,” he says. “I wasn’t amazing from day one. I’ve tapped a thousand times in my life.” Whether sparring or training, Brazilian jiu-jitsu forces even the most rampant ego to occasionally submit, and not hang self-esteem on the outcome. Some days, you’re on top; some days, a guy called Khaled kicks your ass. You learn how to win, but more importantly, you learn how to lose – and keep rolling.