Gracie | |
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Ethnicity | Scottish Brazilian |
Current region | Brazil, United States |
Information | |
Notable members |
Carlos Gracie |
Connected families | Machado, Valente |
Traditions | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu |
The Gracie family (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɡɾejsi]) is a prominent sporting family from Brazil known for their founding of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). They have been successful in combat sport competitions including mixed martial arts, vale tudo and submission wrestling events. As a family, they uphold the Gracie challenge, which promotes their style of BJJ.
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The Gracie family line in Brazil descended from George Gracie, a Scotsman from the Carronhill estate in Dumfriesshire who immigrated in 1826 when he was 25 years old.[1][2][3] George was a son of James (b. 1772), the second son of family patriarch George Gracie (b. 1734), and Jean Patterson.[3]
Gastão Gracie from Rio de Janeiro, the grandson of George Gracie through his son Pedro married Cesarina Pessoa Vasconcellos, the daughter of a wealthy Ceará family, in 1901 and decided to settle in Belém do Pará.[4] Gastão Gracie became a business partner of the American Circus in Belém. In 1916, Italian Argentine circus Queirolo Brothers staged shows there and presented Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese Judoka and prize fighter.[5][6] In 1917, Carlos Gracie, the eldest son of Gastão Gracie, watched a demonstration by Maeda at the Da Paz Theatre and decided to learn judo. Maeda accepted to teach Carlos. In 1921, following his financial dire straits and his father Pedro's demise serving as a pretext, Gastão Gracie returned to his native Rio with his family.[4]
Carlos passed Maeda's teachings on to his brothers Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., and George. Hélio was too young and sick at that time to learn the art, and due to medical imposition was prohibited to take part in the training sessions. Despite that, Hélio learned from watching his brothers. He eventually overcame his health problems and is now considered by many as the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (though others, such as Carlson Gracie, have pointed to Carlos as the founder of the art).[7]
Rolls Gracie is sometimes considered in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community and within the Gracie family as the true creator of the modern form of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He did so by training and competing in Judo, Sambo, and Wrestling. He was the lead instructor of the most promising Gracies in the famliy, namely, Rickson Gracie, Royler Gracie, Rillion Gracie, and Carlos Gracie Jr.
The most recent family champion is Roger Gracie, who holds the Confederação Brasileira de Jiu-Jitsu World Super Heavyweight and Pan-American Open Weight titles and the ADCC heavyweight and openweight championships. The most famous member of the Gracie family may be Royce Gracie, winner of three UFC tournaments.
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