Brazilian jiu jitsu has aged over the years, like anything else… Some parts of it have obviously aged better than others, it’s growing bigger than ever before, and will continue to. But, legends like Ralph Gracie, remember the days before berimbolos, before BJJ was even out of Brazil yet.
In a recent Tatame interview, he spoke on what he remembers from jiu jitsu, “back in the day.”
“If you look at 40-year-old Jiu-Jitsu, 30, it’s not even half. Today is very different. It was something more elitist, in Barra (da Tijuca), Copacabana, today it is worldwide. The amount of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners today is enormous. He thinks the only thing missing today is to focus more on the self-defense part, “Ralph said.
“That was it, the competition. People are more looking at the part of what you can earn and the prizes, not what you can earn in life. Unfortunately, you look at the fighters, the guy is a black belt, a world champion and does not know how to get out of a different tie. The guy grabs the back and rolls across the floor? I think this is what is lacking today, more personal defense within the Jiu-Jitsu that we accompany, ” he said in the end of the interview.